Philippine resistance against Japan
| Philippine resistance against Japan Paglaban ng Pilipinas sa mga Hapon | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II | |||||||||
Propaganda poster depicting the Philippine resistance movement | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
Philippine Communist Party Moro people | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
Philippine Constabulary Makapili |
Hukbalahap Moro-Bolo Battalion Maranao Militia and others... | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
Unknown Japanese 30,000 Constabulary 6,000 Makapili |
30,000 guerrillas in ten sectors (spring 1944) ~260,000 formally recognized members of the pro-US resistance following the war ~30,000 Hukbalahap fighters ~30,000 Moro Juramentados | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 8,000–10,000 dead (before the Allied invasion in October 1944) | 8,000 dead (1942–1945) | ||||||||
| Around 530,000 to 1,000,000 Filipinos died during the Japanese occupation. | |||||||||
During the Japanese occupation of the islands in World War II, there was an extensive Philippine resistance movement (Filipino: Kilusan ng Paglaban sa Pilipinas), which opposed the Japanese and their collaborators with active underground and guerrilla activity that increased over the years. Fighting the guerrillas – apart from the Japanese regular forces – were a Japanese-formed Bureau of Constabulary (later taking the name of the old Philippine Constabulary during the Second Republic), the Kenpeitai (the Japanese military police), and the Makapili (Filipinos fighting for the Japanese). Postwar studies estimate that around 260,000 people were organized under guerrilla groups and that members of anti-Japanese underground organizations were more numerous. Such was their effectiveness that by the end of World War II, Japan controlled only twelve of the forty-eight provinces.
Select units of the resistance would go on to be reorganized and equipped as units of the Philippine Army and Constabulary. The United States Government officially granted payments and benefits to various ethnicities who have fought with the Allies by the war's end. However, only the Filipinos were excluded from such benefits, and since then these veterans have made efforts in finally being acknowledged by the United States. Some 277 separate guerrilla units made up of 260,715 individuals were officially recognized as having fought in the resistance movement.