RUPERTO KANGLEON

On March 27, 1890, Ruperto Kangleon, a legend in the resistance

movement during the Japanese occupation, was born to Braulio Kangleon
and Flora Kadava in Macrohon, Leyte (now part of Southern Leyte).

Kangleon, who earned distinction as an all-around athlete for the First

Philippines Olympic team sent abroad (1912-1913), studied in the College of
Liberal Arts, University of the Philippines. However, he was really more
inclined toward the military profession. Thus, he transferred to the Philippine
Constabulary Academy in Baguio City, where he graduated in 1916.

After his graduation, he was assigned to the Philippine Constabulary, in

its Visayan campaign. His exploits in Oton, Panay earned him fame and
military citations. He served with the PC until 1942.

At the outbreak of World War II, Kangleon was commanding officer of

the 81st Infantry Regiment of the United States Armed Forces of the Far East
(USAFFE), which fought in Samar and in Mindanao. Apart from proving his
gallantry and heroism, his exploits in encounters at the Davao-Agusan
national highway fanned the spread of his reputation as a military strategist.

In the course of the war, Kangleon was captured by the Japanese

Imperial Forces. He was imprisoned in a concentration camp at Butuan,
Agusan, but managed to escape with the help of local resistance fighters in
December 1942. Forthwith, he returned to Leyte, but in no time at all
organized the Visayan resistance movement, based in Leyte and Samar. The
Kangleon Guerilla unified all resistance movements in the areas and
effectively controlled not only Leyte and Samar but their neighboring
provinces as well, a feat duly recognized by both the Philippine and American
governments. His group was credited with having exacted 3,500 casualties
on the enemy in Leyte alone.

In January 1943, Kangleon and his men improvised a radio station,

which made the first guerrilla contact with MacArthur’s forces (GHQ, SWPA)
based in Australia. Shortly thereafter, MacArthur named him division
commander of Leyte. In April, he was able to communicate with President
Quezon himself. Later, he received MacArthur’s commendation for his work
and for a clear accounting of the P2 million funds MacArthur provided them
during his return in 1944, a result no doubt of the strict moral code he and
his men adhered to.

Kangleon’s partisans established the civil government of Free Leyte in

July 1943. A year later, they were to provide ground support for the landing
of MacArthur’s liberation forces in Leyte.

Kangleon was appointed military governor of Leyte on October 23,

1944, and its civil governor in 1945.

In 1946, during the short-lived Roxas administration, he was appointed

as Secretary of National Defense. He remained in this post, however, until
1950, when he retired due to health problems.

In the 1953 national election, the Nacionalista Party drafted him as one
of its candidate for the Senate. With the "guerilla votes", he won by a
comfortable margin.

As senator, Kangleon served as chairman of the committee on

veterans and military pensions, vice chairman of the committee on national
defense and security, and member of the committees on commerce and
industry, government reorganization, national enterprises, and public works
and communications. Betraying a nationalist bent, he sought to protect
Philippine military and national security affairs from foreign interference. He
likewise decried what he believed was an unequal reparations agreement
between the Philippines and Japan and constantly took up the cudgels for his
fellow war veterans by authoring bills defending their rights.

For his efforts during the war, Kangleon received several awards
including the Distinguished Conduct Star, Distinguished Service Star, and the
Visayan Campaign Medal. Kangleon married Valentina Tagle, of Imus, Cavite
with whom he had 10 children. He died on February 27, 1958.
 RUPERTO
KANGLEONS
BIOGRAPHY

SUBMITTED BY: Clariz Constantino

SUBMITTED TO: Theresa Hope Armillos

s.y. 2019-2020