UNLIKE in the early years of the American colonial rule when hordes of Filipino Ilustrados supported the U.S., the Japanese Occupation forces had to scrape the barrel to cultivate a specific Filipino class that would support the Japanese rulers. Not many Filipinos supported the Japanese.
Two Filipino organizations were formed to answer the urgent call of Japanese Occupation forces for domestic political support: Kapisanan ng Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas (Kalibapi); and Malayang Katipunan ng mga Pilipino (Makapili). They were formed during the waning years of the three and a half year Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, but they played big roles to project local support for the Japanese.
According to Dr. Ricardo T. Jose, a prominent Filipino scholar who did extensive research works and wrote about the Japanese Occupation, Kalibapi was the fascist-type sole legal political party of the Japanese rulers. It was created as the Filipino version of Japan’s Imperial Rule Assistance Association (Taisei Yokusankai).
Inaugurated on Dec. 30, 1942, or the 46th death anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal’s to look patriotic, Kalibapi supported the Japanese Occupation while using Filipino nationalism as its springboard. It created a mass movement to replace all prewar parties, the Partido Nacionalista and Democrata. Even the pro-Japanese Ganap Party was dissolved, according to Jose.
Kalibapi did labor recruitment, rice collection, and neighborhood control for the Japanese forces. It wrote a new Constitution and created a National Assembly to give legal cover to independence under Japan. It promoted Pan-Asianism under the so-called Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity, Japan’s ideology for its conquest of the Philippines.
Kalibapi was purportedly founded by the Philippine Executive Commission under Jorge Vargas by Proclamation No. 109 issued Dec 8, 1942. Vargas was the executive secretary of President Manuel Quezon during the Commonwealth period. Quezon named him as the caretaker of the Philippines when the Japanese forces arrived and Manila was declared an “open city.” Quezon left with then Vice President Sergio Osmena Sr. for the U.S. and stayed there as exiles.
Kalibapi had Benigno S. Aquino Sr. as its director-general. He was the father of martyr Ninoy Aquino, grandfather of the late President Benigno Aquino III. Camilo Osias replaced him the following year. Kalibapi had Pio Duran, a hardline supporter of Japanese Occupation, as its secretary-general. Duran was described as an effective secretary-general.
The Kalibapi executive committee was composed of Benigno Ramos, the Sakdalista leader, who formed the pro-Japanese Ganap Party, Gen. Artemio Ricarte, Aquino, Osias, and Duran. Then
President Jose P. Laurel became its political head after the Second Philippine Republic was established on Oct 14, 1943. All 54 members of the National Assembly were Kalibapi members.
Kalibapi was not a fighting work, but more of political bureaucracy, according to Jose. It was mainly engaged in political works like distribution of propaganda materials of the Japanese rulers, creation of provincial and municipal chapters, mass meetings to promote the Co-Prosperity Sphere ideology, enforcement of Japanese cultural policies, and organization of Filipino workers for Japanese projects.
Makapili was a militant armed group, not a political party. It was formed on Dec. 8, 1944, quite late, when Japan was losing the war.It full name was Makabayang Katipunan ng mga Pilipino, or popularly Makapili. It had about 6,000 members, who did auxiliary works for the Japanese soldiers. Its main purpose was to give military aid to the Japanese Occupation forces.
As auxiliary forces, Makapili was supposed to be equal to the Japanese Army personnel. Its leaders were given ranks equal to Japanese counterparts. They helped suppress guerrilla resistance and Commonwealth forces. The image of an unknown Filipino pro-Japan supporter with a bamboo bag (bayong) was described to be true as these Makapili supporters pointed suspected guerillas to Japanese soldiers.
Makapili’s founderand supreme commander was writer Benigno Ramos, who was also the man behind Kalibapi. Ramos was a former Quezon supporter, who turned against him after they had a spat. He was a former Sakdalista organizer and writer, He also founded the pro-Japanese, GANAP Party. In late 1944, Ramos gathered at his house in Mandaluyong pro-Japanese supporters like Gen. Artemio Ricarte, Sotero Baluyut (Laurel’s representative), Pio Duran, Leon Villafuerte, Andres Villanueva, and poet Aurelio Alvero. In that meeting, they decided to form Makapili as an auxiliary force to the Japanese Occupation forces.
Its main sponsor was Gen. Shigenori Kuroda, the happy go-lucky but incompetent Japan’s military governor of the Philippines and head of the Japanese Military Administration here. According to Jose, Kuroda gave 2,000 rifles in a meeting with Makapili leaders at Christ the King Compound in Quezon City. Japanese forces made it their headquarters.
President Jose P. Laurel protested its creation because it owed allegiance to Japan, not to the Philippines. Japanese Ambassador Shōzō Murata to the Philippines forced Laurel to attend its inauguration, saying his absence would be considered noncooperation by Tokyo. He did but not without reminding the Makapili leaders “never to betray the country.”
Makapili members were assigned to Japanese units as auxiliaries.They were also deployed to rural areas to counter recognized guerrillas and Philippine Commonwealth troops. They also guarded Japanese and government facilities.
Their most hated role was during zonifacation, where they appeared with the infamous bayong (woven basket with eye holes) as informers. The Kempeitai (Japanese military police) would round up a barrio, Makapili with bayong over head would point out guerrillas, supporters, families. Then, the Japanese would arrest, torture, and kill them. This is why postwar films showed Makapili in bayong.
During the infamous Battle of Manila in Feb 1945, Ramos ordered the burning of houses west of Taft Ave and south of Libertad Ave in Pasay to delay US 11th Airborne. After the war, Makapili was disbanded. Their members were vilified and tried for treason. Many members were killed. Ramos was taken by the retreating forces along with in the upland Cordillera, where they were said to have been killed by the Japanese. (To be continued)
