• Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology

• CASS 101

Module 08
JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF MOROLAND
AND ITS AFTERMATH

I- Objectives
At the end of the module, the students should be able to answer the following
questions:
1. What was the condition of Moroland during the Japanese occupation?
2. What were the people’s reactions to the Japanese occupation?
3. What was the impact of Japanese occupation on Moroland and its people?
II-Introductory Activity
The instructor may opt to let the students view the film “Flags of Our Fathers” and
“Letters from Iwo Jima”. If these are not available, the instructor may opt to show the
documentary made by ABS-CBN’s Magandang Gabi Bayan on the Japanese Occupation
in the Philippines.
III-Lesson Proper
In 1941, the existence of the Commonwealth government would be interrupted
by the outbreak of World War II. President Quezon and other key officials of the
Commonwealth government would leave the Philippines for Australia and eventually for
the United States. There, Quezon would continue serving as president of the de jure
government, while a Japanese-sponsored republic was being set-up headed by
President Jose P. Laurel.1
It must be recalled that the Japanese aim in World War II was to build an empire
and expand into Asia. Japan’s motivation for this Asian expansion was expressed in the
slogan, “Asia for the Asians”.2 Such a slogan was actually generated by the observation
1 A “de jure government” is the legitimate government but does not have actual control of the state. A
“de facto government” is one that has no legal right but holds actual control of the state. See Polsci
reference.
2 Among other things, this was the slogan of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, the Japanese
propaganda to make its colonization efforts acceptable to other Asian countries.
 
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that Asian countries were being colonized by various western colonizers; therefore, in
the Japanese perspective, it would be better to expel the westerners and “liberate”
Asians from western domination. Japan, in other words, saw herself as leader of a selfproclaimed mandate of Asian liberation. In the process, the Japanese would find
themselves invading various Asian countries and struggling to expel westerners and to
place themselves as the Asian colonizers of the various Asian countries.3
1. What was the condition of Moroland during the Japanese occupation?
In Moroland, World War II would start with the Japanese invasion of Davao and
Jolo in December, 1941. Four months later (i.e., April 1942), Cotabato and Lanao would
also be invaded. The occupation of these places was meant to provide air bases for the
eventual thrust and penetration of the Japanese forces into Borneo and Celebes.
The Japanese could have turned the table in their favor had they studied and
understood the situation of the Moros and Lumads of Mindanao and Sulu. They could
have exploited Moro dissatisfaction with the Commonwealth government and the
discriminatory laws it implemented to win Moro loyalty and cooperation to the Japanese
side. But they had no idea about the existing situation. Instead, they simply treated the
Moros in the same way they treated most native peoples that they invaded—which was,
perhaps, worse than the way the new Commonwealth “colonizers” treated them. Peter
Gowing says:
The Japanese occupation forces little understood the actual situation of
the Moros in the Philippine nation and also failed to take advantage of
Moro disaffections. Instead, they treated Moros much the same as the
rest of the Philippine population. Their invasion and early occupation were
accompanied by brutality and terrorism, designed to cow the population
into obedience, if not cooperation, in the fastest possible time. Any bad
memories the Moros had of American or Christian Filipino behavior were
offset by the harsh behavior of the Japanese, who thereby unnecessarily
alienated a people who might have been persuaded to look upon them as
liberators.4
The Japanese occupation was infamous for overacted martial cruelty and
ruthlessness by the Japanese invading forces. On the other hand, however, the
Japanese advent was somewhat a “blessing in disguise,” because it welded MuslimChristian relations together. For instance, a study conducted in 1985 concluded that in