Here's an article I wrote for the Philippine Graphic which appeared this week just in time for the commemoration of Bataan's fall. The next part is still being edited by our editor-in-chief. A Day Tour of Corregidor First of Two Parts By Fil V. Elefante The big guns of Corregidor are now silent; the clicks of cameras have replaced rattle of gunfire. Gone are the coastal gun batteries, barracks, hospitals, offices, cinema and schools that used to serve its residents of long ago. In their place are ruins, bomb craters and surviving pieces of heavy artillery. But within these remnants of the Pacific War is a moving story of struggle and sacrifice, of life and death. A visit to the island gives one the rare chance of touching history and understanding what its defenders had to go through to survive the harrowing early months of 1942. I’ve been to Corregidor three times: The first time as a kid; the second time as part of a homeowners’ group tour, mainly to babysit younger kids. This third trip gave a chance to focus on the guided tour. After getting my ticket at the Sun Cruises terminal, CCP Complex, I boarded the fast catarman Sun Cruiser II. Guide Pablito Martinez began his spiel once the ship was underway at 8 a.m. The twenty-year tour guide veteran has a talent for breathing life to history. He started with how the Pacific War began (in China and not Pearl Harbor) and how the United States prepared the Philippines for war. The colorful narrative was interactive; the audience, rapt and responsive. We could imagine the bewildered US enlisted man in Fort Santiago getting news, before dawn of Dec. 8, 1942, of the on-going attack on Pearl Harbor. We could hear the arguments between top US officers on whether to wake up Gen. Douglas Macarthur, who was sleeping in his penthouse in the Manila Hotel. We felt the pain of President Manuel L. Quezon witnessing the Japanese bombing of Baguio City. Quezon called up Macarthur in his Manila. When it was finally decided that US planes could attack the Japanese, it was too late. The Japanese air armada arrived as the first six bombers were taking off from Clark Field. With Macarthur’s plan to stop the Japanese invasion of the Philippines on the beaches in tatters, the US general reluctantly dusted off and activated War Plan Orange No. 3, which was originally conceived in the early 1920s and updated in the late 1930s. Mr. Martinez regaled as with his account of the Battle of Lagac Junction, where a composite unit composed of Filipino and US troops fought a successful three-day hit-and-run delaying action, killing over 2,000 Japanese soldiers while suffering 200 casualties. It was one of the many battles fought to protect the Allied movement into the Bataan Peninsula. Thus, the stage was set for the Japanese siege of Bataan and Corregidor. The Island Tour Old Mr. Martinez’s knack for story telling made it seem that the over an hour-long trip to the island passed very quickly. Before we passengers realized it, we were docking on the pier. After docking, my group was taken over by Ms. Estella Cordoba. As knowledgeable as Mr. Martinez, she took up the tale of Mr. Martinez as she led us around the island’s guns, museums, hotel and the Malinta Tunnel. She took us to the remaining gun batteries of Corregidor and showed us the extent of how destructive the Japanese bombing of the island really was. Of the 26 gun batteries (which had over 50 artillery pieces) on the island, only two remain. Of these two, only one artillery piece is more or less intact. She told us how frustrated most of Corregidor’s gunners felt while the Japanese attacked the Bataan garrison. It turned out that most of Corregidor’s heavy guns were designed to fire out to sea instead of towards land. As soldiers bled and died on Bataan, only a few of Corregidor’s guns could aid them. The island’s defenses, which were mostly of World War I vintage, were rendered almost inutile by the weapons and technology of World War II. She conveyed to us the horror of the Coastal Artillery units of Corregidor when guners found out that they had inadvertently shelled some of the Allied prisoners as the Bataan Death March began. Ms. Cordoba punctuated her dramatic story telling with numerous anecdotes of life on Corregidor. “The living quarters of the few dozen nurses on the island were kept separate from the soldiers,” she said. “An American veteran told me that they had to keep the women under armed guard. They had to do that because to protect the men from naughty nurses.” (Concluded next issue) Corregidor: An overview The tadpole-shaped island of Corregidor is located approximately 48 kilometers west of Manila at the entrance of Manila Bay. The former island fortress is roughly six kilometers long and about 2.4 kilometers at its widest point. It has a total land area of about 5 square kilometers. Its bulbous head, which points towards the South China Sea, is called Topside and housed the fortress’s headquarters, barracks, depots, parade grounds and most of the island’s gun batteries. The island’s plateau, known as Middleside, housed additional barracks, a hospital, a service club and schools for the soldiers’ dependents. Bottomside, which is the lower part of the island, is where the abandoned Filipino community of Barrio San Jose used to be located. On the east of Bottomside is Malinta Tunnel. The word Corregidor comes from the Spanish word “corregir” or “to correct.” Ships entering Manila Bay had to stop at Corregidor to have their papers and cargo checked or corrected by Spanish officials while another part of the island served as a penal colony. Hence it became known as “Isla del Corregidor” or “Island of Correction.” When Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States after the Spanish-American War, the island was made into a US military reservation. In 1908, the US began modernizing the island’s fortifications and called their installation Fort Mills. How to get there: The historic island fortress of Corregidor is just over an hour away from Manila via a fast ferry. Daily ferry trips to the island are available through Sun Cruise, twice a day. Guided tours are part of the day trip and overnight packages. Visitors to the island can also choose to watch the Light and Sound Show inside Malinta Tunnel. Hotel accommodations are provided by Corregidor Inn. First Trip Boarding time 7:15 a.m. Depart Manila 8:00 a.m. Arrive Corregidor 9:15 a.m. Second trip Boarding time 10:30 a.m. Depart Manila 11: a.m. Arrival Corregidor 12:15 p.m. Guided Island Tour/Lunch First Trip Depart from Corregidor 2:30 p.m. Arrive Manila 3:45 p.m. Second trip 3:45 p.m. Arrive Manila 6:45 p.m. Note Second trip subject to vessel’s availability and to weather conditions Schedule subject to change without notice. Sun Cruises Sales Office Ground Floor Magsaysay Bldg. 520 TM Kalaw St. Ermita, Manila Tel. Nos. 526-9626, 5268888 local 9511/12/23 Fax 521-5850 Email sales_mttci@magsaysay.com.ph Reservations CCP Terminal A, CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd. Manila Tel. 831-8140; 8346857 to 58 Fax 834-1523
Here's the second part: Ah can anybody move this thread to the appropriate spot in Living History? Photos attached below are from the Japanese memorial in Corregidor and the Pacific War Memorial (incidentally, the US maintains two Pacific War memorials, one in Corregidor and the other one in Hawaii.) Corregidor: Inside Malinta Tunnel (Conclusion) BLURB: One had the feeling that lurking behind the shadowy cracks were the spirits of those who died inside Malinta Tunnel. By Fil V. Elefante Malinta Tunnel The highlight of the Corregidor tour was the visit to the Malinta Tunnel, a tunnel complex built by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Construction began in the 1920s and it was camouflaged as a public works project. The main tunnel, which was completed in 1932, was 1,450 feet long and 30 feet wide. The domed ceiling was 20 feet off the floor and finished off with reinforced concrete. Dual railroad tracks used by the island’s public transport system ran through the tunnel to give the secret military facility a semblance of public use. In reality, it was a bombproof storage and personnel bunker with concealed lateral tunnels on both sides of the main tunnel. Specially designed ventilation shafts were located throughout the system to keep the air breathable. This ventilation system was so sturdily built that it still serves the tunnel complex today. The US military also tapped convicts from the National Penitentiary as laborers during the course of the tunnel’s construction. Today, there is a Light and Sound Show (written by the late Lamberto Avellana Sr.) inside the main tunnel which gives the island’s visitors a chance to experience how it is to be huddled inside the dimly lit tunnel while smoke and dust settle in the air amidst a simulated bombing. The audience receives an overview of the Pacific War through the taped broadcasts and speeches made in World War II. Our personal guide to the Malinta tunnel complex, Eduardo Guiron, told us that before the outbreak of the war, the branching tunnels were kept secret from the island’s inhabitants. Few people, including US military personnel, knew the tunnels existed. Those who worked in these secret tunnels had to be blindfolded before entering or leaving Malinta. This culture of secrecy was dropped once the fighting started. During the siege of Corregidor, part of the tunnel system was converted to a makeshift 1,000-bed hospital after Japanese bombs destroyed the main hospital