Paulino Santos

Paulino Torres Santos Sr. (June 22, 1890 – August 29, 1945) was a military officer who became the Commanding General of the Philippine Army from May 6 to December 31, 1936. Upon his retirement, he served as a civilian administrator under President Manuel L. Quezon. He is the namesake of the city of General Santos, which was renamed from Buayan in 1954.

Early life
Paulino Torres Santos was born in Camiling, Tarlac to Remigio Santos and Rosa Torres. After his Spanish education from 1897 to 1900, he enrolled in an English school in 1901. In 1907, when he had finished the sixth grade, he was appointed as municipal teacher, a post which he held until the following year. In 1908, at age 18, he was an enlisted man in the Philippine Constabulary and he had just completed his first enlistment when he was named civil service clerk at the PC headquarters in 1912. That same year, he enrolled in the Constabulary Officers' School wherein, two years later, he graduated valedictorian. Santos was appointed as Third Lieutenant of the PC in 1914, and as such, he worked hard and continued studying to be more effective in his assignment as a field officer.

Personal life
General Santos was married to Elisa Angeles of Bulacan, with whom he had seven children, including Rosa Santos Munda.

Military service
As a soldier, Santos served in the Lanao campaign in 1916, where he sustained wounds from a Moro spear, and in the Bayang Cota campaign in 1917, where he was wounded anew, but this time by bullets. As government cannons were bombarding the Muslim bulwark of Lumamba, Lieutenant Santos led his platoon in penetrating the formerly secure redoubt, through an opening made in the barricade, and immediately erected a ladder to scale the first kota. Immediately, he and his men engaged its defenders in a bloody hand-to-hand combat, killing 30 of them, and thus preserving the lives of government soldiers. For this exceptional military feat, Governor General Frank Murphy bestowed on him the Medal of Valor, the highest Philippine military award for "gallantry in action", just before the inauguration of the Commonwealth government in 1935. He was named President Manuel Quezon's aide for latter's inaugural ceremony that same year.

In 1936, he was recalled to military service through his appointment as brigadier general and assistant chief of staff of the Philippine Army by President Quezon. Before the year’s end, however, he was named Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army with the rank of major general.

In 1937, President Quezon ordered him to combat the problem of Moro piracy in the south through the destruction of the pirates’ kotas, particularly Kota Dilausan, in Lanao. His term as Army chief of staff ended in December 1938.

NLSA Administrator
In January 1939, he was named general manager of the National Land Settlement Administration. He served in this capacity until 1941, when World War II broke out. With orders from Quezon, he led the first group of 200 migrants from Luzon and the Visayas who transformed the primeval Lagao area in Koronadal Valley into a productive and progressive colony of six communities on February 27, 1939. Santos usually stayed with the men in the field, where he rallied them in their duties together with his personal aide, Eliodoro M. Pantua.

Collaboration with the Japanese
During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese occupied the upper Koronadal and Allah valleys. Santos decided to cooperate with the Japanese to prevent further bloodshed. Santos and the Japanese commander agreed to "not molest or abuse civilians in all districts of Koronadal valley but with the condition that the people will cooperate and never commit any wrong move otherwise they will feel the repressive force of Japanese displeasure". He accepted to serve as manager of the Koronadal and Allah valley projects under Japanese orders. In 1943, he became Commissioner for Mindanao and Sulu.

Commanding General of the Bureau of Constabulary under Japanese control
In August 1944, he was called by President Jose P. Laurel to go to Manila. There, he was appointed as Commanding General of the Bureau of Constabulary. He was appointed to survey Northern Luzon since the Americans started bombing the Philippines. He went to Nueva Ecija accompanied by his aide, Sgt. Juan "Johnny" Ablan. He not only supplied the people with food and water but also aided the guerilla groups operating in the North. He was taken prisoner by Major General Kenshichi Masouka. He and his men forced Santos and Ablan to the North, first to Nueva Vizcaya, and then to Sitio Tamangan in the mountains of Kiangan, Ifugao, where the Japanese forces had retreated.

Death
While taken prisoner by the Japanese, Santos fell ill, mostly due to effects of inclement weather and his refusal to take full meals because of food shortages. General Masouka refused to take the him to an American hospital, a few kilometers from Kiangan. Finally, on August 29, 1945, Santos died of pneumonia at the age of 55.

Legacy
As a tribute to his legacy in the area, the municipality of Buayan (formerly Dadiangas) was renamed General Santos in June 1954, which, by virtue of Republic Act No. 5412 signed on July 8, 1968, was declared a city. A grave and monument of Santos was unveiled in front of General Santos City Hall on September 5, 1981.

The Koronadal section of the South Cotabato-Sarangani Road was also named as "General Santos Drive", while the radial road leading to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa was also named as "Gen. Paulino Santos Avenue" as an honor for his service as a former Director of the Bureau of Prisons. Taguig's main avenue, fronting Camp Bagong Diwa of the Philippine National Police, also a former Philippine Constabulary camp, the Hall of Justice, and the Department of Science and Technology was also similarly named as "General Santos Avenue".

One of the urban Barangays of Koronadal is named after him using the initials of his rank and name, called as Barangay GPS.

As Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army, Major General Santos is a pioneer in the Self Reliance Defence concept as early as the 1930s. Santos intended to have all supplies for the new Commonwealth army made if possible in the Philippines.