MUNICIPALITY OF ATIMONAN, Historical Data of Part 8

the enforced labor in the construction of foxholes. A compensation of fifty centavos (Japanese war notes) was given to the workers for the day's work.

This happened in the barrio of San Andres Bundok. A Ganap (Sakdalista was changed to Ganap) informer to the Imperial forces informed the seven Japanese of the presence of three (3) Americans who, at the time, were going to eat their dinner in the house where said Japanese were going. But before starting to eat, they sensed that some persons were coming. They went down immediately and started firing at the approaching enemies. In the exchange of bullets, four Japanese soldiers fell. The Japanese lieutenant was [hit] also in his leg.

One of the American soldiers, the oldest among the three, was hit in his breast but, with courage, he placed his left hand over his heart and continued firing to cover the escape of his two companions. The Japanese lieutenant was taken to town in a hammock by his two companions, who were fortunate enough to be spared. Meanwhile, the American who was wounded crossed the divide. He was buried near an iron sugar mill.

The father of the generous family was shot while his wife and children were garrisoned.

It was mid-year of 1944 [when] the crisis of peace and order in Atimonan commenced. Airplanes with stars as insignia were seen in the skies of Atimonan in "V" formation from time to time. This gave rise to the belief taht MacArthur's last message in 1941, "I shall return," had come to reality.

There was once a meeting of guerrillas and officers of the Ganap that they would observe and preserve the friendly relation. But the following day, without any provocation, the guerrillas entered the town and bullets [were] flung here and there.

The sudden attack of the guerrillas angered the Yoin (Ganap soldiers, pro-Jap), who claimed that the organization aimed to serve the Municipal Government. Vengeance on the part of the Yoin was started. Hugo Saavedra, one of the Ganap Party, shot Manuel Soler, the younger brother of Dr. Ramon N. Soler, who was a mortal enemy of Saavedra in Sitio Palo, barrio of San Isidro. Engineer Antonio Fajardo was liquidated in barrio Sapaan. Mariano Collantes, a private school tea-

cher, and Pedro Villamiel, a tailer, were murdered in cold blood in sitio Hagik-hik, barrio San Isidro, by the Ganap liquidation squad. The following were mercilessly massacred at the Rizal Campus: The Municipal Mayor, Cipriano O. Reyes; Parish Priest Rev. Father Vicente Ella; Municipal Treasurer Francisco Sanchez; Atty Vicente Aguilar Pareja; ex-Presidents Vicente Ledona and Mateo Manila; Municipal Councilors Gualberto Parin and Alfredo Castro, Jr.; Agent Jose Avellaneda; Demetrio Oriel, a public school teacher; and Antonio Cervantes, a bakery proprietor. Pedro Enriquez, Municipal President for four terms, survived as, despite his wounds, he was able to reach barrio Manggalayan, one of the centers of guerrilla activities. Dr. Pedro M. Vargas was fortunate to have crawled from a well where he was dumped despite severe head and nape wounds. He later escaped to Alabat Island.

Through the recommendation of the guerrillas, the town proper of Atimonan was bombed by the United States planes, as it was believed that there were still many Japanese soldiers, when in truth, several had moved to their garrison in the barrio of Rizal, Atimonan. After the bombing, only the houses along Iskong Bantay Street facing the sea and those north of the public market remained proudly standing. The rest of the town looked like a kaingin that has been burned. More than one thousand five hundred persons perished in the commotion. Many skulls were found under the culverts and in the wells. Dogs were fattened by eating the flesh of the dead.

Then, on April 13, 1945, some airborne American soldiers and the Hunters-ROTC guerrillas entered the town without any resistance, for the enemies had run to the forests to hide. The people were jubilant, thousands lined the national road shouting, "Mabuhay!" and waving their hands and making the "V" sign with their fingers. They sheltered in the concrete building at the Rizal Campus, where they generously gave food to those who congratulated them for their safe return. Thus ended the Philippine Independence which was directly administered by the Japanese Imperial Forces in the Philippines. Thus ended, too, the attractive policy of the Co-Prosperity Sphere for Greater Asia, which was considered a farce by the Filipinos.

