Battle Of Ubujan Historical Site Capt. Salazar Monument

Overview

The Battle of Ubujan Historical Site and Captain Salazar Monument is a heritage marker in Barangay Ubujan, Tagbilaran City, Bohol. It is classified under Historic Monuments in the provincial tourist-attraction inventory. The site commemorates the Battle of Ubujan, fought on 22 October 1942 on the outskirts of Tagbilaran, and honors Captain Francisco Salazar — the nom de guerre of a Filipino guerrilla leader (sources give his real name as either Vicente T. Cubero or Vicente Cubello) who founded the “Behind the Clouds Force,” described as Bohol’s first structured anti-Japanese guerrilla outfit, headquartered in Maitum, Balilihan, and operating as a secret agent affiliated with USAFFE (United States Armed Forces in the Far East).

At Ubujan, Salazar’s unit engaged roughly three truckloads of Japanese troops in close combat; Salazar was killed in the fighting, alongside a reported 15 guerrillas (figures vary across local records, with Japanese losses reported around 89). It followed an earlier guerrilla action Salazar led at the Battle of Moalong in Loon on 27 September 1942. Locally, he is remembered as the organizer of Bohol’s first structured anti-Japanese guerrilla force, a distinction that keeps his name attached to both battle sites.

Location

Barangay Ubujan, Tagbilaran City, Bohol. Ubujan is a barangay within Tagbilaran, the provincial capital of Bohol.

Getting There

Tagbilaran City is served by Bohol-Panglao International Airport and by ferry from Cebu City, Manila, and other ports. From the city center, Barangay Ubujan is reachable by tricycle. The monument stands along Salazar (Lower) Street in Barangay Ubujan.

Practical Info

The site is the venue for the City of Tagbilaran’s annual commemorative ceremonies marking the Battle of Ubujan and Captain Salazar’s Day each October — most recently the 81st anniversary on 23 October 2023, attended by the City Mayor, military units from Camp Dagohoy and Camp Bernido, and the Veterans Federation of the Philippines–Bohol chapter, indicating the monument is maintained as an active city heritage site rather than an unattended marker. The 28th anniversary, 22 October 1970, was declared a special public holiday in the City of Tagbilaran by Presidential Proclamation No. 763. [TO ENRICH: whether the site has physical fencing/enclosure, on-site signage text, fixed public visiting hours, or a specific custodial office (e.g., City Tourism Office) distinct from the annual-ceremony organizers named above; pedestrian walking distance/route from the Tagbilaran city proper (Poblacion) to the monument.]

What to Expect

The monument serves as a public history marker. Tagbilaran City contains several other heritage sites, including other monuments and ancestral structures, making Ubujan a secondary stop within a broader Tagbilaran heritage route.

Notes

Battle history per the City Government of Tagbilaran’s official history page and a cross-referenced guerrilla-history profile, both accessed 2026-07-17 — the two sources agree on the core narrative (date, unit, Salazar’s death) but differ slightly on his birth name (Cubero vs. Cubello); noted here rather than resolved, since neither source is definitively authoritative on that detail.

Source: BPTO Table 11 — Inventory of Tourist Attractions, Bohol Tourism Profile Eco Dev 2025.

2026-07-28 research pass: resolved the street location via lookph.com’s Salazar Monument listing (“Salazar (Lower) Street, Tagbilaran City”), accessed 2026-07-28 — cross-checked against openalfa’s Ubujan street guide, which lists “Salazar Street” as a tertiary road in Ubujan, accessed 2026-07-28. Custodial/ceremonial-use context sourced from Bohol Tribune, “City News” (81st Battle of Ubujan anniversary, Oct. 23 2023), accessed 2026-07-28, and Presidential Proclamation No. 763 (1970), lawphil.net, accessed 2026-07-28. Neither source states whether the monument has fencing/enclosure, on-site signage text, or fixed visiting hours, nor names a specific custodial office (e.g., City Tourism Office) — checked lookph.com and Wanderlog’s Ubujan Marker listing (https://wanderlog.com/place/details/11268617/ubujan, accessed 2026-07-28), both directory-style pages with no such detail. Also checked tagbilaran.gov.ph/history/ (already cited above) and its 2024 CMS-migration mirror (nebula-stage.tagbilaran.gov.ph/the-history-of-tagbilaran/) — same narrative, no site-facility detail. No pedestrian-distance figure from the Tagbilaran city proper (Poblacion) to the monument was found in any source checked; the barangay itself sits several km from the city center per PhilAtlas, so “reachable by tricycle” (already in the body) remains the only sourced access guidance. A future pass on the remaining [TO ENRICH] items should try: Tagbilaran City Tourism Office Facebook page, Google Maps reviews/photos for “Captain Salazar Monument” or “Ubujan Marker,” or the Sangguniang Panlungsod ng Tagbilaran resolution/ordinance archive for any heritage-site declaration naming a custodian.