Got up at 6 a.m. Shaved & dressed. Took launch Baler at 7 a.m. for Cabcaben. Arrived there 7:30 a.m. Lieutenant Monsod aide to General Francisco & Major Javallera came to meet us. Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Nieto, and Major Romulo were with me. We took the command car and proceed to General Francisco’s Command Post we had breakfast there. Then we left on our inspection tour.
The first place I inspected was the Philippine Constabulary collecting station. I saw Colonel Luna and all the other Medical Officers with him. It is the best place of all I have been. Nice clean running water; good large trees which serve the double purpose of shade from the sun and from enemy airplanes.
From there I visited the Headquarters of the Philippine Army which is just across the road. Very nice and quiet place also. Well protected from Airplane attacks. I discussed some matters with them. I saw all the officers there. The morale is excellent, the spirit is high.
They were all anxious to know how soon would the help come. I told them that I have the pre-sentiment, the hunch, that I will return to Manila at the end of February this year.
It was already 11:20 a.m., so we decided to have luncheon at Colonel Luna’s place. After luncheon we proceeded on our tour of inspection. The first Command Post. we stopped was General Selleck’s. He was reconnoitering. This is the second time I missed him.
Then we went to General Segundo’s Command Post. near Morong. It is situated a few kilometers from Morong, on the side of the mountain. We had to do some steep climbing to reach his place. It was about 2:30 p.m. We found him eating his luncheon as he had just returned from the battle line. He explained to us the situation. “During the morning”, he said “a group of about 300 Japanese tried to make a landing in the beach. Our artillery saw it and let them have a taste of our shells. They ran away leaving about 150 dead and their guns”. At 3 p.m. he took us to his main battle line. We reached our line which was in the south-side of the Morong river. I visited all the machine gun nests and spoke to the boys. The morale was excellent. They were anxious to see the enemy and let him have it. Then we climbed the hill and saw our batteries of 75mm and 155mm guns. I spoke to Lieutenant Menties an American in command of the batteries. He said that he would stick to his gun alive or dead and “Believe me”, he added “when this baby (155) starts firing someone is going to get hurt.”
As I was afraid to be caught by darkness in the mountain road, we returned to General Segundo’s Command Post, dropped him at the entrance and the proceeded to General Steven’s Command Post at Km. 148, Pilar Bagac Road Trail 7, 3 Km. South to the Interior. We arrived there 5 minutes after a Japanese plane had circled the place and dropped 4 bombs. No damage done, only two telephone wires cut. No casualties. I saw him, Major Velasquez, Captain Papa, and other officers. I did not see General Bluemel as I had been informed that he had left with his division for the main battle line at Abucay.
We proceeded then to General Capinpin’s Command Post at Guitol — six kms to the interior of Balanga. We had to cross an extensive sugar cane field. After we had driven about ten minute, some Filipino soldiers yelled at us: “Be careful for snipers.” I paid no attention. A little farther we were stopped by an American soldier, who warned us that some snipers had infiltrated our lines and were shooting from the sugar cane. I saw some Philippine Army soldiers and one officer waiting. I asked them what they were doing and they replied that they were waiting for a truck to take them to General Capinpin’s place. I told them to stand on the running boards of my command car and shoot at the first sign of snipers. After a few minutes my guide (2nd Lieutenant Subido) said “there is the entrance to General Capinpin’s Command Post”. I jumped out of the car and suddenly I saw a large number of our soldiers attacking from my left. Unknowingly, I was standing two yards in front of a machine gun. The gunner said “Sir, please move away, I am going to start shooting.” Then firing came from our right. I then realized that we had been caught between 2 firing lines. I jumped back into the car, and my guide suggested that we escape through a back road leading to Balanga. We did. Nieto and I held our pistols in our hands ready to shoot in case of necessity. We were able to leave unhurt from that danger.
Earlier, in the afternoon, I had been informed that Lieutenant Primitivo San Agustin had been wounded, so I went to Limay where Hospital N-1 is located. I found that he was admitted on January 6, and left on January 12. No one could inform me of his disposition. I concluded that he had been transferred. As I was in the Limay Hospital, the ambulance arrived bringing Colonel Hudson, who had been wounded at Guitol, just in the place where we had been standing. He was bleeding profusely from his side. We then returned to General Francisco’s Command Post arriving there at 11:15 p.m. It is very hard to drive in those roads at night with black-out lights. The roads are not wide and the traffic is tremendously heavy.
We had dinner at 11:30 p.m. and then we went to bed. I was so tired that I just washed my face and hands and went to sleep.