A Tribute To My Great Gramps on New Year's Day

This article about my great grandfather, Datu Gumbay Piang was published in The Mindanao CROSS on November 11, 2006.
It was written by Charlie C. Senase.

Datu Gumbay Piang was an Army captain remembered for his ferocious stand to lead 20,000 strong bolo-wielding Maguindanaos that he organized to support a beleaguered American contingent in a war against the Japanese Imperial Army holed in our beloved homeland, Mindanao.

Piang was at the helm when other Moro datus (Salipada Pendatun, Udtug Matalam, Ali Dimaporo, et al) joined him in his daring adventure to assist an ally drive out invading troops in the early 1940s.

Here, we take the cudgel of highlighting the legendary exploits of the man who hailed from Dulawan, Maguindanao - the town that is now named after him. Born on New Years Day in 1905, the Moro hero of the World War II once more comes to mind as Mindanaoans observe Piang's 57th Death Anniversary tomorrow. He died of an illness that he got when he was a POW at a Japanese garrison command.
He was 44.

Piang's sterling leadership spanned from the military to the realm of politics. It was in the early stage of his military career that the US government saw the loyalty of the Moros. Col. Wendell Fertig, commander of the US military in the Southwest Pacific area, officially relayed General Douglas McArthur's radio message of October 2, 1943 to Piang which in part reads: "(what) you have done is renewed evidence of the unflinching loyalty of the Maguindanaos in the face of heavy and sustained pressure from a ruthless enemy."

That patriotism and gallantry in defense of Mindanao against the invaders had led to the 1946 Philippine Liberation and immortalized an American vow ("I shall return!") of General McArthur to return to the Philippines when he and his troops landed at Palo, Leyte.

Piang, who finished a Bachelor's degree in Education in Manila's Philippine Normal School, later moved to further his study at UP in Quezon City where he obtained his pedagogy and anthropology titles. Briefly, Piang had a stint with an agricultural school in Upi, Maguindanao.

Years later, he was privileged to be part of the prestigious US-based National Education Association, and the Society for the Advancement of Education, Inc.
He was also an active member of several horticulture societies in America and Europe.

His political career began in 1946 when he was elected the first House member representing the lone congressional district of the undivided Cotabato which is now made up Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, Shariff Kabunsuan, South and North Cotabato.

To the surviving American forebears, the Moros of Mindanao will forever be in their hearts as true friends and allies. Kristie Kenney, the US envoy to the Philippines, aware of the Mindanaoans past ties with her people, has guaranteed outpouring socio-economic aid for the island with the Bangsamoro assurance that true peace shall have reign.

LINK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datu_Piang,_Maguindanao