Bonifacio Mencias


Bonifacio Lopez Mencias was a Filipino physician, epidemiologist, guerrilla sympathizer, and martyr. He is best known for providing aid to the Philippine guerrillas in his capacity as Dean of the UST College of Medicine during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines – an act which led his capture and presumed death at the hands of the occupying forces just before the liberation of Manila.
Prior to his term as Dean, he was already notable for having been an early president of the Manila Medical Society, and as the first editor in chief of the UST Journal of Medicine.

Service during World War II

Dr. Mencias had been appointed Dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Santo Tomas in 1936, and continued in that capacity when war broke out in December 1941 and when the Japanese forces firmed up their occupation of the Philippines in 1942. Throughout this time and the period of guerrilla resistance which followed, Dr. Mencias aided the resistance by secretly treating wounded guerillas and soldiers, both Filipino and American.

Personal life

Bonifacio Lopez Mencias was born on May 14, 1888, in Villasis, Pangasinan. He graduated from Colegio de San Juan de Letran and was an active alumnus who once served on the 1939 Alumni Board. He was married to Barbara Sacro of Batac, Ilocos Norte, and had six children: Rosario, Eleno, Pilar, Margarita, Bernardita, and Ramon. He bought a parcel of land in San Juan, Rizal, in the 1930s, on the corner of P. Guevarra and A. Luna streets, and raised his family there.

Disappearance and presumed death

When the Japanese Kempeitai arrested a nephew of Dr. Mencias' who they suspected of being involved with the guerillas, they found Dr. Mencias' identification card in his possession. Dr. Mencias, already suspected to be one of the underground anti-Japanese guerillas preparing for the coming of the American liberation forces, was picked up by the Kempeitai in late January 1944, and was never heard from again.
Dr. Mencias is presumed to have been taken to Fort Santiago and then killed. Some accounts of the event specify that Dr. Mencias was beheaded by the Japanese. His body was never found.

Legacy

Norberto V. Ramos, who served as UST's University Registrar from 1930 to 1980 recounts in his book detailing the history of UST:
"The UST community laments Dean Mencias' demise especially because of the way he died. He was a devoted administrator... Those of us who knew him and had the opportunity to work with him at the University will always remember him as a kind and simple man, deeply religious; and above all, he was never found wanting in the conduct of his public relations."

Luna Mencias Street, a national road traversing the boundaries of and connecting the cities of San Juan and Mandaluyong in Metro Manila, is partly named after Dr. Mencias. The street had originally been named A Luna Street, after General Antonio Luna of the Philippine revolution. After the second world war, it was renamed in honor of Dr. Mencias.