A cholera epidemic sparked rumors that foreigners were poisoning the water supply, lead to a massacre that saw a mob of about 3000 men kill Europeans, mostly Spaniards, and Chinese nationals.[3][4][5]
2,000–50,000 (Filipino soldiers and civilians)[10][11][12]
Many Filipino historians argue that the true "Balangiga massacre" was the subsequent American retaliation, which was marked by orders to turn the island of Samar into a "howling wilderness" and the killing of civilians as young as 10 years old who could carry a weapon.[13] Although the original American report claimed that only 39 people were killed,[14] estimates by actual historians range from around 2,000[10] to roughly 50,000.[11][12]
Battle between American soldiers and Moro rebels lasted for four days. Only seven were captured including three women and four children. Eighteen men escaped from the mountain.[16][17][18]
In 1946, Nena Ablan testified during the trial of Gen. Masaharu Homma that she witnessed inside the campus of San Beda College various tortures on Filipinos, such as physical assault using martial arts, sticks, and burning. She also testified some of these civilians were summarily executed by beheading.[21]
A company of Japanese soldiers went to the city and started burning houses. As the population panicked and resisted, the Japanese soldiers started bayoneting and shooting at them. Four Japanese soldiers died as well during the incident.[21]
On 25 July 1944, Japanese soldiers on patrol were ambushed in Barrio Mambaling. Three days later with the help of Filipino collaborator, Antonio Racaza, the Kempeitai returned to Mambaling, and arrested Vicente Abadiano, Nazario Abadiano, Tereso Sanchez, Fidencio Delgado, and twenty other local male residents whom they suspected were guerrillas. All the men were tortured, and 12 were summarily executed by the Japanese soldiers and Filipino collaborators.[24]
Kempeitai came on shore at Cordova on Mactan Island to round up suspected guerrillas. With the help of Filipino collaborators, they arrested the town mayor, Martin Francisco, and placed the men and women of the town into the Central School building. The women were made to strip, while the men were beaten with baseball bats. Three suspected guerrillas were beheaded by Cpl. Iwao Ishizaka, and Cpl. Muraki.[25]
According to a Filipino-Japanese Fermin Yamasaki, 17 Filipino detainees from the Cortibarte Garrison were brought by Japanese soldiers, 3rd Lt.Tachibana, Sgt. Kataoka, and Pvt. 1st Class Akiyama, and lined up in a hole that was forced dug by 3 Filipinos. The 27 were one by one decapitated by the Japanese.[28]
Japanese soldiers, fearing an American landing, herded some 150 Alliedprisoners of war into air raid shelters and foxholes wherein most of them were burned alive; those who escaped were shot or bayoneted. Only eleven survived. Majority of the 34 implicated Japanese officers and men were later convicted yet eventually given prison sentences.[30]
Civilians were assembled by the Japanese occupiers near the church, where they proceeded to shoot and bayonet them. It is widely believed that the entire population of the island was either killed or wounded in the incident
(Exhibit A of USA vs. Yamashita[33][34])
107 killed, 4 injured[35]
The looting and burning of the Taiwan Takosoku, a Japanese controlled warehouse on 23 January prompted the assembly men, women, and children residents at the town plaza by the Japanese occupiers on 27 January for questioning. Having not gotten the information they wanted, they proceeded to arrest the town mayor, the priest, chief of police and court clerk. This commenced the killings, disappearances and burning of property till March.
As there was no one witness who saw the entirety of the events that happened, there could have been more victims.
As testified by farmer Miguel Ocampo, some 90 civilians were gathered by the Kempeitai at the Padilla residence. They were brought to a ravine not far from the house, and were one by one executed with bolo knives and thrown down the ravine. Ocampo and Elicero Nuestro survived the ordeal.[28]
A series of killings and burning of properties committed by Japanese occupiers. As there were no one witness who have seen the entirety of the events that happened, there could have been more victims.
Squadron 77 was returning home from Pampanga and was surrounded by American and Filipino soldiers, disarmed and brought before USAFFE Col. Adonias Maclang, who ordered them shot and buried in a mass grave. Maclang was later appointed mayor of Malolos by US Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) officers who approved the executions.[38]
When General Douglas MacArthur directed the 1st Cavalry Division to send a flying column to the University of Santo Tomas to rescue the civilian internees, Japanese prison guards took a last stand at the main building and held 220 hostages. After four days of negotiations brokered through Ernest Stanley, the Japanese were allowed to leave the campus, and join their comrades south towards Malacañang Palace. The Japanese convoy headed by Lt. Col. Toshio Hayashi lost their way, and ended up along Legarda Street, where Filipino guerrillas and civilians ambushed them in retaliation of the massacres that occurred during the Battle of Manila.[39]
Japanese forces assembled Filipino men, women and children near the environs of the Batangas Transportation (B.T.) company where the men were tied. All were either bayoneted, hacked or shot.
Japanese forces assembled Filipino and Chinese males in the Calamba Church. They were loaded into a truck to be sent to Barrio Real. They were tied, some blindfolded, and bayoneted.
Among those of note killed was Associate Justice Antonio Villa-Real, his wife and several foreigners. They were made to kneel while the house was bombed with grenades.
246 killed, 12 injured (Exhibit A of USA vs. Yamashita[33])
~320 (Prosecution Section Report #90)
Japanese forces committed the atrocities via bayoneting, shooting and burning of houses. A group of civilians who took refuge in a ravine were bombed by hand grenades. As there was no one witness who saw the entirety of the events that happened, there could have been more victims.
Japanese forces ordered that its 6000-8000 male residents assemble in the San Pablo Cathedral, where around 700 Chinese residents were picked, forced to dig trenches, then bayonetted, some beheaded. Survivors who made the mistake of going to the hospital were killed as well.
Male residents of barrios Anilao and Antipolo were gathered by Filipino collaborators, Japanese Army officers and enlisted men at a seminary south of Lipa with a promise of being given special travel passes through Japanese-occupied territory. Upon arrival at the Pamintahan Creek, the lured men and were indiscriminately shot at and executed.[41][42]
Japanese occupiers assembled the men in the house of a certain Severino Bautista, others still were assembled in Bauan Church were bombed, killing 204 and injuring ~70. Women and children assembled in Bauan Elementary School, who were presumed to be also murdered that day were spared due to American airplanes flying low which prompted their escape.[44] A further ~34 tried to escape but were bayoneted.
About 15 Japanese soldiers (reports vary), with no apparent reason shot and bayoneted men, women and children that could be found in the town. As there were only four witnesses, all of which did not see the entirety of the events that happened, there could have been more victims.
As testified by Teodoro Sanchez during the trial of Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, five Filipino suspected guerrillas, namely Roberto Tan, Lucente, Castillo, two unnamed, and two captured American airmen, were brought to foxholes at the southeast corner of the campus and beheaded by the Kempetai under Capt. Tsuruyama, Lt. Sakati, Sgt. Higashi, Sgt. Saito and Cpl. Wada.[28]
Waylaid and ambushed by Huk guerrillas. Among the dead were Mrs. Quezon's daughter, son-in-law, driver and military escorts as well as Ponciano Bernardo, Mayor of Quezon City[50]
Occurred on Good Friday, victims were executed allegedly as "revenge" for the death of a military captain Nonong Serrano said to be a leader of the private army working for Pampanga Gov. Jose B. Lingad, and was reportedly killed by Hukbalahap members in the same place. This caused Lingad to lose his reelection bid in 1951.[52][53]
Allegedly on the orders of Senator Justiniano Montano, from the victim's rival political party, Leonardo Manecio (Nardong Putik), his alleged hired killer, and his henchmen kidnapped mayor Severino Rillo and stabbed him to death along with the town's police chief and his officers.[55][56][57][58]
The involved, the senator and his men including Manecio, the vice mayor and two councilors, were accused and charged of the killings. Manecio was later convicted, but the senator was acquitted.[55][59]
Victims were killed by a gang using a fireman's axe during a robbery; another guard and a carpenter survived. It was found to be an inside job involving 4 employees, with another guard Apolonio Adriano as the killer; they were convicted and sentenced to death in 1966.[60]
Three Philippine Constabulary (PC) agents shot 7 farmers; 2 of them survived. Authorities said that they were Huk members engaged in battle with them, but the town vice mayor, as well as the survivors, contradicted this claim.[52][61]
Then Tarlac Gov. Benigno Aquino Jr., actively involved in the investigation, blamed the PC for the murders, marking his first confrontations with President Ferdinand Marcos.[62]
Government forces burned the entire village with 300 houses, Moro men were shot inside Tacbil mosque, women and children were arrested and detained, some of them were tortured. Victims were recognized by the government in 2014.[16][65][72][73][77][78][79]
Muslim rebels ambushed a truck carrying 34 civilians, killed one, tied the rest together and took them to a village in Bukidnon, where they were gunned down. Two survived.[81]
Four survived. As the National Bureau of Investigation disclosed the incident in 1980, murder charges were recommended against seven government militiamen who allegedly killed Muslim villagers and burned down their homes.[83]
A local Catholic priest stated the army burned the town after giving residents a few hours to move out. He said 60 to 600 people had probably been killed and only a mosque and a school were left standing. Laisa Masuhud Alamia, a survivor, claimed 400 were killed, including several Christian families.[65][86]
The victims, including Brig. Gen. Teodulfo Bautista, commanding general of the 1st Infantry "Tabak" Division of the Philippine Army, were tricked into attending a "peace dialogue" with a group of MNLF rebels led by Usman Sali and were then ambushed and killed.
Government soldiers were ambushed by Muslim rebels before supposed peace talks in retaliation for the theft of jewelry by soldiers while villagers were at prayer in the mosque;[89] at that time, the worst attack since 1974 and the worst defeat on their side.[90][91] Sources, however, tagged the retaliation as a real massacre, wherein 3,000 Tausug civilians were killed in an operation launched by the military.[72]
Eighteen armed men identified with the Special Forces–Integrated Civilian Home Defense Forces, consisting of security guards of a logging company and paramilitary forces, gathered residents out of their homes and shot them in groups; also burned some of them, and looted the village which later declared inhabitable for sometime since survivors were unable to return due to fear of being killed by perpetrators.[92][93][97]
In retaliation for the death of 23 soldiers on 23 May, the military launched airstrikes on the village, killing 3. Victims were picked up days later, on 30 May and 18 June, then killed. It was followed by an attack on the parish priest's residence.[92][93]
Six peasant organizers conducting a meeting at a farmer's house were raided by soldiers and five of them were taken away. They were found dead in San Rafael a day after. Only one, who evaded the raid, survived.[92][93][99]
About 70 suspected NPA rebels ambushed an army patrol unit in what was then the worst single attack on Government forces since the start of the NPA rebellion; only eleven survived.[101]
Religious leader Mangayanon Butaog fed poisoned food to his followers in a remote mountain village, murdered his wife and two children with a machete, and later committed suicide; five survived.[104]
A crowd of estimated 5,000, holding a strike, were shot by government forces during dispersal; scores injured. The involved policemen were jailed and later released on parole in 2003.[52][92][105][106][107]
Victims were killed by soldiers, reportedly in retaliation for the death of a platoon leader killed by NPA. Soldiers involved were later acquitted by a court martial.[117]
Members of the international Islamic missionary group, Tablighi Jamaat, including 2 Malaysian nationals, were stopped and killed in the vicinity of an army checkpoint[118]
More than 200 Philippine Constabulary soldiers fell ill and showed symptoms of pesticide poisoning after taking refreshments from supposed civilians while jogging, with the equivalent of an entire platoon dying over the next three days. The group behind the mass poisoning was never identified.
Gunmen arrived in an isolated mountain area and shot around the chapel, while villagers gathered there for evening prayers, as well as an adjacent residence. At least 12 were wounded, three of them critically. Authorities were able to learn about the incident two days later.[124][125]
(figures varied; mostly unarmed civilians, some armed anti-communist vigilantes, some count include 2 claimed NPA rebel deaths)
Thirty-nine victims were members of the United Church of Christ congregation, killed in church. Two NPA rebels also killed in an encounter. At least eight others were wounded.[126]
A hostage-taking incident, army jail detainees took as hostages 15 Joyous Assembly of God members; 5 Christian Pentecostals and 16 detainees, also hostages, were killed.[127]
Vizconde family members were the victims, all had suffered multiple stab wounds. Hubert Webb, scion of a prominent family was convicted of masterminding the killings in 2000 but was later acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2010
About 20 armed men, suspected Muslim renegades led by a former officer of the Moro National Liberation Front, entered Christian settlements in three villages, herded and attacked Subanon residents. As high as a dozen others were seriously injured. Suspects were reportedly angered by the refusal of some villagers to pay protection money.[132]
A group of about 20 armed men stopped a bus; Christian passengers were separated from Muslims, robbed and shot. Fifteen others were wounded, while a Christian minister was left unhurt.[134]
Lipa Arandia massacre
(Family murders)
10 April 1994
Sabang, Lipa, Batangas
3
Angelina Arandia, along with her daughters Chelsea Liz and Anne Geleen died from multiple stab wounds[135]
About 200 heavily armed Abu Sayyaf rebels, who had arrived the day before disguised as soldiers, launched a 2½-hour surprise attack in a commercial district in the predominantly Christian town, shot civilians, burned hundreds of buildings after plundering some, took many hostages as they withdrew, and clashed with government reinforcements. At least 44 were wounded; arrests were made. The raid was said the worst since the 1970s.[136][137]
Victims were believed to be killed by drug addicts; a daughter of the family survived.[139][140]
Four suspects were convicted by the BiñanRTC on 1997.[141] However, on 2002, the Supreme Court lowered the death penalty sentence of three of them to four life terms each, while the fourth suspect, then sentenced to life imprisonment, was acquitted.[142]
(family members: from the Cascante–Gayte clan: mother & 2 children; from the Gayte–Campo clan: couple & 5 children; also 2 another Gayte relatives and an adopted daughter. They including 5 young minors.)
The incident was triggered by a land dispute involving Nieva, Gayte, and Campo families. In retaliation for the killing of landlord Cristito Nieva, Jr. on 28 October 1995, a number of armed men attacked the compound in a remote village and later shot and hacked the victims in their houses, with three of them beheaded, and the rest sustaining gunshots.[146][147] One of them was the wife of one of the suspects implicated to the landlord's murder. Two of nine survivors, one from each clan, stood as star witness. Some of the involved and implicated were a police chief, with five others including Ramon Madrideo, once turned as state witness, who were arrested in January 1996[148]) and four from the Nieva clan, including the alleged mastermind Ester Nieva, the landlord's wife, who were arrested on 1999.[149]).[150] A case was considered solved upon the surrender of the remaining three of 13 suspects in the landlord's murder in August 1996.[151]
Five men attacked four vehicles and shot the victims in a robbery incident. On 14 August, Ernesto (Edgardo) Brito surrendered; he admitted, but later denied, his involvement while pointing at Ricky Braga as the alleged mastermind, and his second cousin; the two were later captured. On 19 May 2000, a court sentenced Brito to death and convicted two confessed killers, the Braga cousins, as well as a couple for obstruction of justice.[153]
Victims were shot in Jaen, allegedly by the men of local police chief Supt. Alfredo Siwa. Their companion, a survivor and lone witness, was later killed by a group of eight armed men reportedly led by Siwa, at the Tarlac Provincial Hospital on 26 March. Siwa was later arrested and the entire Baliwag police force was relieved.[154]
Victims were shot dead inside a mosque by about a hundred armed men, suspected to be Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, who had attacked the village; ensued shooting rampage injured 11 people.[158]
Members of the PBMA's White Guerreros were killed by the elite force, White Eagles, upon orders of the cult's leader Ruben Ecleo Jr., in his residence. Local police reported that the victims were hacked; but National Bureau of Investigation autopsies later found out that they were shot.[161]
(family members: father, 3 sons, his parents; also 2 family housemaids)
The Rivilla family's houseboy Bernon Gallo, later confessed and was convicted for the killings in the residence of a haciendero family wherein their driver had survived.[162]
(family members: 2 siblings and their parents, all in-laws of Ruben Ecleo Jr.; a neighbor)
Victims were shot dead in the Bacolod residence by Rico Gumonong, a PBMA member, who was later killed in an encounter with the responding policemen. Among the victims was Ben Bacolod, brother-in-law of Ruben Ecleo Jr. and believed to be the sole witness in the murder of his sister and Ecleo's wife, Alona Bacolod. He also testified on the 2000 Dinagat massacre. Ecleo surrendered to the police on 19 June. He had faced charges for two separate massacres and for the death of his wife.[161]
Zamboanga City murders
(Family murders)
19 December 2002
San Roque, Zamboanga City
7
(family members: mother, 3 children; also 3 family helpers)
Victims were murdered at the Tan family's house.[167]
A clash between government troops and more than 6,000 protesting farm workers during an attempted dispersal resulted also in injuries of at least 120. Charges against the suspects were dismissed in 2010.[173]
Claimed to be a legitimate operation by the military, the "gunfight" between the soldiers and alleged armed groups lasted for about 45 minutes at dawn. Resulted in the death of 7 peasants, including a pregnant woman, 11 were wounded, 8 were arrested but only 6 were detained, and 2 were still missing.[175][176]
Cecilio Mangalino fatally stabbed his pregnant wife, mother-in-law and daughter inside their home and injured two other daughters while drunk following an argument with his wife.[177]
(most of them were part of a convoy: family members, including E. Mangudadatu's wife and his two sisters, and supporters of a perpetrator's political rival, 32 journalists; lawyers; aides; 6 passersby that mistakenly identified as part of the convoy. The body of one victim, journalist Reynaldo Momay, was never found, which led to only 57 counts of murder being filed against the perpetrators)
A convoy carrying relatives and supporters of Buluan vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu was stopped by around 200 armed men while on their way to the provincial capitol to file his candidacy, challenging Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., son of the incumbent Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and member of one of Mindanao's leading Muslim political clans for upcoming elections. The victims were later abducted and killed and their bodies were buried in shallow graves on a hilltop. On December 19, 2019, a court convicted 28 people, including Andal Jr. and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, and sentenced them to life imprisonment; 56 others were acquitted. Andal Sr. died in custody before the conclusion of the trial.[189][190]
Hong Kong tourists killed by Rolando Mendoza, a disgruntled policeman, after a 9-hour standoff on a tour bus. Mendoza was killed by a police sniper during a rescue mission.
30-minute shooting rampage that saw a drunk man named Ronald Baquiran Bae kill at least 7 people and a dog and wounded 12 others with a semiautomatic pistol before he was shot and killed by police. Another man, John Paul Lopez, was later arrested for assisting the gunman during the shooting by reloading his pistol magazine. The motive of the suspect is still unclear. A subsequent search of Bae's house led to the discovery of human remains.
Nicolas Edejer, a fish trader, sustained a gunshot wound in the head during the killings that claimed the life of his wife Corazon, son Kenneth, nephew Nelson Dominico, housemaids Teresita Lansangan and alias Kaykay, and Benigno Villanueva.[204]
Victims (including 3 minors and a maid) were stabbed inside a rented apartment on the fourth floor of a building. On 28 January 2016, a court convicted Phillip Tolentino Avino for the killings and sentenced him to life imprisonment.[206]
At least 40 men reportedly fired at sugarcane farmers and members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) and burned three of the bodies. Four farmers, two of which were minors managed to escape.[212][213]
Four members of the Fausto family, including two children, were shot dead, with the AFP and the NPA trading blame.[222]
Sapad Massacre
7 January 2024
Sitio Lapao, Barangay Karkum, Sapad, Lanao del Norte
7
The bodies of seven members of the Gaviola and Legara families from Margosatubig, Zamboanga del Sur, including three minors, were found buried with bullet wounds to the head in a freshly-dug grave on this date.[223][224]
^Dumindin, Arnaldo (2006). "Balangiga Massacre, 1901". Philippine-American War, 1899–1902. Archived from the original on February 21, 2018. Retrieved Feb 15, 2018.
^* Agoncillo, Teodoro C. (1990) [1960]. History of the Filipino People (8th ed.). Quezon City: Garotech Publishing. p. 228. ISBN971-8711-06-6., "In their desperation, the American soldiers turned arsonists burning whole towns in order to force guerrillas to the open. One such infamous case of extreme barbarity occurred in the town of Balangiga, Samar, in 1901–1902. ..."
^Syjuco-Tan, Maria Felisa (ed.). "Huk/PC Related Violence". Highlights of Philippine History Volume 1: War and Reconstruction (1941-1947). Pantas Publishing. p. 158.
^Syjuco-Tan, Maria Felisa (ed.). "Huk/PC Related Violence". Highlights of Philippine History Volume 1: War and Reconstruction (1941-1947). Pantas Publishing. p. 158.
^Syjuco-Tan, Maria Felisa (ed.). "Huk/PC Related Violence". Highlights of Philippine History Volume 1: War and Reconstruction (1941-1947). Pantas Publishing. p. 158.
^Syjuco-Tan, Maria Felisa (ed.). "Huk/PC Related Violence". Highlights of Philippine History Volume 2: Presidencies from Quirino to Macapagal (1948-1964). Pantas Publishing. p. 156.
^Soliven, Maximo (1962). "The Elections 1961 (in PDF)"(PDF). Philippine Studies. 10 (1). Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City: 3–31. Archived(PDF) from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
^Syjuco-Tan, Maria Felisa (ed.). "Huk/PC Related Violence". Highlights of Philippine History Volume 3: The Marcos Years (1965-1986). Pantas Publishing. p. 233.
^Syjuco-Tan, Maria Felisa (ed.). "Huk/PC Related Violence". Highlights of Philippine History Volume 3: The Marcos Years (1965-1986). Pantas Publishing. pp. 233–234.
^Syjuco-Tan, Maria Felisa (ed.). "Huk/PC Related Violence". Highlights of Philippine History Volume 3: The Marcos Years (1965-1986). Pantas Publishing. p. 236.
^Syjuco-Tan, Maria Felisa (ed.). "Huk/PC Related Violence". Highlights of Philippine History Volume 3: The Marcos Years (1965-1986). Pantas Publishing. pp. 236–237.