above ground. Ghosts from the past Unlike the main tunnel, which was restored, these branching tunnels (known as “laterals”) showed varying degrees of damage. Some still bore the scars of battle while in other stretches, soot from a fire can still be found. A few of the lateral tunnels were inaccessible, completely blocked off by debris. “Relics from the war are still buried there,” said our guide. When the lights were turned off, it was pitch black. I couldn’t even see my hand even if I put it right before my face. When the lights were turned back on, one had the feeling that lurking behind the shadowy cracks were the spirits of those who died inside Malinta Tunnel. One could easily get lost and wander around for hours in these tunnels without a guide’s help. It got eerier when we entered the tunnels the Japanese built. Inside were some of the bones of dead Japanese soldiers that were recently found by a team from the University of the Philippines. These burnt out pieces of bone were found near the ventilation shaft were US soldiers poured burning gasoline to clear the Japanese out of the tunnel system. According to Guiron, the American soldiers asked the cornered Japanese to surrender several times. Only when the US soldier relaying the surrender request was shot, did the Americans decide to burn the Japanese. As we made our way through the tunnels, odd pieces from those who sought refuge in the tunnel could still be found. Among them were old typewriters, worn out desks and seats, telephones and even a radio microphone. Some of these relics look as if they’re still ready for use, awaiting the hands of their long dead operators. It was at this point that Guiron decided to lead us out of the maze of tunnels and back to the ship that would bring us back to Manila. A good trip but . . . Before heading back to the ferry ship, our group’s last stop was the Filipino Heritage Memorial site and museum. The site was full of statues and carved mural depicting the nation’s history. Though the site was interesting, I can’t help but get the feeling that somehow something was wrong. It was as if the displays were trying too hard to play up Filipino bravery and feats. For me, only two statues there that depicted a Filipina and a Filipino farmer/guerilla gave proper respect to the hardships and trials a whole generation of Filipinos underwent in World War II. Maybe I had this feeling because many of the scenes here had no relation at all to Corregidor’s World War II history. When I went inside the Filipino Heritage museum, I found a display of paintings that was meant to show the horrors of war in general. However, upon closer examination, there were historical inaccuracies in some of these paintings. In the painting titled “Reign of Terror,” the painter claimed that the Japanese bombs razed Manila to the ground in December 1941, causing thousands of deaths. This is patently untrue. There is no place in a museum to exaggerate the atrocities the Japanese committed in World War II. In another painting titled “Pearl Harbor”, the painter’s caption stated that the attack sunk 30 US battleships. This was also historically inaccurate. The US Pacific Fleet at that time never had 30 battleships in Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack. I began to wonder why such paintings were allowed in what is purported to be a museum. I immediately pointed this out to one of our guides, Pablito Martinez. When he saw the paintings, he was aghast. He told me that the displays of this museum were periodically changed. He apologized profusely, explaining that the guides had nothing to do with how this particular museum was run. He added that all the guides of our tour were from the Department of Tourism while this museum was run by the Corregidor Foundation. Our cruise operator, he emphasized, had nothing to do with the museum’s operation. When I looked for a curator to ask about these paintings, there was no one to be found. This museum was a disappointment. It’s as if people who didn’t really appreciate history just couple together, stuff together and called the assembly a display. The Pacific War Memorial Museum with the help from World War II veterans, was far better. Despite the disappointment at the so-called Filipino Heritage site, my third visit to Corregidor was still a good one. It’s always a positive thing to learn from the past.
Excellent story ! It is also a good observation of the person who said the Pacific War began in China and not Pearl Harbor. I hope you write some more.
For the United States, the Pacific war began with Pearl Harbor. However, Japanese aggression began in China. So it's really a subjective topic. But obviously for the Philippines, it began with Pearl Harbor (because of its ties with the US)
