Filipino Martyr: GUILLERMO NAKAR

 GUILLERMO NAKAR

(1905-1942)

World War II

Guerrilla Leader and Martyr

Constabulary officer and World War II resistance leading Guillermo Nakar was born on

January 10, 1905 in Infanta, Tayabas (now Quezon). After graduating from the Philippine Military

Academy, Nakar was inducted into the Philippine Constabulary, rising from the ranks with his

meritorious service. He was already a PC captain by the time the Second World War broke out in

December 1941. The PC was then integrated to the United States Armed Forces in the Far East

(USAFFE). Nakar served with its 71st Infantry, based on Northern Luzon.

During the Japanese invasion, the sudden landings made by the Japanese Imperial Army

in Aparri, Cagayan caught the USAFFE by surprise. The enemy’s rapid advance southward

prevented some of its units, such as Nakar’s 71st Infantry, from joining other USAFFE units in

Bataan, where the combined Filipino-American forces intended to resist the invaders until the

promised reinforcements would arrive from the United States. To avoid being encircled by the

Japanese forces, Nakar led his men out of Bauang Bay in La Union on a northward trek, which

lasted for 17 days. Arriving in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya, they then joined up with Troop C of the 26th

Cavalry and some elements of the 11th Infantry, which had earlier taken to the hills. Organizing the

combined units under the most unfavorable conditions, Nakar formed a guerilla force, officially

designated by the USAFFE headquarters as the 1st Guerilla Regiment, with Nakar as lieutenant

colonel. It was one of the early underground resistance groups formed during the war.

On January 13, 1942, the regiment’s first battalion attacked the town of Tuguegarao,

Cagayan and an adjacent airfield, killing around 100 Japanese soldiers and destroying three enemy

planes on the ground. This move ushered his unit’s redesignation as the 14th Infantry.

Redesignated thus, Nakar’s unit conducted raids on enemy garrisons and ambushed Japanese

patrols while the battles of Bataan and Corregidor raged.

Corregidor fell on May 6, 1942, followed by Bataan, on May 9. Despite these debacles,

Nakar refused to surrender. He moved to Madela, Nueva Vizcaya, where he kept the 14th Infantry

intact, resisting all attempts of the Japanese to destroy the guerilla movement. He organized an

effective intelligence system, which covered the provinces of Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, and

Pangasinan.

His guerilla force survived until November 1942, when the Japanese launched a

coordinated offensive to capture him and other guerilla leaders. Betrayed by a traitor, Nakar was

captured and imprisoned by the Japanese. The general headquarters of the Southwest Pacific Area

Command under General Douglas MacArthur considered his capture as “the first serious blow to

the coordinated command of the USAFFE remnants,” since Nakar was regarded as “the most

prominent USAFFE officer in the (Northern Luzon) area.”

Even as a prisoner, Nakar remained defiant. Offered his freedom in exchange for signing

his surrender papers and swearing allegiance to the Japanese, he bluntly refused, saying, “I cannot

transfer my allegiance to the United States and my country.” In Echague, Isabela, the Japanese

allowed him to speak in public as part of their propaganda campaign. Instead of humoring or

kowtowing to his captors, however, Nakar denounced the Japanese for the abuses and cruelty they

were inflicting on the people. Nakar is said to have been taken later to Fort Santiago, where he was

executed on September 29, 1942.

For his intense patriotism and devotion to duty, Nakar was posthumously awarded the

Distinguished Conduct Star on July 22, 1945. In Lucena, Quezon, a military camp, which is now

the headquarters of the Southern Luzon Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, was

named in his honor.

Nakar left behind his wife, Angelina Coronel, and two children.

References:

Agoncillo, Teodoro A. The Fateful Years, Japan’s Adventures in the Philippines Volume

II. Quezon City: R.P. Garcia Publishing Company, 1965.

Baclagon, Uldarico S. They Served With Honor. Quezon City :DM Press Inc., 1965.

NHI Biographies of Outstanding Filipinos in the Field of Arts, Letters, Science, Civics,

Religion, Etc. (book bound tp.)

Reyes, Pedrito and Karasig, Jose Domingo. Pictorial History of the Philippines. Manila:

1954.