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Pacification of Batangas
Pacification of Batangas
Part of Philippine–American War
Location	Southern Luzon;
Planned by	General J. Franklin Bell
Commanded by	General Adna Chaffee
Objective	Neutralize insurgent forces remaining active following conclusion of general hostilities
Date	April 16, 1902 (UTC+6)
Executed by	U.S. Army, U.S. Marines
Outcome	Objective achieved but with significant collateral damage and noncombatant casualties
Casualties	<>

Sandbox for a Pacification of Batangas article.

The Pacification of Batangas was initiated following the Balangiga massacre incident in September of 1901 by Philippine Governor William H. Taft and General Adna Chaffee, Philippine Division commander.^[1] General hostilities in the Philippine-American War had largely ceased in April after the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo, president of the insurgent Philippine Republic and his publication of a manifesto on April 19, 1901 acknowledging and accepting U.S. sovereignty throughout the Philippines.^[2]

Nomenclature, organization and mission

Batangas, in this context, refers to an area of southwestern Luzon then referred to by the U.S. Army as the Batangas Region and comprising the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, and portions of Tayabas; an area of about 4,200 square miles (11,000 km²) with a resident population of about 560,000. Chaffee reorganized his command into brigade commands with missions to bring the war to a close and assigned Brigadier General James Franklin Bell to command the 3rd Separate Brigade with a mission to pacify the region.^[3]

Filipino insurgent resistance

Miguel Malvar had assumed command of of Filipino guerilla forces in southwestern Luzon, including the Batangas region. reorganized them, renamed the combined armed forces as "Army of Liberation"" and continued pursuing guerilla warfare.^[1]

Pacification operations

After assessing the situation in his new command, Bell concluded in a December 26, 1801 report to his immediate superior, Majot General Loyd Wheaton, that it would be necessary to cut off the income and food of the Malvar's guerillas and crowd them mitarily in order to wear them out.^[4]^[a] Bell had determined that insurgent guerillas were operating from bases in the areas of Mount Cristobal, Mount Banahaw, Mount Maquiling, and the mountains northeast of Lobo and assigned forces to clean up these areas and secure them, impounding or destroying food supplies and enforcing severe travel restrictions. Bell estimated that lack of food and military pressure would bring about effective pacification within two months.^[6]

Bell's operations proved effective in Batangas and Laguna, with some guerillas surrendering and some, pursued by Bell's forces, fleeing into the mountains of northern and western Tabayas province. In February, insurrecto activity in parts of the civilian administered and supposedly pacified parts of Tayabas province. In response to this and to observations that insurgents remaining in Laguna have been able to get food supplies from towns in Tabayas, Bell ordered strict application in Tabayas of measures which had been effective in Batangas and requested that all ports in Tabayas be closed.^[7] Bell implemented a complete counterinsurgency campaign designed to separate the guerrillas from the population, establishing population reconcentration zones, sending large expeditions into guerrilla strongholds, breaking up town infrastructures, and destroying food supplies. These measures had their desired effect, and guerrilla resistance collapsed within a few months.^[8]

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Notes

^ Bell hadapplied similar measures on a smaller scale with good results in a previous assignment in Abra province.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b Ramsey 2007, p. 5.
^ "Today in Filipino History, April 19, 1901, Aguinaldo issued Peace Manifesto after his capture and after his Oath of Allegiance to the United States". Office of the Military Governor in the Philippine Islands. n.d. [April 19, 1901]. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
^ Michael 2017, pp. 78, 79.
^ Ramsey 2007, p. 7.
^ *Andrews, Frank L. (2002). The Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902) | development of the U.S. Army's counterinsurgency policy (Master of Arts in Liberal Arts thesis). Louisiana State University. pp. 60–64.
^ Ramsey 2007, pp. 7–11.
^ Ramsey 2007, p. 12.
^ Ramsey 2007, p. 14.

Bibliography

Ramsey, Robert D. III (2007). A Masterpiece of Counterguerrilla Warfare | BG J. Franklin Bell in the Philippines 1901-1902 (PDF). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute Press, US Army Combined Arms Center. ISBN 978-0-16-079503-9.
Miller, Stuart Creighton (1982). "Benevolent Assimilation": The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1903. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16193-9.
Michael, Daniel (December 2017). James Franklin Bell : hard war in the Philippines (Master of Arts in History thesis). Louisville, Kentucky: University of Louisville.