Malabang

Malabang is covered here in 6 connected parts: Malabang, Malabang Airport, Japanese invasion of Malabang, Battle of Mindanao, Battle of Bayang, Guy Fort.

Malabang

Malabang, officially the Municipality of Malabang (Maranao: Inged a Malabang; Tagalog: Bayan ng Malabang), is a municipality in the province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 58,377 people. The town is one of the two former capitals of the Sultanate of Maguindanao from 1515 until the Spanish conquered the land in 1888.^[1]

History

Malabang, in Lanao del Sur, is considered the oldest settlement in mainland Mindanao.^[1]

Geography

Malabang is one of thirty-nine municipalities comprising the province of Lanao del Sur in northern Mindanao. It lies on the south-west part of the province and belongs to the second district. It has 37 barangays with a total land area of 37,789.28 km2.^[1]

Barangays

Malabang is politically subdivided into 37 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks while some have sitios.^[1]

Languages

The languages spoken in Malabang vary by location and by barangay. Maranao is the most commonly spoken language in Malabang, as the native speakers are the original inhabitants of Malabang.^[1]

Economy

Agriculture and fishery are the major resources of Malabang. They are also widely known for coconut production. Warehouses of coconut can be found along the major highways of Malabang.^[1]

Government

The municipality has a mayor, the head of the municipality of Malabang, a municipal vice mayor, and eight municipal councilors. The municipality also has one Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) representative and one ABC representative from the Punong Barangay (barangay captains).^[1]

Transportation

Malabang is quite sufficient when it comes to land transportation to the nearby municipalities. Tricycles are the most-commonly-used transportation around the town. Usually, in the elevated part of Malabang, public transportation such as town ace and multi-cab are used.^[1]

Medical Services

Dr. Serapio B. Montañer Memorial District Hospital or known to many as Mabul Hospital is the public hospital in Malabang, and is listed as a secondary hospital in the province.^[1]

Telecommunications

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company provides fixed line services. Wireless mobile communications services are provided by Smart Communications and Globe Telecommunications.^[1]

Related: Malabang Airport · Japanese invasion of Malabang · Battle of Mindanao

External references: ^[1][2][3]

Malabang Airport

Malabang Airport (IATA: MLP, ICAO: RPMM) is an airport located in the town of Malabang, Lanao del Sur, Philippines. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines classifies this 16.05-hectare facility as a community airport. With no airlines serving the airport, the runway is frequently used for drying corn and coconut (copra).^[4]

Related: Malabang · Japanese invasion of Malabang · Battle of Mindanao

External references: ^[4][5][6]

Japanese invasion of Malabang

Japanese Invasion of Malabang (Filipino: Paglusob ng mga Hapones sa Malabang) was part of the Japanese landings on the western coast of Mindanao that began on April 29, 1942. Kawaguchi Detachment landed in three important points in west coast of Mindanao including Malabang in then undivided Lanao Province. Defending forces of Filipino and American troops resisted but lacked artillery, and due to Japanese naval and air support were overwhelmed and forced to retreat.^[7]

Background

After securing the island of Panay, General Masaharu Homma ordered General Kiyotake Kawaguchi to Mindanao. He was to land in Lanao sector of Mindanao Force which was under the command of Brigadier General Guy O. Fort.^[7]

Combat narratives

The 3rd Battalion, 61st Infantry under Major Ernest E. McLish was deployed north of Malabang Air Field astride Ganassi Road while the 2nd Battalion 61st Infantry under Captain Clyde Childress was posted astride the Maladig River. The 1st Battalion under Major Moran was held in reserve near Lake Dapao.^[7]

Moro battalions

General Fort's confidence in the Moro battalions was validated when they ambushed a battalion-sized Japanese force travelling from Ganassi to Lumbatan. Led by Captain Mamalinta Lao, they annihilated the Japanese with only two Moros lost. Another Moro unit under Lieutenant Muhammad Ali Dimaporo and Captain Busran Kalaw continuously harassed the Japanese.^[7]

Execution of Jose Abad Santos

Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos of the Philippine Commonwealth was captured in Barangay Tubod, Barili, Cebu, while riding in an automobile with his son Jose Jr (Pepito) and his aide, Lieutenant Colonel Benito Valeriano. He was brought to a Japanese camp in Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City, where the Japanese attempted to persuade him to collaborate. However he was executed May 1, 1942 and was hastily buried.^[7]

Aftermath

The troops in Lanao sector were still fighting when orders from General Sharp to surrender reached General Fort on May 10, 1942. Many questioned the order, as his unit was still successfully fighting the Japanese. However, Sharp warned that any American who disobeyed his order would be court martialed.^[7]

