Gumbay Piang
Datu Gumbay Piang (1905 - 1946) was a Maguindanaon leader.
Gumbay Piang was born in Dulawan, Cotabato, in 1905, a son of the Moro leader Datu Piang from his sixth wife, Polindao. He was trained as a pedagogist at the (then US Administered) Philippine Normal School in Manila. Gumbay worked his way through the bureaucracy where he served for different school boards of his province.
When the Second World War erupted, Gumbay Piang, along with fellow Moro leaders such as Salipada Pendatun, organized the famed resistance group named the Moro-Bolo Battalion during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines to fight the Japanese. The insignia of the group was the bolo and the kris, the respective weapons of Christian and Muslim populations, respectively, symbolizing a united front against the Japanese aggressors. The Moro-Bolo Battalion consisted of about 20,000 men.[1][2][3][4]Gumbay Piang's Cotabato Moros used Bolo knives to fight the Japanese,[5][6][7] and swore that they would "fight to the last".[8][9]
He was forced to retire from the resistance as a prisoner of war as he suffered chronic asthma attacks. When the Philippines was liberated from the Japanese Imperial forces. Gumbay Piang ran for congress in the First Republic of the Philippines. In 1946, he succumbed to death due to asthma, and his death marked the quiet exit of the Piangs from national politics.
References
- Arnold 2011, p. 271.
- "Darangen: Epic of History" 1980, p. 88.
- "DEFENDERS OF BATAN (A.A.P.) " 1942, p. 1.
- "Moros Pledge Continued War Against Japs" AP 1942.
- United Press 1942, p. 5.
- AP 1942, p. 6.
- "Courageous Guerrillas Harass Japs On Bataan" 1942, p. 1.
- "First Substantial Gains On Bataan" 1942, p. 2.
- AP 1942, p. 1.
- AP (Feb 27, 1942). "Gen. MacArthur's Forces Counter-Attack and Hold Advance Japanese Posts". St. Petersburg Times. p. 6. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- AP (Mar 3, 1942). "More Jap Troops Land In Philippines". The Deseret News. p. 1. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- Arnold, James R. (2011). The Moro War: How America Battled a Muslim Insurgency in the Philippine Jungle, 1902-1913. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 1608193659. Retrieved 10 March 2014.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Darangen: Epic of History. Volume 12 of "Land and people" series. Contributor Presidential Commission for the Rehabilitation and Development of Southern Philippines. Presidential Commission for the Rehabilitation and Development of Southern Philippines. 1980. Retrieved 10 March 2014.CS1 maint: others (link) CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- United Press (Feb 28, 1942). "20,000 MOROS HOLD GROUND". Warsaw Daily Union. p. 5. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- "Americans Make First Substantial Gains On Bataan (Continued From Page 1)". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Feb 26, 1942. p. 2. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- "Courageous Guerrillas Harass Japs On Bataan". Painesville Telegraph. Mar 2, 1942. p. 1. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- "DEFENDERS OF BATAN (A.A.P.)". The Age. Apr 11, 1942. p. 1. Retrieved 16 May 2014.