POST WAR PERIOD

Victor M. de Gracia, one of the best political leaders of Ati-

monan before the invasion of the Japanese forces was appointed the last Mayor of the Philippine Commonwealth and the first Municipal Mayor of Atimonan under the Republic of the Philippines. The appointing officer was no other than the first President of the Philippine Republic, the Hon. Manuel Roxas, founder of the Liberal Party. Mayor de Gracia served from August 1946 to December 1947.

The Municipal Council under Mayor Diosdado Amado served from 1948 to 1951.

The rehabilitation and reconstruction started when the aforementioned Municipal Council received a huge fund from the U.S. War Damage Commission for the reconstruction of the public buildings which were damaged during World War II. The reconstructed buildings were as follows: the Atimonan Elementary School concrete building, the Intermediate Building, and the Trade School Building.

From the national government, aid was received through the efforts of Mayor Amado, with the cooperation of the entire council for the reconstruction of the wharf in the barrio of Plaridel (now a new municipality).

For a time, the Doña Marta Memorial Emergency Hospital ceased to function due to the lack of funds. The Municipal Council of Mayor Amado worked hard for the funds with the help of some officials of the national government, so that the aforesaid hospital might again serve the public. But in 1950, the hospital was once again closed as no funds were available from the Charity Sweepstakes.

Ever determined to continue the rehabilitation of the Municipality of Atimonan, Mayor Amado was the recipient of funds from the provincial government for the Sambat-Yawe feeder road; for the improvement of the Talaba-Summit Road, which is a part of the provincial road; and for the repair of the bridges and other roads.

As an ex-District Supervisor of the Atimonan Elementary School, Mayor Amado and his council did their best to acquire sufficient amounts for the improvement of the following barrio schools: Ponon, Concepcion, Malusak, and Sapaan. The funds came from the pork barrel of ex-Representative Tomas Morato.

For the destructive wrath of typhoon Jean, this council was able to secure relief funds for those who suffered in the disaster.

The untiring Mayor Amado and his council succeeded in requesting Senator Tañada to appropriate sufficient funds out of his pork barrel for the construction of the Municipal Building to replace the

old building which was burned when Atimonan was bombed by the U.S. bomber-fighter planes.

In the election of 1951, Lorenzo Reyes was elected Mayor of Atimonan. He served in 1952 to 1955. Majority of his political

enemies predicted that he would be an idle public official as he was already old in age and was considered a deadwood. Contrary to their expectations, Mayor Reyes proved to be energetic, enthusiastic, and efficient in the performance of his official duties.

Most of the accomplishments of this council (1952-1955) were financed by the municipal government, for the national government could hardly afford to sustain the needs of the community. And, despite the absence of national aid, the following were accomplished:

1. No less than ten (10) panels of the concrete fence of the Rizal Campus, where the Atimonan Elementary School stands, were constructed through the efforts of Mayor Reyes.

2. Complete elementary schools were the recipients of funds for the construction of concrete basketball courts. This is an indication that his council is in favor of developing the healthy sportsmanship of the youth, so as to minimize juvenile delinquency.

3. To help perpetuate the memory of the late President Manuel L. Quezon, a monument depicting the rice planting of the aforesaid president was erected in front of the Municipal Building which is located at the heart of the town.

4. A dump truck, the first of its kind in this municipality, was purchased for the speedy collection of garbage. This is in conjunction of the health program of his administration.

You may recall that, during the administration of Mayor Diosdado Amado (1948-1951), a temporary building was built to house the municipal offices. Highly-determined to construct a more permanent municipal building, Mayor Reyes and his council worked hard to find the ways and means to secure the necessary funds when, ultimately, Senator Lorenzo Tañada slashed fifty thousand pesos out of his pork barrel and appropriated the same for the cherished dream Municipal Building of Mayor Reyes and his associates. Soon, the temporary building was replaced.

