The Moalong & Ubujan Ambushcades

The Moalong & Ubujan Ambushcades

In Rizalino Israel's "Captain Francisco Salazar Has Fallen", a biography of Vicente T. Cubero, he told the story of a brave Surigao-born Boholano who used the name Francisco Salazar as his war name. He was a warrior in the true sense of the word for the author. Israel said that this man believed that one's life must be sacrificed for God and country if man's soul is to be saved from eternal damnation.

However, on the other hand, Cubero was known to have possessed a talisman in the form of a libretto, according to Israel. Many claimed that Salazar became invulnerable to bullets and other weapons after uttering words from the strange tiny book.

During a meeting of Genaro Visarra, by then a congressman in the first district, and Ismael Ingenerio, then lieutenant who already organized a guerilla unit with temporary headquarters at Maitum, Balilihan, they assigned Francisco Salazar to conduct active combat operations against the Japanese soldiers.

The Ambush at Moalong - In Israel's book, it was on September 25, 1942 when Captain Francisco Salazar, Lt. Vicente Nunag, Jr., Captain Graciano Espinueva, Lt. Sales and Lt. Brigido Senano and their men left Maitum for Moalong, Loon for that ambush operation. It was sunday when they arrived at their destination on September 27, 1942.

Immediately, the guerilleros positioned themselves on an elevated area overlooking the road bend going up northwest at an intersection leading to a Sandigan Island barrio where a bridge also existed. The men were then at vantage point. This was the first ambush and the best against the enemies, said Israel in his book. One of the two truckloads of Japanese soldiers fell into the sea. A hand grenade was thrown at the place where Salazar was standing, yet he was never hurt despite the exploded grenade nearby. In this encounter, four guerilla fighters lost their lives and five soldiers were wounded after a second truckload of Japanese soldiers arrived.

The Planned Abatan Ambush - Believing that the Japanese soldiers would not go beyond Maribojoc or enter any part of the town of Loon, Salazar organized an ambush position in Abatan, Maribojoc near the bridge on October 14, 1942. The site of the ambushcade in Abatan was not different from that of Moalong; the guerilla fighters were atop an elevated flattened area overlooking the Abatan bridge. The failure to make an engagement with the enemy, according to the book, prompted Salazar to push forward and establish an ambushcade in the barrio of Ubujan, Tagbilaran on October 12, 1942.

Ubujan Encounter and the Death of a Hero - Salazar was said to be anxios to have another contact with the enemy. He chose Ubujan because the terrain was flat and the enemies would not think twice of any suspicion that an ambushcade on such a flat area would happen. A few hours before the encounter, there was the ominous sign, when Captain Salazar summoned Lt. Rogers - the nome de guerre of Lt. Juan Relampagos, and in a sad mood instructed the latter to evacuate all documents on classified matters to their rear Command Post in Cantaongon.

The site of the ambushcade in Ubujan Daku was along a road bend between kilometer 4 and at the Tagbilaran North National Road. The ambushers were occupying an area about 100 meters along the North National Road, right side of it facing seaward opposite the place where MB Liner Bus compound used to occupy.

It was a very hot afternoon but the men remained quiet and orderly. Salazar then instructed his men to advance and engaged the enemy in a hand to hand combat at his commnad. His men who believed in his proven power during the previous operations took the instruction without due fear. They were told that unless they would obey his command, they would die so they earnestly heeded his command. They had only about thirty firearms reinforced by the dynamite boys. The main force had only bolos with them. It has been said by old-folks-knowers that only a female could neutralize the power of a talisman. It had been coincidentally proven true in the case of Francisco Salazar because before the fight happened, a woman crossed the firing line, in the person of a certain Maria, who, together with a lad pretended to be looking for a medicine man to cure her ailment but in reality was a Japanese spy. After the incident, three truckloads of Japanese soldiers in fully armed gear arrived. At the end, fourteen guerrilla fighters fell and eighty nine Japanese soldiers lost their lives in that encounter. Francisco Salazar died from the bullets of the Japanese soldiers and his charmed exploits ended too.

Significant Historical Developments

          Historical Setting                              Muslim Raids On Bohol Coastal Towns
          Sikatuna, The Bohol Chieftain              Dagohoy, The Celebrated Hero Of Bohol
          How Bohol Got Its Name                     Bohol Participation in the Philippine Revolution
          Christianization of the Natives              Lonoy, Jagna Massacre

Bits of World War II History

          April 1942 Bombing of Jetafe              The Moalong and Ubujan Ambushcades
          June 1943 Japanese Kempatai             The Bohol Liberation
          Underground Movement                       How Bohol was Liberated