Business by Violence: Economic Collaboration in Leyte during the Japanese Occupation

Abstract

Violence can take several forms, which cannot only be categorized under the concept of physical violence. Rather, it can sometimes take the form of a threat or the blackmail of others. Despite the wealth of studies concerning the Japanese occupation of the Philippines published over the past three decades, very few scholars dealt with the topic concerning nature of violence. In an article with the title “Politics by Other Means” in 1980, Alfred McCoy explored the nature of factional strife among the local elites in Panay Island by examining the political violence which transpired in the province during the Japanese occupation. He also wrote a compilation of essays, An Anarchy of Families in 1993, discussing the political and economic feuds among leading families of the Philippines by utilizing rent-seeking theory in the field of economics. The former touches on the provincial factionalism in the island during the time of war, while the latter deals with how Filipino economic tycoons could sustain their political and economic power in the country. Despite the fact that both works discuss the nature of violence, neither thoroughly analyzes the violence committed, not only by the Japanese but also by Filipinos during the Japanese occupation. Such violence might have paved the way for the political and economic hegemony of leading Filipino businessmen after the war.

The paper will study two economic collaborators in the Leyte Province during the Japanese occupation, Manuel Abesamis and Alfonso Peñalosa. These case studies will examine how leading businessmen utilized violence to sustain their vested interests until the end of the war. During the Japanese occupation period, both Manuel Abesamis and Alfonso Peñalosa collaborated with the Japanese occupying forces to provide them with necessary war supplies fulfilling their military demands. Their collaboration involved threats, blackmail or torture to the Filipinos who refused to do business with them.

Despite their incarceration by the CIC (Counterintelligence Corps) agent of US Army for alleged treason, very few cooperated in testifying against them. The newly established Philippine Government also filed treason charges against them in 1946. The two cases could not be established due to insufficient and non-corroborating evidence from witnesses. Former guerrilla members testified that Abesamis was pro-American, wholeheartedly cooperating with the guerrilla groups in providing them with confidential information of the Japanese.

The Japanese occupation period resulted in war atrocities and violence. As the case studies show, there were “opportunistic” Filipinos who not only collaborated with the Japanese, but also collaborated with guerrilla groups, both of whom were involved in inflicting a form of violence, from which these businessmen gained plenty of profits. Even if some of them faced the treason charges after the war, they succeeded in creating an economic hegemony over the province.