The Aftermath of War

In 1946, the people of Buguias faced the monumental task of rebuilding their economy and society. Simply to reclaim their old fields required much labor and capital. But labor was short, and the old cash-generating system no longer functioned. And even those retaining money simply could not find livestock to purchase and thus could not rebuild their herds. Not only Buguias, but the entire southern Cordillera—and indeed much of the country—lay devastated. Rebuilding the trade circuits that formerly supported the economy would have been a project of many years.

Ultimately, the Buguias people would have been able to resurrect their old economy only if both the cloud-forest communities and Suyoc had also been able to restore their prewar routines. But both were demolished. The cloud-forest villages of Tinoc and Tucucan lay at the center of Yamashita's last redoubt, and according to census figures the population of the encompassing municipality fell from 12,873 persons in 1939 to 3,540 in 1948 (Republic of the Philippines 1960a , v. 1, pt. ii:35). The Suyoc people survived in larger numbers, but their economy was ruined; although they

could reclaim their diggings, they could not counteract the relative decline in the value of gold.^[2] The residents of Suyoc continued sedulously to mine their lodes, but no longer would their bullion make them the baknangs of northern Benguet, nor would it underwrite trade fortunes for the Buguias merchants.