Ramon Alcaraz

Alcaraz was born on August 31, 1915, in Parulan, a barrio in what was then the town of Quingua, Bulacan in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. His brother Marciano 'Rocky' retired as a captain of the Philippine Navy. He also had many sisters including Fe, Jacoba, Efigenia, and Lucila. He entered the Philippine Military Academy at Teachers Camp, Baguio, Mountain Province, Philippines from June 15, 1936, to March 15, 1940, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. Alcaraz graduated among the 79 members (originally 120 cadets) of the Class of 1940 "The Pioneer Class". His class was the first group of graduates to finish the four year curriculum, as the previous curriculum was only three years. Alcaraz was a writer for the PMA publication "Corps" and the bantam weight boxing champion in 1937 and 1938. In 1941, he voluntarily joined and graduated from the Army's newly formed Offshore Patrol (OSP) Training School in Manila as part of the USAFFE forces. In 1959, he went to United States to study at the Naval War College – Command Course at Newport, Rhode Island. ==Military career==

World War II After graduation, he assigned as a 3rd Lieutenant to the Philippine Commonwealth Army. Nineteen months later, he volunteered to the newly formed Offshore Patrol unit of the Army and promoted as a 2nd Lieutenant with the OSP – Sea duty forces. A few weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he was promoted as a 1st Lieutenant after he was inducted into the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). He was the Commanding Officer of the Q-112 Abra, a 55 ft stepped-hull torpedo boat with aftward launch torpedo chutes built for the Philippine Commonwealth Government by the British shipbuilding firm John I. Thornycroft & Company – one of three "Q-boat" torpedo boats used by the Offshore Patrol (OSP) during the war. For their actions, he was immediately promoted to Captain by General MacArthur in Corregidor and awarded the Silver Star for heroism and gallantry in action. On April 10, 1942, to prevent their boat capture by the Japanese, Captain Alcaraz's Q-112 Abra was scuttled at night near the shore of Paombong coast, four miles off Bataan's east coast. He and his crew floated to shore using bamboo poles but were spotted by two search lights from Japanese patrol boats. Alcaraz was released on August 10, 1942 after undergoing an intensive four-month "rejuvenation program". He was paroled and instructed to be re-trained to join the Bureau of Constabulary at the Torres High School in Gagalangin, Tondo. In September 1942, he graduated as a police officer and was told that his first assignment was at Lanao del Norte province in Mindanao. Alcaraz faked that he had malaria and was confined to a hospital in San Lazaro. This ensured that he would miss his transport ship to Mindanao, so he was then reassigned to Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. After the end of the war and of his ordeal as a POW, Alcaraz rejoined the OSP. After the Philippines was given its independence from United States, all remaining OSP officers became the pioneering nucleus of the organizational structure of the Philippine Naval Patrol which later renamed into the Philippine Navy. Korean War service As Lieutenant (Senior Grade) and later Commander, Alcaraz also held significant naval commands during the Korean War, including being squadron skipper of one of the teems that regularly transported the Battalion Combat Teams of the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK) to wherever they needed to go. Command of the Naval Operations Force against Smuggling In 1964 president Diosdado Macapagal placed Alcaraz in command of the Naval Operations Force (NOF) he had created to combat smuggling, particularly of foreign cigarettes. After some initial frustrations, Alcaraz proved highly effective at the job, seizing about P750,000 worth of smuggled cigarettes each month in 1965 and getting him promoted to the naval rank of Commodore. == Conflict with President Ferdinand Marcos and separation from service ==

Conflict with Marcos Alcaraz was still in command of the anti-smuggling operations force in 1965 when the Philippine Presidential Elections of 1965 took place. During the campaign early in that year, President Macapagal was accused of allowing smuggling to continue by his opponent Ferdinand E. Marcos. Macapagal attempted to defuse these accusations by appointing Marcos as an "antismuggling czar," placing Alcaraz' command under Marcos' influence. Marcos then won the election in November that year, becoming Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces upon his inauguration on December 30, 1965. After 26 years of active service, Commodore Alcaraz was placed on the retired list from active duty on January 22, 1966. Alcaraz had been forced to leave the service only 22 days after Marcos became president, making him the first of what would turn out to be many AFP officers forced out of the service in favor of those who were loyal to Marcos. He and his wife, who happened to be a pharmacist, then established a chain of drugstores called "Commodore Drug," in reference to Alcaraz' rank upon retirement. == 1969 Advocacy work==

When the campaign period for the 1969 Philippine presidential election began, Philippine World War II hero Terry Adevoso organized a lobbying group of retired officers supporting opposition candidate Sergio Osmeña Jr. Simply called the "Working Group," it called for "clean and honest elections" in light of what Time and Newsweek called the "dirtiest, most violent and most corrupt" election "in Philippine modern history," characterized by vote-buying, terrorism and ballot snatching. As a former flag officer, Alcaraz was invited to the group. This once again earned Alcaraz the ire of the administration, which initiated a persecutory investigation of Alcaraz's real estate transactions in retaliation, eventually leading to the closure of Commodore Drug. == Martial law detention and interrogation ==

When Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972, the chief of Presidential Security took particular attention on Commodore Alcaraz' protest and advocacy work. On November 15, 1972, the Commodore was brought to the PSG headquarters in Malacañang for interrogation. As a result, Alcaraz was eventually released. == Exile in California ==

During his interrogation in Malacañang, Alcaraz realized that Marcos's soldiers knew too much about the specifics of meetings of the Osmeña working group, and realized that the inner circle of the group must have had a spy. In California, he quickly established himself in the real estate business, doing well enough that he could help finance organizations that lobbied for the end of Marcos' dictatorship in the Philippines. == Movement for a Free Philippines ==

Alcaraz became a quiet but key member of the Movement for a Free Philippines in the West Coast, serving as a financier, military adviser, and regular protester. == Advocacies after the People Power Revolution==

After the Marcoses were ousted by the civilian-led People Power Revolution in 1986, Alcaraz shifted his focus and lobbied for the recognition of Filipino World War 2 veterans by the US legislature. He also spoke often to cadets and alumni of the Philippine Military Academy, pushing cadets and alumni alike to respect the democratic values restored by the Fifth Philippine Republic after Marcos. He vigorously and publicly denounced those in the Armed Forces who had taken up military adventurism, saying that in abandoning the ideals of democracy, they had violated the academy's all-important honor code. == Death ==

Alcaraz died at Orange county on June 25, 2009. He is buried in Fairhaven Memorial Park, Santa Ana, CA, U.S.A. == Personal life ==

He was married to Concepcion 'Conching' Dualan from Cavite in 1960. They have one child. He has children from his first marriage — two sons and three daughters. ==Legacy==

BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS-16) On May 6, 2012, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III announced that the country's second Gregorio del Pilar class frigate would be named the , in honor of Alcaraz' long service to the nation. BRP Ramon Alcaraz has changed ship reclassification types twice. Originally "PF-16" till mid of 2016 to "FF-16". In February 2019, redesignated again to "PS-16", as the Navy downgraded the entire frigate class to patrol ship status. == See also ==