Palalong Cliff, located in Barangay Guibuangan, Barili, Cebu, was the site of one of the most significant wartime atrocities in southern Cebu during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. Rising about 36 feet above the Tañon Strait, the cliff’s isolated and precipitous drop made it an ideal location for executions during the later stages of World War II. Oral histories and municipal accounts confirm that in 1944, Japanese forces executed approximately 200 individuals at this site, including guerrillas, members of the Volunteer Guards, Filipino soldiers, and civilians (Barili MDRRMO Historical Data, 2014).
The massacre was rooted in the intensification of Japanese counterinsurgency operations. By 1943–1944, guerrilla resistance in Cebu had become increasingly organized, supported by local volunteers who provided food, intelligence, and shelter. Barili, being a coastal municipality with direct access to both hinterland routes and the sea, was particularly active in this regard. |UnknownCebu| Japanese garrisons responded with mass arrests, accusing townspeople of “being supportive of the Americans” . Those detained were taken to Palalong Cliff, where they were bayoneted and pushed over the edge into the sea or against the rocks and trees below. Their bodies piled down on the jagged rocks below.
Among the first executed were thirteen volunteer guerrillas from Barili. Four—Julian Libre, Casimito Libre, Miguel Tampos, and Catalino Pagar—survived when the gruesome scene of bodies below broke their fall, later testifying about the executions (Cebu Daily News, 2016). Their accounts confirmed the brutality of the killings, which combined summary execution with an attempt to conceal evidence, since the cliff’s location allowed bodies to be carried away by the current. |UnknownCebu| However, after the Japanese retreat from Barili in September 1944, fishermen discovered decomposing corpses along the shoreline and tangled in the vegetation of the cliffside. Locals recovered and interred the remains at the top of the cliff in a communal grave.
In the immediate postwar years, a simple white cross was erected to mark the site, serving both as a memorial and as a reminder of the occupation’s human toll. In 2004, this was replaced by a chapel constructed by the local government and families of victims. Each November, particularly during All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, relatives and townspeople gather at Palalong Cliff to offer prayers and light candles, ensuring the victims remain part of community memory (Cebu Daily News, 2016).
Today, Palalong Cliff functions as both a tourist site and a place of solemn remembrance. It exemplifies how local communities in Cebu continue to commemorate wartime suffering, integrating oral testimony, civic ritual, and physical memorialization to preserve history across generations. |U.C.S|
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Sources:
Mojares, Resil B., David W. Taylor, Valeriano S. Avila, David Colamaria, and J. Eleazar R. Bersales. The War in Cebu. Foreword by Ino Manalo. Cebu City: University of San Carlos Press, 2015.
Bersales, Jobers. “The Fall of Cebu.” Inquirer.net, April 12, 2012. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/175509/the-fall-of-cebu
Sunnexdesk. “Honoring the War Dead on a Windy Barili Cliff.” SunStar, November 1, 2015, 9:31 pm. Accessed August 28, 2025. https://www.sunstar.com.ph/…/honoring-the-war-dead-on-a…
Sugbo.ph. “Palalong Cliff: Barili’s Historic Spot.” Sugbo.ph, December 2, 2020. Accessed August 28, 2025. https://sugbo.ph/2020/palalong-cliff-barili/
mpdcbarilicebu. Barili LDRRMP. Scribd document, 25 pages. Accessed August 28, 2025. https://www.scribd.com/document/699162491/Barili-LDRRM
Photo Source: Franz Miko Verzon, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
