US envoy receptive of Victory Day celebration
>> Monday, January 20, 2014
By
Dexter See
BAGUIO CITY –The
United States government is receptive to proposal of Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan
to celebrate Victory Day in the Summer Capital every Sept. 3 as it was on the
said date that World War II ended when Gen. Tomoyoki Yamashita of the Japanese
Imperial Army officially signed his surrender documents inside his room at the
Ambassador’s Residence located within the Camp John Hay, a former American
military base, US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg said here.
During a meeting with
Domogan at City Hall Monday morning, Goldberg said the US Embassy will study
the celebration of Victory Day in the city in order to appropriately celebrate
the end of the hostilities between the American and Filipino forces against the
Japanese forces starting this coming September 3, 2014.
The US envoy was
impressed by Domogan’s knowledge on the history of the Americans and Japanese
in the country.
He said the proposal
to celebrate Victory Day is appropriate to give justice to those who fought for
the country’s independence and enrich the history of the Philippines.
“We need to give
recognition to those who fought hard in order to put an end to the World War II
hostilities the soonest and we are happy to celebrate Victory in Baguio City
which we consider as our second home,” Goldberg stressed.
Goldberg jokingly
informed Domogan that he refused to use the room that was used by Yamashita
inside the Ambassador’s Residence during his 3-day stay in the city for
fear that there are still “ghosts” left behind by the Japanese military in the
area.
“It is unfortunate
that the Philippine government is giving priority to the celebration of our
defeat in the hands of the Japanese by making the Fall of Bataan a red letter
day but our victory in the war is obviously being set aside for still unknown
reasons,” Domogan told Goldberg during their 40-minute talk.
According to Mayor
Domogan, World War II officially started and ended in Baguio City considering
that after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the gate of Camp
John Hay, which was then known as the John Hay Air station, an American rest
and recreation center, was bombed by Japanese warplanes on December 8, 1941
that signalled the start of the war in the country.
While Yamashita was
captured in Kiangan, Ifugao on September 2, 1945, the local chief executive
disclosed he was immediately brought to Baguio City by joint American and
Filipino forces and on September 3, 1945, the embattled Japanese general
officially signed his surrender documents inside the Ambassador’s Residence
inside John Hay that also signalled the end of World War II hostilities.
He claimed the
celebration of Victory Day was only done once with the presence of previous US
and Japanese ambassadors in the city but the said activity was never given
importance for reasons that he still cannot explain, thus, he appealed to
Goldberg to initiate the move to institutionalize the joint celebration of
Victory Day in order to give importance to an historic event that ended the war
instead of highlighting the celebration of our defeat in the hands of the
tyranic Japanese soldiers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment