Testimony of Dominica Maralit of San Jose Batangas on the Murder of Her Husband by the Japanese in 1945

This page contains the testimony of one Dominica Maralit of San Jose, Batangas on how the Japanese killed her husband, Dr. Lorenzo Maralit. The pages contained herein are now declassified and were part of compiled documentation¹ of war crimes trials conducted by the United States Military Commission after the conclusion of World War II. Most of the testimonies were translated from Tagalog and have been corrected for grammar by Batangas History, Culture and Folklore where possible. The pagination is as it was contained in the original document for citation purposes.

The ruined Municipal Building in San Jose in 1945.  Image credit:  United States National Archives.

[p. 36]

R E S T R I C T E D

Q Please state your full name, age, address and nationality.
A Dominica M. Maralit, 44 years old, Poblacion, San Jose, Batangas Province, P.I., Filipino.

Q What is your occupation?
A Elementary school teacher.

Q Do you intend to remain at your present address, and if not, how can your whereabouts in the future be ascertained?
A I intend to remain at my present address.

Q Did you suffer any mistreatment at the hands of the Japanese?
A No, but my husband, Dr. Lorenzo Maralit, D.M.M., was murdered by the Japanese.

Q Will you please relate to us fully the incidents leading to his murder?
A During the Japanese occupation, my husband, a physician, treated professionally the Japanese because he was a graduate of the Tokyo Imperial University, and he could speak Japanese. Because of these, together with the fact that he was a paralytic, it was presumed that the Japanese would not molest him, so he did not evacuate to the barrio of Kalansayan with us.

On February 23, 1945, he visited us in Kalansayan, and that was the last time I saw him alive.

On February 28, 1945, our maid, Cresenciana, I forgot her family name, learned that there was a body of a man between Poblacion and Taysan. She went to the bridge and discovered the body of my husband, half of his body in the water and half on the ground. She went immediately to the barrio of Kalansayan to inform me about it.

I offered 28 cans of husked rice to Cirilo Japor and four other men whose names I do not know to get the body of my husband and bury him in Kalansayan. They took the body from under the bridge and carried it to Kalansayan, which is about two kilometers south. I saw the body and recognized that it was his. He had a wound, possibly from a bayonet, on the back which went through his chest. Cirilo Japor and his companions, who removed my husband’s body from under the bridge, told me that it was bound with barbed wire to a bamboo pole. This I verified when I saw the body. However, I was too grieved to pay close attention to all the details.

Q Do you happen to know any of the Japanese who killed your husband?
A No.

Q Do you know the names of any of the Japanese to used to be treated by your husband?
A No.

[p. 37]

Q Can you describe any of them?
A Aside from the fact that they wore greenish-khaki uniforms, I cannot describe those Japanese. To me, they all look alike.

Q Do you know what unit they belonged to?
A No.

Q Have you anything further to add to your statement?
A No.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES

PROVINCE OF BATANGAS

TOWN OF SAN JOSE

C E R T I F I C A T E

Municipal Bldg., San Jose, Batangas Province, P.I.

/s/ Allen H. Peoples /t/ ALLEN H. PEOPLES, Capt., CAC

29 October 1945

/s/ Charles C. Thompson /t/ CHARLES C. THOMPSON, Capt., TC

Notes and references:
¹ “Documents Pertaining to the Testimony of Dominica M. Maralit in U.S.A. v Tomoyuki Yamashita,” part of the U.S. Military Commission compilation of war crimes documentation, online at the Internet Archive.