Ruperto Kangleon

Ruperto Cadava Kangleon (March 27, 1890 – February 27, 1958) was a Filipino military figure and politician. He was a native of the municipality of Macrohon in the now named province of Southern Leyte.

Kangleon was the acknowledged leader of the Resistance Movement in Leyte during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II. As such, his guerrilla forces helped pave the way for the American Leyte Landings on their return to the Philippines in 1944.

Before the war, Colonel Kangleon was replaced and re-joining the group of soldiers under the pre-war 92nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army in the General Headquarters in Leyte during the Liberation.

After the war, Ruperto Kangleon served as the Philippine Secretary of National Defense under Presidents Manuel Roxas and Elpidio Quirino.

Military service
The aftermath of becoming provincial commander of the Philippine Constabulary in Cebu and Bohol on Central Visayas during the Pre-World War II era until 1942 replaced by the Philippine Commonwealth Army. Kangleon was a former Lieutenant Colonel and they joining the commanding officer of the 81st Infantry Division, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFFE on 1942 at the general headquarters in Samar was found in World War II. The ordered to proceed to Davao where he and his men valiantly fought the troops of the Japanese Imperial army during the Japanese Invasion and Occupation. He was captured by the Japanese Imperial Army forces and was put to prison at the Japanese Internment Camps in Agusan. He managed to escape from prison on December 1942, returned and came back in Leyte and formed as a guerrilla movement.

Kangleon's Guerrillas
Kangleon's contribution to the war was the reason for his appointment to the defense portfolio. He led a number of guerrilla organizations, among the fiercest, with the greatest reach and had undertaken numerous operations against the Japanese Imperial Army in Visayas and sometimes in other islands was the dreaded Black Army.

The Black Army was the main force of Kangleon that led in the liberation of Leyte Island during the last phase of the war. The island served as the United States Army, the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the Philippine Constabulary entry point into the Philippine Archipelago when the expedition of General; Douglas MacArthur led the final invasion force that defeated the Japanese. One of the highlights of the ferocious battle against the Japanese Army was the raid on Camp Buga-Buga that was an extremely difficult objective to take. It was a huge network of camps entrenched in large caves that opened into the face of insurmountable cliffs in Southern Leyte.

Leyte Landing
When the Allies led by General Douglas MacArthur landed on Leyte, Kangleon's guerillas assisted them and three days later, on October 23, 1944, Kangleon was appointed military governor of Leyte. Gen. MacArthur personally pinned on Kangleon the Distinguished Service Cross of the United States of America, a decoration awarded for extraordinary heroism in combat witnessed by Philippine Commonwealth president Sergio Osmeña as well as commanders of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and even US Armed Forces at the Leyte provincial capitol building.

Kangleon's Back the Military
Colonel Kangleon was given back on 1944 as a military leadership and they replaced and re-joining the group of soldiers under the pre-war 92nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army was the military re-establishment and they active on 1942 to 1946 at the general headquarters and stationed in the province of Leyte during the Liberation.

Secretary of National Defense
Kangleon became Leyte’s civil governor upon the re-establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth under President Osmeña. On May 28, 1946, he was appointed Secretary of National Defense by President Manuel Roxas, the first of the Commonwealth and the Republic of the Philippines, in the same way that Kangleon was the Defense Secretary during the closing American colonial rule and held the position upon the declaration of independence on July 4, 1946. But due to policy differences with the next president, Elpidio Quirino on the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Kangleon resigned as Defense Secretary on August 31, 1950. Kangleon was trying to ask President Quirino to remove the generals whom he considered deadwood to which the President disagreed.

Senate
Kangleon’s resignation from the Cabinet paved the way for his entry into the politics. Kangleon ran for Senate even without the endorsement of the incumbent President Quirino. He became senator and was appointed chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans and Military Pensions and vice chairman of the Committee on National Defense and Security. He championed the cause of the Filipino veterans by filing bills and resolutions for their welfare and advancement. However, even before he could finish his six-year term in the Senate, Sen. Kangleon succumbed to myocardial infraction on February 27, 1958, exactly a month away from his 68th birthday. The Filipino nation led by President Carlos P. Garcia mourned his untimely death.

Memorials

 * Camp Kangleon, headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Tacloban City, Leyte, is named after him.