“Duty is heavier than a mountain
While death, lighter than a feather”
—Emperor Hirohito, 1945
TO THE Asians, the tiger is a fierce animal personifies war. It is also given as title to an army’s highest-ranking general. The most famous one was Tomoyuki Yamashita, the “Tiger of Malaya.”
The viper, on the other hand, symbolizes resiliency and adaptability. In the Philippines, the most famous man bearing that name was Artemio “El Vivora” Ricarte. “El Vivora” means “The Viper,” the nom de guerre Ricarte used during the Philippine Revolution in 1896.
During the last days of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, the two generals found themselves in each other’s company, defending against the onslaught of Philippine and American soldiers. To most students of history, this was a baffling mystery: Why did an aging Filipino revolutionary hero join the ranks of the Japanese Imperial Army?
To answer this question, we have to go back 50 years before the unlikely alliance, to Aug. 31, 1896, when the first Spanish garrison in San Francisco de Malabon (now General Trias) Cavite was captured by the forces of General Emilio Aguinaldo.
Leading the charge was the young Ilocano, Ricarte. For his efforts, “El Vivora” was given the rank of brigadier general. In the next two years, he would play a major role in the defeat of the Spaniards, which ultimately led to the declaration of Philippine independence on June 12, 1898.
During the onset of the Philippine-American war in 1899, Ricarte tried to infiltrate American lines in Manila but was captured. On Jan. 7, 1901, he was banished to Agana, Guam along with 33 other patriots who did not sign the pledge of allegiance to the United States.
In 1903, US authorities thought Ricarte had already mellowed, and brought him back to Manila along with Apolinario Mabini. Mabini, who was already sick, signed the pledge of allegiance. Ricarte did not. Mabini died soon after. Ricarte, on the other hand, escaped and tried to foment another rebellion. He was caught and jailed for six years at the Bilibid prison. It was during this incarceration that he said to an American officer: “I will never pledge my allegiance to America. You could kill me. But I will not sign that document pledging my allegiance to your country.”
In 1910, he was sent to exile in Hong Kong under the ever-vigilant eyes of British and American spies. It was in Japan, however, that he would find solace; he and his wife migrated to Yokohama in 1923. He would find work there as a Spanish teacher in one of its private schools. In 1942, “El Vivora” did the unthinkable. With a samurai sword tucked neatly under his belt, the Viper joined the Japanese Imperial Army in its conquest of Manila.
In 1945, he heeded Emperor Hirohito’s call to all the Japanese people to defend the Empire to the last man. Did Ricarte forget that he was Filipino and not Japanese? Was it dementia? He was, after all, 78 years old.
Or was it Ricarte’s never-ending hatred for America that led him to take such action? He soon went with Yamashita to Bessang Pass to defend the “crumbling” empire.
Like the Viper, Yamashita was not called the “Tiger of Malaya” for obscure reasons. In 1942, with a frontline army of 30,000 Japanese troops, he was able to subdue 130,000 British, Indian, and Australian soldiers in Malaya and Singapore in just two weeks. He became an instant national hero in Japan. However, one man was very jealous of his accomplishment – Gen. Hideki Tojo, the Premier of Japan.
Tojo sent Yamashita to Manchuria as administrator, effectively sidelining him for the next two years. It was only in October 1944 that he was called back to active service, to defend the Philippines against the returning American army.
By February 1945, the Tiger’s once-mighty 262,000-man army was reduced to only 50,000 men – 16,000 of whom would disobey his order to evacuate Manila to join his army in the north.
On March 3, all 16,000 of them perished, along with their naval commander Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi. They took along with them more than 100,000 Filipino civilian lives. This gloomy episode is known as the “Massacre of Manila.”
By April, the “Battle of Bessang Pass” was midway. It had started on January 8, when Filipino forces (3rd Battalion, 121st Regiment) led by Major Conrado Rigor raided the foothills of Tapudin, Ilocos Sur.
In May, there was a lull in the fighting, as casualties mounted on both sides. Lives would be taken, not only by bullets, but also by malaria, cholera and dysentery. In June, Yamashita’s army found themselves surrounded on all sides by the Filipino army (the 121st, 15th and 66th infantry regiments led by Colonel Calixto Duque and Maj. Eulogio Balao Jr. Bessang Pass finally fall on June 14, 1945.
On July 30, 1945, Ricarte’s lifeless body was recovered in a lonely pass in Kalinga by elements of the 15th regiment under Maj. Simeon Valdes, a relative. A companion, Col. Kanochiro Ota, later testified that the old man had died of dysentery.
It is sad to see an old Filipino hero die this way. Ricarte was at the wrong place and with the wrong company during this particular time in Philippine history. I wish to remember him, though, as a fiery rebel who fought the Spaniards and the Americans.
Yamashita, meanwhile, was contemplating whether to take his own life or to surrender to the advancing Filipino soldiers. The Tiger was not that fierce after all. He chose to surrender, not to the Filipino soldiers surrounding Kalinga but to a few American officers at John Hay in Baguio City on Sept. 3, 1945.
After a lengthy trial, the “Tiger of Malaya” was found guilty of various crimes. He was hanged in Los Baños, Laguna on Feb. 3, 1946.
Final notes: “Duty is heavier than a mountain, while death, lighter than a feather.” These were the famous words uttered by Emperor Hirohito when he called on all the Japanese people to defend the empire to the last man.
In Manila, 16,000 Japanese soldiers heeded this call and died for their country. They took with them more than a hundred thousand Filipino lives. In retaliation, most, if not all, of the 16,000 dead Japanese were dumped below Manila’s sewerage canals by angry Filipinos.
As for the Filipino victory at Bessang Pass: It could be likened to a gem coveted by many.
In 1982, President Ferdinand Marcos, in a rare press conference, claimed that he was the real hero at Bessang Pass. But though he served as intelligence officer of USAFFE-Northern Luzon, Marcos was in Nueva Vizcaya during the six-month battle for Bessang Pass. One Ilocano historian pointed out: “Filipino victory at Bessang Pass could not be credited to a select few. It belongs to the nameless farmers, soldiers, haulers, and other volunteers (both Ilocanos and Igorots) many of whom gave up their lives to make this victory possible.”
George M. Hizon is an avid student of Philippine history and writes for Ateneo’s BlueBlood Magazine.
