Documents on the Santo Tomas Unit, Hunters-ROTC - Batangas History, Culture and Folklore Documents on the Santo Tomas Unit, Hunters-ROTC - Batangas History, Culture and Folklore

Documents on the Santo Tomas Unit, Hunters-ROTC

[TRANSCRIPTION]

The Hunters-ROTC was a large guerrilla organization founded in Rizal but which relocated its headquarters to the western Batangas town of Nasugbu as the liberation of Luzon neared. It had many units operating in many areas of Luzon and its 49th Regiment was based in Batangas. This regiment’s “Special District Troops” appear to be supplemental rosters of the guerrilla organization to those that had already been recognized by the United States Army. In this page are transcriptions1 of two documents on the Santo Tomas Unit of the Hunters-ROTC.

Guerrilla Files

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1st Ind
HEADQUARTERS, HUNTERS ROTC, 49TH REGT, STO. TOMAS UNIT, 21 Feb. ‘46

TO: Commanding Officer, GHQ, HUNTERS ROTC.

1. Forwarded, re-submission of the attached supplementary roster in accordance with the table of organization of officers and enlisted men of the 49th Regt, Hunters ROTC, Sto. Tomas Unit, which supersedes our supplementary roster submitted already to that Headquarters with the request that same be included in the official recognized roster. These officers and men were the ones left behind by me in my own sector to carry on the mission of maintaining peace and order and to help in the reorganization of the civil administration of the town, after I, with some of my officers and enlisted men, were called already to active duty and processed at Camp Murphy on 13 June 1945.

2. These officers and enlisted men that were left behind by me were also working as intelligence operatives during the time that my unit was attached to the 674th Glider Field Artillery on 5 March 1945 during our campaigns and doing intelligence work.

3. That, when the 674th Glider Field Artillery was replaced by the 1st Cavalry Division, these officers and enlisted men that were left behind by me when I was called to active duty on 1 June 1945 by the 674th Glider Field Artillery were also doing intelligence work that had helped much in the early liberation of my sector by the 1st Cavalry Division.

4. That when our sector was already liberated, my Executive Officer and some officers and enlisted men were appointed as Acting Chief of Police and some in a civilian capacity to help in the maintenance of peace and order and in the helping of the reorganization of the civil administration, some of them in a civilian capacity to help the American Liberating Forces in recruiting laborers in the construction of roads and camps (see attached certifications of Col. Fortunato Borbon, then appointed Military Governor for the province of Batangas by the U.S. Army and Capt. Lester L. Puls. And Lt. Col. Burl B. Baber with regards to the nature of their employment in helping the reconstruction work and in the maintenance of peace and order of our town which is our sector, in the supplementary roster that we have already submitted to that Hq and superseded by the attached roster). They were not included in the recognized official roster as approved on 27 February 1945 for the reason that when I was called to active duty on 1 June 1945, they were already in excess of the required quota to replace the officers and enlisted men who were deserters and casualties of the Shock Troops, Marking’s Fil-Americans.

5. That they were acting in a civilian capacity before I was called to active duty on 1 June 1945 as shown by the attached letter of Col. Fortunato Borbon, the Military Governor appointed by the U.S. Army at the time, for the province of Batangas, in our previous supplementary roster submitted to that Headquarters.

6. That I have considered this step of mine urgent and neces-

[Over.]

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sary to leave behind me my Executive Officer to command and some officers and enlisted men as peace and order conditions as well as reorganization and reconstruction of my sector demands taking into consideration that my sector was during my activation, together with some of my officers and enlisted men in the P.A. on 13 June 1945, still infested with remnants of Japanese soldiers who were still roaming in remote and distant places of my sector who at times plied their inhuman trade against the civilian populace.

7. That these officers and enlisted men were not included in the recognized official roster of this unit because the American using unit wherein we were attached only submitted the officers and enlisted men that covered the casualties and deserters of the Shock Troops Co., Marking’s Fil-Americans and because we were only utilized as replacements for the casualties and deserters of the Shock Troops Marking’s Fil-Americans.

8. I am submitting this to determine the true facts of the case that my officers and men left behind by me had helped and rendered invaluable services not only to their guerrilla unit in particular but also the peace and order and in the reconstruction and administration of the civil administration of the town. My Executive Officer, who was then left behind, and appointed as Acting Chief of Police by Col. Fortunato Borbon, then Military Governor at the time who was an appointee of the U.S. Army and some of the officers and enlisted men were appointed also in a civilian capacity as shown in the attached records submitted with the supplementary roster superseded by this, and also they were given instructions by me that the rest of the officers and enlisted men would be under the disposal of my Executive Officer in the preservation of peace and order and to be used in the mopping up operations of Japanese remnants still hiding in the mountains who had been menacing the lives and properties of the inhabitants and also to help in the rehabilitation program of the returning residents who were returning in my sector.

9. The history, appointment papers and the supplementary roster superseded by the attached roster has already been submitted to that Headquarters.

10. In view of the foregoing facts, it is respectfully prayed that due consideration be given my officers and enlisted men who were left behind by me with the end in view of granting to the said officers and enlisted men in the interest of justice whatever they may deem proper to take under the premises.

[Sgd.] PEDRO C MEDALLA
Captain, Inf, 0-46268
(Former CO, 49th Regt, Hunters
ROTC, Sto. Tomas Unit)

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2nd Ind.
GEN HEADQUARTERS, HUNTERS ROTC, 23 February 1946.

TO: Commanding General, AFWESPAC, APO 707.

1. Forwarded, recommending favorable action in the inclusion of the supplementary roster of the 49th Regt, Hunters ROTC, Sto. Tomas Unit, in the official recognized roster, in view of the fact that the officers and enlisted men in said roster had committed themselves to the cause of their unit in particular and to their people, likewise, in general.

2. It is, therefore, in order that they should be included in the recognized official roster as shown by the fact that some of the officers and enlisted men that were left behind by said commanding officer of the abovementioned unit were utilized by the Philippine Civil Affairs Unit (PCAU) in the maintenance of peace and order and in the reorganization of the civil administration of the town.

3. It is further stated that the attached supplementary roster mentioned herein is but an arrangement in accordance with the T/C of the Army of the supplementary roster of this unit that has been submitted to that Headquarters, 31 January 1946.

[Sgd.] ELEUTERIO ADEVOSO
Colonel, Inf
(Former C.O. Hunters ROTC)
Notes and references:
1 “District Special Troops, 49th Regt., 47th Div., HUNTERS-ROTC,” File No. 307-38, online at the United States National Archives.
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