Baguio marks Bataan fall

BENCHWARMER

Ramon S. Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- The fast-fading number of heroes of the Second World War closed ranks Thursday morning at the Veterans Park along Harrison Rd. here in an annual memorial for their comrades who fell before, during and after the Fall of Bataan 73 years ago today.

In the evening of that fateful day, Lt. Norman Reyes read over the Voice of Freedom Radio airing from the Malinta Tunnel in nearby Corregidor Island, announced:

“Bataan has fallen. The Philippine-American troops on this war-ravaged and bloodstained peninsula have laid down their arms. With heads bloody but unbowed, they have yielded to the superior force and numbers of the enemy.”

The broadcast piece, penned by then Lt. Salvador Lopez, who would become president of the University of the Philippines, predicted:

“The world will long remember the epic struggle that Filipino and American soldiers put up in the jungle fastness and along the rugged coast of Bataan….Besieged on land and blockaded by sea, cut off from all sources of help in the Philippines and in America, the intrepid fighters have done all that human endurance could bear.”

Among those soldiers were members of the 66^th Infantry of guerrilla fighters from Baguio, Cordillera and Northern Luzon, some would later escape from the “Death March” from Bataan to Capas, Tarlac and rejoin the 66^th Infantry in liberating Baguio on April 27, 1945.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan, Rep. NicasioAliping Jr. and vice-mayor Edison Bilog led Thursday’s morning’s memorial  with their messages  after presiding over  the traditional wreath-laying at the park built in honor of the members of the 66^th Infantry.

City councilor Peter Fianza, chair of the anniversary committee, said this year’s  “Day of Valor” memorial related the Cordillerans’ warrior spirit for peace and freedom to the theme., “Ipunla ang Kagitingan sa Kabataan, Ihanda ang Beteranong Kinabukasan” (Sow Valor in the Young, Prepare the Veteran of Tomorrow).

“This is the reason why we make it a point to include in the city’s “Children’s Urban Heritage Walk” a visit to the Veterans Park, to link the young  to the local war heroes whose names are etched on the Wall of Heroes.”

He noted that history is replete with class acts of courage and sacrifice reflective of the Cordillera warrior’s spirit, from the early defense of freedom by the Ibaloys against the early attempts of intrusion and domination by the Spanish Conquistadores in the Battle of Tonglo in Tuba, Benguet in April, 1759.

The gallantry of Igorot defenders in Bataan was also described in an article on Reb. 23, 1942 in the New York Times:

“Hampered by the dense undergrowth and lost in the confusing maze of bamboo thickets, vines and creepers, the tankers would have been impotent had it not been for the aid of the Igorot troops of 2^nd Battalion, 11^th Infantry.

“ Hoisted to the top of the tanks where they were exposed to the fire of the enemy, these courageous  tribesmen from north Luzon chopped away the entangling foliage with their bolos and served as eyes for the American tankers. From their position atop the tanks they fired at the enemy with pistols while guiding the drivers with sticks.”   

This year’s memorial was also   in honor of the 44 members of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police who were killed while pursuing Malaysiana terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan” last January 25 in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Of the 44, 14 were from the Cordillera. Sixty five percent of those who sign up for duty with the SAF  comes from this upland region.

Thursday’s  ceremony began 8 a.m. with playing of the national anthems of the Philippines and the United States of America by the Philippine Military Academy Band., followed by the laying of wreaths by the Veterans Federation of the Philippines, United States Armed Forces in the Phils.-Northern Luzon, and city officials.

From this memorial, the Veterans Park turns to celebration on April 27, the 70^th anniversary of the liberation of Baguio by combined Filipino and American soldiers.