Death March and execution of Fort

After the troops in Lanao Sector surrendered on May 12, the Japanese forced Filipino American POWs in very poor condition to walk 136 km without water or food from Camp Keithley in Dansalan to Camp Overton in Iligan. Americans were tied by four per column and Filipinos, although not bound, were made to walk barefoot, and some were executed on the road. This event was known as the Mindanao Death March.^[7]

Related: Malabang · Malabang Airport · Battle of Mindanao

External references: ^[7][8][9]

Battle of Mindanao

The Battle of Mindanao (Filipino: Labanan sa Mindanaw; Cebuano: Panagsangka sa Mindanaw; Japanese: ミンダナオの戦い) was fought by the Americans and allied Filipino guerrillas against the Japanese forces on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines as part of Operation VICTOR V. It was part of the campaign to liberate the Philippines during World War II. The battle was waged to complete the recapture of the southernmost portions of the archipelago from the Imperial Japanese Army.^[10]

Background

The campaign for Mindanao posed the greatest challenge for the liberating Allied forces, primarily for three reasons: the island's inhospitable geography; the extended Japanese defenses; and the strength and condition of the Japanese forces, which contained the significantly remaining concentration of combat troops in the Philippines.^[10]

Operation VICTOR V

On 10 March 1945, the U.S. Eighth Army—under Lieutenant General Robert L. Eichelberger—was formally ordered by General Douglas MacArthur to clear the rest of Mindanao, with the start of Operation VICTOR V, with expectations that the campaign would take four months.^[10]

Capture of Zamboanga and Sulu

On the same day Eichelberger's forces were ordered to invade Mindanao, remnants of Major General Jens A. Doe's 41st Infantry Division carried out Operation VICTOR IV, the seizure of Zamboanga, the large peninsula that extended to the southwest, concurrent with the recapture of Palawan, dubbed Operation VICTOR III. A sizable force—numbering about 8,900 men of Lt.^[10]

Siege of Malabang

As Rear Admiral Noble's TG 78.2 moved toward Illana Bay to prepare the landings at Parang, Colonel Wendell Fertig—commander of guerrilla forces in Mindanao—sent word that his guerrillas controlled Malabang and its airstrip. Starting on 5 April, Colonel Jerome's Marine aviators from Dipolog moved to the Malabang airstrip, and with targeting information from the guerrillas, proceeded to bomb the Japanese positions. By 11 April, the remaining Japanese forces fled toward Parang, and friendly forces were in complete control of Malabang.^[10]

Push to central Mindanao

While the Parang landings proceeded on 17 April and the 24th Division quickly heading inland, the Eighth Army planners assumed correctly that the Japanese might destroy the bridges along Highway 1, and they decided to use the 533rd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment, 3rd Engineer Special Brigade to exploit the Mindanao River. This waterway ran roughly parallel to Highway 1 and was navigable for 35 miles (56 km). A small fleet of gunboats—under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Amputs—sailed upriver and seized Kabacan and the junction of Highway 1 and Sayre Highway on 22 April.^[10]

Fighting in Davao City

On 3 May 1945, the first combat elements of the 24th Division entered Davao City against less opposition than had been expected. The Japanese had contented themselves with destroying the city as best they could before withdrawing inland. While it took just 15 days, despite severe heat and humidity and constant rain, with an entire division travelling 115 miles (185 km) and seizing the last major Philippine city under Japanese control, the real battle for Mindanao had begun.^[10]

The end of the Japanese resistance

Meanwhile, the 31st Division had forged ahead to the town of Kibawe on Highway 1, some 40 miles (64 km) away, since 27 April, with the 124th Infantry Regiment of Colonel Edward M.Cullen at point, where the first monsoon rains started creating havoc on the advance. Running into a Japanese battalion hurrying south, Lieutenant Colonel Robert M. Fowler's 2nd Battalion, with Battery B, 149th Field Artillery attached, engaged the Japanese with much needed artillery fire, killing at least 50 and sending the rest fleeing.^[10]

Aftermath

While mopping up operations by small American units and Filipino guerrillas continued for some time, General Eichelberger announced the end of organized Japanese resistance. Throughout Mindanao, pockets of Japanese troops, protected by the impenetrable terrain of the island's unexplored jungle expanses, survived until the end of the war, when some 22,250 troops and 11,900 civilians emerged to surrender. That signalled the total liberation of the Philippines.^[10]

Related: Malabang · Malabang Airport · Japanese invasion of Malabang

External references: ^[10][11][12]

