THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 1, 1995 TAG: 9507010451
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MICHELLE MIZAL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 138 lines
Salazar Kuizon Mizal fled Mindanao during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II. The Norfolk resident's recollections of the war, the islands' liberation and the country's independence on July 4, 1946, are preserved here by her granddaughter, reporter Michelle Mizal.
For Salazar Kuizon Mizal, July 4 is not a day to remember American patriots or ponder a Declaration of Independence. For her, the day brings other thoughts: memories of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II and the country's eventual liberation.
Just hours after Japanese pilots bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, others followed with an attack on Manila, Philippines. Soon after, Japanese forces invaded the islands, which had been ceded to the United States at the end of the Spanish-American War.
It would be nearly four hard years before the invaders were forced to surrender. But Filipinos did not take full control of their country until the following year, when the United States made good on its promise to relinquish possession of the islands and granted full independence - on July 4, 1946.
Salazar Mizal, 29 years old in 1941, was living with her husband, two children and her parents, Lucio and Euginia Kuizon, when they were told to evacuate. The Japanese were coming.
``The Japanese were looking for the Kuizon family,'' Salazar recalled, ``because somebody had told them that we had three sons who were all radio operators in the (Philippine guerrilla) army.''
The ``three sons'' were Salazar's older brother, Cresing Kuizon, and two younger brothers, Filemon and Perling. It was true. All three were radio operators in ``The Guerrillas.''
Filemon sent word of the Japanese invasion. Before leaving, the family tried to rid all traces of the Kuizon name from their two-bedroom nipa house - with wooden walls and floor and a palm-leaf roof - in Buena Vista, on the island of Mindanao. They even destroyed embroidered bedsheets with the family name and packed up pictures to take along.
There had to be no sign of the Kuizon family. If they were found, the Japanese would massacre them.
Lucio and Euginia Kuizon fled to Leyte, an island in the Visayan region. Salazar, her children and her husband, Ernesto Mizal, fled to the Virgin Forest in the province of Agusan. They were in less danger because they did not carry the Kuizon name, and so stayed closer to the family's 25-hectare farm.
Deep in the Virgin Forest, Ernesto and evacuees from Davao province built a seven-hectare homestead.
Every morning at 7, three Japanese airplanes flew over the capitol in Butuan City and bombed it,'' Salazar said.
The family could see the bombing from their homestead. They were 12 miles from Butuan City, the capital of Agusan, across the Agusan River.
Every night they went to sleep to the sound of the guerrillas attacking the Japanese.
The Japanese apparently did not know that Filipinos were living in the jungle. For three years, Salazar Mizal and her family remained safely hidden.
It was the beginning of the Philippines' liberation that eventually sent danger their way. With Gen. Douglas MacArthur's return Oct. 20, 1944, fierce island-by-island fighting ensued. One day the Japanese crossed the Agusan River into the jungle, fleeing from MacArthur's forces.
Japanese soldiers eventually made their way to the Mizals' jungle homestead, possibly tipped to the location by an informer, Salazar said. Because the homestead was hidden by surrounding rice fields and banana trees, it was used as a secret passageway by the guerrillas.
``One afternoon, I was surprised to see the trees moving. I rubbed my eyes and then remembered the news saying that the Japanese would use the trees as camouflage when they would advance,'' Salazar said.
Salazar ran into the house and woke up Ernesto. The Japanese shot at the house but hit a banana tree instead.
Ernesto had prepared two evacuation shelters in advance, so the family dashed out the back door and crawled through the muddy rice fields to the first hideout at the edge of a nearby clearing.
The spacious shelter was made of a canvas government tent, hidden among tall banana trees. It was stocked with guns and plenty of ammunition, left there by Filemon Kuizon.
``We were scared because our own army was bombing the homestead. They thought Japanese were at the Mizals','' Salazar said. ``But they did not know how to gauge their fire, so the bombs went right over us.''
Across the rice fields, she could see the Japanese take the family's dining table out of the house and eat their sardines.
The Japanese hoisted their red and white flag.
A laughing Japanese soldier said the house surrendered, but no people did.
The Mizals were nowhere to be found.
Later in the day, a Japanese soldier started digging for potatoes nearby. So near was the soldier that Salazar could hear him breathing.
Some time later a bomb fell near the clearing, knocking down a banana tree and further blocking the shelter from view. Salazar was surprised that her eldest son - June, who was then 4 - did not cry. Even the family puppy kept quiet, cuddled at her feet.
The caribou saved the Mizal family.
Japanese soldiers searching the area were distracted by the family's herd of caribou, which they took with them. The soldiers never discovered the pathway to the hideout.
When twilight came, the family crawled from the hideout in the clearing to one in ``the midst of the jungle.'' The second hideout was fully equipped with mosquito nets and lots of rice. The family even had enough to feed some guerrillas passing through.
Meanwhile, the Japanese were having a festival at the house.
``We could hear them singing, laughing and killing our chickens,'' Salazar said.
When the Japanese left after a few days, Salazar and her family returned to the homestead, still intact. All the surrounding houses and trees were burned down. But the danger was not over.
A Filipino guerrilla captain came to the house that same day and called Salazar and her family ``fifth columns'' - traitors.
``The captain said that we were with the Japanese because we did not evacuate,'' Salazar said.
Salazar tried to reason with the captain that they did not flee because her husband was sickly, but the captain pulled out a gun. Then a soldier stepped forward to tell the captain that Ernesto had given the guerrillas food while they were at the hideout. Ernesto's life was spared.
Soon after that the Japanese surrendered to the Americans, on Sept. 2, 1945. The people of Agusan were the last to be liberated.
Months later, on July 4, 1946, the historic announcement came.
Salazar still remembers hearing the radio broadcast: The Philippines had become an independent republic. Manuel Roxas was elected the country's first president.
Today, Salazar Mizal, 83 years old, lives in Norfolk with her middle son, Julito Mizal, and his wife, Libby. She and her family, with her son June's help, came to America in 1973 and became permanent residents. June had joined the U.S. Navy after the war and immigrated to the United States. She now has five children and 12 grandchildren all living in the United States.
The Kuizon farm in Buena Vista, reclaimed after the war, remains in the family today.
Half a century later and half a world away, Salazar still remembers. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
1933: Salazar Kuison Mizal
Color photo by Jim Walker, Staff
1995: Mrs. Mizal
KEYWORDS: WORLD WAR II PHILIPPINE ISLANDS by CNB