THE ROLE OF TIGBAUAN (ILOILO) CIVILIANS IN WORLD WAR II
By Epifanio T. Tuciaud
Historian, 1st Iloilo District Veterans Association, Inc.
The tension of war fever started from the bombings by the Japanese Imperial Forces of Pearl Harbor, Manila and Iloilo City on the later part of 1941. It was then the belief of the civilians that, because of the might of the United States, war would last only for a year. Indeed, the crippling enemy surprises were not well evaluated by the civilians.

In the course of events that followed, Governor Tomas Confesor of Iloilo informed the civilian populations through their respective Mayors to be prepared of enemy invasion. Evacuation centers were designated and all available foodstuffs were correspondingly stored.

During that tension, Panay Island had only token combat teams. Most of the soldiers were transported to Mindanao. In fact during the Japanese Imperial Forces landing in Barrio Cabanbanan, Oton, Iloilo on April 16, 1942 there were no encounters. The poblacion and coastal barrios of Tigbauan were totally evacuated by the civilians. The seat of the exiled local government was designated by Mayor Salvador Tueres in the Binaliuan Elementary School Building, 6 kilometers inland from the poblacion.

On April 22, 1942 the Japanese invading hordes entered the poblacion of Tigbauan which was then a no-man's land. The civilians were fully aware of the movements of the enemy, much more when an enemy garrison was later established in the Tigbauan Central School building.