This administration, in cooperation with the activities of the "purok," devised a well-balanced program of cleaning, repairing, and improving the drainage system and the streets, not to mention the asphalting of the principal streets of the town.

To up-keep the cleanliness and maintenance of the streets, a year-round shifting of casual laborers was observed. This idea

solved the problem of unemployment. He took hand in the supervision of his projects. The brainy (lazy of "pautak") laborers are suspended when three offenses are committed. He saw to it that honesty was observed to the letter. Corruption was checked on the spot. Misappropriations were never tolerated. At the close of his administration, the financial status of the municipality was sound unlike other administrations where an overdraft is registered in the Municipal Treasury. His guidelines were responsible for an unsmeared administration.

One of the most interesting local elections in Atimonan, Quezon was in 1955 as there were seven (7) mayoralty candidates, broken as follows: one official NP, four independent NP's, one official LP, and one official Citizens' Parrty. The political forecasters predicted an easy sailing of the Citizens' Party candidate, for said party had, during that time, no less than three thousand five hundred registered members who were qualified voters, and the voting population of Atimonan was around ten thousand, more or less.

When the appreciation ballots had concluded, everyone was surprised when the tabulated ballots showed that Francisco Enriquez, an independent NP candidate and a bachelor, vanquished his political rivals.

Paking's victory was, indeed, unexpected for the following reasons:

1. He spent the least in the political campaigns. More often than not, his barrio political followers defrayed the barrio campaign expenses.

2. He spoke the least and the shortest in the campaigns.

3. Besides being a bachelor, he was already fatherless when he launched his candidacy, as his father, the late Don Pedro Enriquez, once a political mogul of Atimonan, had passed away after the liberation.

As Mayor from 1955 to 1959, he brought the local government close to the people by spending more of his official time [attending] to the needs of the barrio folks. He did not possess the so-called "delicadeza." Any official or semi-official business could be transacted with him anywhere at anytime.

Although a bachelor, Mayor Paking had the community's problems, development, and progress at heart. The following were among his

achievements:

21. Asphalting of the following streets in Atimonan Poblacion: Angeles, Lopez Jaena, Manzano-Cerrudo, around the public market, Iskong Bantay, from Aguinaldo to Manzano-Cerrudo, General Luna, from Enriquez to Iskong Bantay.

22. Repair and maintenance of all asphalted streets, repair of all culverts and canals.

23. Widening and asphalting of the street to the municipal cemetery and the construction of a shade at the said cemetery.

24. Work for the release of ₱30,000.00 for the purchase of new water pipes and repair of the Guinto water works.

25. Construction of a concrete basketball courts in the barrios of Balubad, Malinao Ilaya, Rizal, and San Isidro.

26. Roads and feeder roads: Samba-Yawe Road; allocation of ₱10,000.00 for the extension of the said road to San Andres Labak, repair of the Sambat-Yawe bridges (at Sapaan), repair of all bridges from Talaba to the San Rafael provincial road, and construction of river control for the irrigation of barrio Ponon.

27. Miscellaneous: distribution of plant sprayers in the different barrios; worked for the release of ₱40,000.00 for the Atimonan-Mauban Road; construction of the BCT Headquarters at the Poblacion, Villa Ilaya, and Malinao Ibaba; worked for the opening of the barrio schools of San Andres Bundok, Caridad Ilaya, Montes Balaon, and Villa Ilaya.

28. Restored peace and order in Huklandia areas in the Municipality of Atimonan, specifically in the barrios of Balugohin, Caridad Ilaya, Caridad Ibaba, Villa Ibaba and Ilaya, and Santa Catalina.

29. Encouraged the barrio folks to work for extensive food production by planting more vegetables, raising fowls, and engaging in hog-raising.

30. Encouraged the surrender of dissidents, especially those from Atimonan. Settled amicably the dispute between the basnig operators and the smalltime fishermen in the locality.

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Historical Data of the Municipality of Atimonan, Province of Quezon, online at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections.