How the Free Government of Panay and Romblon came into being

Abstract

From C.P.U. collection of World War II Documents, Panay and Romblon. Continued from Southeast Asia Quarterly, Vol. II, No. 3, January 1968.

Mr. Confesor was Executive Secretary (later Acting Governor), Guerrilla Government of Panay and Romblon.

The machinery that Governor Tomas Confesor organized for the administration of the government and its various entities was more or less uniform through all of Panay and Romblon. There were at least seven departments which carried out the functions of supervision and control pertaining each of them. There were:

The Department of Municipal and Provincial Government The Emergency Provincial Guards The Health Service The Food Administration Office and Relief The Board of Information The Finance Office The Administration of Justice The Special Services (Intelligence and Security)

The administration of municipal and provincial governments had to be done by remote control, it being physically impossible to undertake direct supervision of government activities because of lack of travel facilities and because also of the fact that the enemy, having occupied most of the important centers of population in the province, made it extremely dangerous for anyone to be seen around these places.