Detroit evening times., 1945-11-01
WORLD
In REVIEW
Maj. Gen.
BdrroWs

II AAA~ANA~ - 80 - ~
- Mia that sound an alarm
ist note with respect 10 the
guerrilla organizations and their
dissatisfaction with the present
government under President
Sergio Osmena.
These reports may he eNag-
gerated, but at the same time
they reveal a disquieting prob
tenn.
The situation in the Philip
pines, both politically and eco
nomically, is undeniably diff
cult.
President Osmena, who sue
ceeded TO the presidency of the
commonwealth upon the death
of President Manuel Quezon,
faces the same handicap that
other exile governments face
on their liberation.
Leaders who could not escape
and who, at the peril of their
lives continued openly or COW
ertly to oppose the invaders,
have a natural advantage over
political rivals who fled abroad.
Other political leaders have
ruined their careers and will
perhaps lose their lives, because
they collaborated with the Jap
aneSe.
For instance, at Davao, which
was a veritable japanese colony
engaged in the production OF
hemp, / saw last August hum
dreds of Filipino men and their
families, who had probably coll
laborated with the enemy, being
held in camps into which they
had been gathered by the Amer
ican Army.
Our army was feeding and
caring for these people but had
no intention of determining
their guilt. They were TO be
tried by Filipino judges ap-
pointed by the government at
Manila.
On the other hand, from the
beginning of the Japanese occu-
patton in 1912, there were Fill
pinos who refused TO yield, who
retired into the forests and
mountains, and continued TO
keep up armed resistance TO the
enemy.
One such movement centered
around Lake Bay, LuZon, in
close proximity TO Manila.
1t was organized by a retired
American army officer Col.
Hugh Strawn.
He had been an active assist
ant TO me in 1918 when l was
assistant chief of staff, CO, Of
the Department Of the Philip
pines, and two years ago, when
he fell into the hands Of the
Japanese, l expressed my fear
that he would be put 10 death,
In Manila last July ! met fol-
lowers Of Strawn who were en-
deavoring 10 gain recognition
| for the organization that he Gre
ated.
They could give few details Of
his end but il seemed certain
that he was killed by his cap
tors.
ELSEWHERE in the Philip
IL pines last summer in several
provinces l met the leaders and
men of guerilla organizations.
The Philippine government
had assumed responsibility for
their pay and was expected 10
organize them into a national
army.
In all cases they were acting
then in cooperation with the
American army and under the
orders of division commanders.
And they were being armed.
uniformed, and equipped by the
American army.
They were engaged in de-
stroying or capturing the scat
tered remnants of the Japanese
who, although defeated, were
still unwilling TO surrender.
Some of these leaders i'm
pressed me very favorably.
One, in the Province OF
Tayabas, acting with our First
Cavalry Division, was a trained
soldier and a modest and we'll
educated man.
In southern Mindanao l met
several others who were eff
cient leaders and had rendered
good service.
One of them was a graduate
of the College of Agriculture OF
the Philippines. and before the
japanese invasion had been in
charge of large agricultural
settlement.
Another was a Moro or Mo-
hammedan, with reputation
for having done fierce fighting.
NORTH of Davao / was an
~ bserver of an action
against an undetermined num-
ber of Japanese in carefully
planned, co-ordinated attack en-
gagged in by a marine air squad
ron that flew in from Zambo-
anga, by a battery of l0omm