Because material being translated was selected to build up the brothers in the faith, they were well fortified spiritually for the difficulties they faced. Since they were captured and investigated many times, often they escaped death only through the intervention of relatives who were with the Huk movement. On one occasion, however, Brother Armando Sarmiento, a presiding overseer, was captured, hung upside down from a tree and used as a knife-throwing target until he was killed. Thus he died faithful to Jehovah as a person who refused to violate his Christian neutrality.

Thus the brothers in central Luzon kept active and strong in faith during the war. When the war ended, Brother Lacanilao continued to build up the brothers under the direction of the branch office until one day, July 9, 1945, when a band of Huks broke into his home and demanded at gunpoint that he go with them in their fight against the Philippine government. When he steadfastly refused, the berdugo (executioner) counted to three and fired at him point-blank in front of his brothers and sisters. He lived for a half hour after this, and to comfort him his family sang a Kingdom song entitled “Forward, March Even unto Death!” This faithful brother spent his dying moments encouraging his family to faithfulness and discussing the sure hope of the resurrection.