Battle of Bayang

The Battle of Bayang (Maranao: Padang Karbala) was the first major engagement of the Moro Rebellion. It was a punitive expedition led by Colonel Frank D. Baldwin in retaliation for murders committed by Moros in Malabang and Parang on the island of Mindanao.^[13]

Background

The Moros accused the Americans of trying to convert them from Islam to Christianity, just like the Spanish attempts, and held a grudge from 1900 when troops under Lt. Col. L.^[13]

March to Bayang

By late April, Baldwin had established a base at the port of Malabang, and planned to march north along the Matling River to Lake Lanao. They set up headquarters at the old Spanish fort called "Corcuera". As they marched towards Bayang, they encountered thick jungles, seemingly bottomless mud pits and tropical diseases like malaria plagued the expedition, from there, the Americans knew that they were going to encounter an entirely different kind of warfare in Mindanao, superior arms was an advantage for the American army; however, the combat in Mindanao would often be fought at hand-to-hand confrontations and suicidal, so-called juramentado and amok attacks.^[13]

Assault on Binidayan cotta

Fifteen minutes after the ultimatum expired at noon, Baldwin's men—Company F (1st Lt. Thomas Vicars) and Company H (Captain Samuel Lyon)—started their attack of the Moro fort on Lempesses Hill. The siege of Binidayan lasted about an hour, the Americans first tried firing over the parapets to cut down the defenders on the walls, afterwards, they charged the fort, after an hour the Americans captured the fort, with only 1 American killed and a small number of Moros killed.^[13]

Capture of Pandapatan cotta

Proceeding to the second fort, the Americans crossed three trench lines and surrounded the fort by 4 PM. The Moros set up an impressive defense of the cotta, with deep trenches five feet deep surrounding the cotta, and the stone walls surrounded by sharpened bamboo stakes along with concealed pits filled with sharpened bamboo; the defense of Pandapatan was poised to halt the advancing Americans.^[13]

Aftermath

The prisoners tried to escape at 1 PM, resulting in all but nine being killed. President Theodore Roosevelt on May 5 sent his thanks for the men who "carried our flag to victory."^[13]

Reactions

The battle was lauded by the American press and the Roosevelt Administration as a signal victory, the resisting Maranaos described as having been "thoroughly whipped" and taught a "salutary lesson" after losing between 300 and 400 killed versus eleven killed and forty severely wounded for the Americans. But Baldwin's immediate superior, Brigadier General George W. Davis, and the commanding officer of the Philippine Department, Major General Adna Chaffee, were greatly upset and angered by Baldwin's conduct; believing he had acted impetuously, with insubordination, and ineptly, which could have easily ended in a major disaster.^[13]

Legacy

The battle locally known as the Padang Karbala by the Maranaos is regarded as an instance of Moro resistance against imperialism and colonization of the United States and as a proof of ethnic nationalism. The Maranaos regard the casualties in the Moro side in the battle as martyrs. A bill has been proposed in the Bangsamoro Parliament recognizing May 2 as Padang Karbala Day as a means to commemorate the historic battle.^[13]

Related: Malabang · Malabang Airport · Japanese invasion of Malabang

External references: ^[13][14][15]

Guy Fort

Guy O. Fort (January 1, 1879 – November 11, 1942) was a brigadier general in the Philippine Army under the control of the United States Army Forces in the Far East. Fort led the 81st Division (Philippines) during the initial Battle of the Philippines and the Japanese invasion of Malabang.^[16]

Life

Guy Osborne Fort was born in 1879 to Jacob Marvin Fort and Lena Fulkerson in Kellerville, Michigan, in an area now known as Traverse City. The family later moved to Gloversville, New York, where Fort enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1899.^[16]

Military and constabulary career

Fort served for three years in the 4th U.S. Cavalry in the Philippines before being discharged in 1902. Two years later he was commissioned as a 3rd Lieutenant in the Philippine Constabulary, a gendarmerie-style police force under American control.^[16]

World War II

In November 1941, facing the pending Japanese invasion of the Philippines, the constabulary became part of the Philippine Army under the control of the United States Army Forces in the Far East. That month Fort was sent to Bohol to take command of the 81st Division (Philippines). On December 20, 1941, Fort was promoted to brigadier general.^[16]

Surrender and execution

After making a last-ditch stand against the Japanese on Mindanao, Fort received orders to surrender from his higher command. While Fort protested these orders, he ultimately obeyed them and surrendered his forces on May 27, 1942. Fort's surrender was fiercely opposed by the Maranao and other Moro people in Mindanao.^[16]

Related: Malabang · Malabang Airport · Japanese invasion of Malabang

External references: ^[16][17][18]