Teacher’s Camp to trenches of Bataan

On Dec. 21, 1935, Commonwealth Act No. 1, also known as the National Defense Act, was passed by the National Assembly of the Philippine Commonwealth government. The new law extended the course of instruction at the Philippine Constabulary Academy from three to four years, awarded its graduates the degree of Bachelor of Science and authorized the final change of its name to the present Philippine Military Academy.

It was a journey of almost 40 years, from the Academia Militar of 1898. The first superintendent of the PMA was Col. Pastor Martelino, a graduate of the US Military Academy, class of 1920. The first commandant of cadets was 1st Lieutenant, later Captain, Emmanuel Cepeda, also a West Pointer class of 1933.

The site of the academy was Teacher’s Camp in Baguio City. (The Camp was established during the early years of American colonial administration, as a training center and recreation area for teachers.) Under the new set-up, two batches – class 1940 and class 1941 – graduated and were commissioned in the Philippine Army.

In December 1941, the academy had four classes undergoing training. The first class cadets, members of class 1942, were scheduled to graduate in March of the following year, just three months away.

Sunday evening, Dec. 7, was cold and cloudless. The cadets were in formation – two battalions strong – for the traditional Sunday evening parade. They were in full dress uniform with highly polished buttons, buckles and breastplates. The officers sported black feather plumes and red silk sashes, with sabers at their side. It was a sight that always elicited admiration from an appreciative audience,  many of whom were visitors from the lowlands. No one thought it would be their last performance as members of the cadet corps.

Early the following morning the cadet mess hall’s radio blared out the news of a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. By noontime, Japanese bombers and fighter aircraft wiped out the Far East Air Force based at Iba, Zambales and Clark Field, Pampanga.

The cadet corps was hastily assembled and in a convoy of 12 civilian buses and six army trucks, it proceeded to Manila. The corps arrived at the campus of the University of Sto. Tomas where the chief-of-staff of the Philippine Army, Maj. General Basilio Valdez, accompanied by the PMA superintendent, Col. Fidel Segundo, met the group. Here the Adjutant read the general orders that spelled out their status in the armed forces.

The members of the two upper classes of 1942 and 1943 were commissioned as 3rd Lieutenants of the Philippine Army effective Dec. 13, 1941. The chief-of-staff then administered their oaths of office and gave a short talk of advice and encouragement. The new officers were granted a few days’ leave to bid goodbye to their loved ones but were ordered to report to their assignments not later than Dec. 21.

In happier times, their thoughts were focused on graduation and possibly, marriage to cadet sweethearts. Instead, they were being shipped out to battlefields in Bataan to fight a deadly and experienced enemy force.

The members of the two lower classes of 1944 and 1945 were given indefinite leave of absence. In effect, they were disbanded and sent home. Many members of these classes would fight as volunteer enlisted men in Bataan. After the surrender of Bataan and Corregidor, they would head for the hills, organizing guerilla units to continue resistance to the enemy.  Among them were Eleuterio “Terry” Adevoso, Juanito Ferrer and Frisco San Juan.

In the case of classes 1942 and 1943, many would serve as platoon leaders and distinguish themselves in fierce action during the war. Assigned to the First Regular Division was a member of class 1942, Lt. Eliseo D. Rio. In his book “Rays of a Setting Sun,” Rio relates one particular encounter known as the “Battle of the Pockets.” (Pockets referred to enemy units that were trapped within sectors controlled by Fil-Am forces.)

“In the Battle of the Pockets we had pulled off what undoubtedly was a signal and decisive victory. For the first time, we had engaged the enemy in a major offensive operation and wiped out an entire battalion of about a thousand men.” Rio also recalls that “leadership at the critical levels of command were provided mostly by the young 3rd Lieutenants who, a little over two months before, were jolly and carefree cadets of the Philippine Military Academy… somehow, with their training and fortitude they were transformed overnight into highly effective leaders on the fields of battle.”

Col. Eliseo Rio Sr., a distinguished alumnus of the PMA, graduated No. 1 in the class of 1942. Today, his son, retired Brig. General Eliseo Rio Jr., one of the most outstanding products of the ROTC program, a former commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission and secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, is waging a different kind of battle than that fought by his father in the trenches of Bataan. Win or lose, it is a battle the outcome of which will have a huge impact on the nation.

Along with two others, National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) member Augusto Lagman and Franklin Ysaac, former president of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, they have filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to direct the Comelec to preserve the transmission logs of the May 9, 2022 elections so that the data may be available for review in the future.