It is April 9, 2015 and we are celebrating Araw ng Kagitingan or "Day of Valor" in the Philippines. Before our present president Benigno Aquino, Jr., we called it Bataan Day. We commemorate the sacrifice of around 76,000 soldiers on the same date in 1942. They were composed 67,000 Filipinos, 11,700 Americans and 1,000 Chinese soldiers who were turned over to the Japanese.
I remember during my grade school days, Bataan Day was always part of our History textbooks. We would always have a lengthy discussion but almost and always, I studied it with disbelief. In my young mind then, I could not picture in my head how such cruelty could be brought to existence. In my mind, I would put myself in the shoes of the soldiers in the infamous "death march", and imagine myself enduring the heat, thirst, hunger, random beatings from Japanese soldiers as I walk 140 kilometers under the excruciating sun. Actually, I would stop halfway through my imagination because I couldn't fathom it. It was too unbearable. For all it's worth, I salute the soldiers then and the soldiers now...all over the world. Thank you for defending peace and order. Thank you for the unwavering sacrifice and dedication to the call of duty. Salamat po!
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| Soldiers from the death march |
Last August 2014, I was able to visit Corregidor Island with the two loves of my life. The clear blue skies looked like a chiaroscuro painting from my seat in the ferry boat. We got to take lots of pictures from the shore, to the museums and all the way up to the light house.
We spent the whole day in the island accompanied by our very friendly tour guide. We talked on some stopovers while my two buddies were busy taking pictures and looking at souvenir shops. I particularly like this "mickey mouse" money bought by Kat. It was called mickey mouse money because the denomination, no matter how high it was, did not have too much value.
Unfortunately, the light and sound show inside Malinta Tunnel had been canceled for several months already when we had our trip. It would have shown important scenes that happened in Corregidor during World War II.
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| Entrance of Malinta Tunnel |
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| Inside Malinta Tunnel |
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| No lights and sound show :(( Our tour guide showing the replica hospital inside the tunnel |
The food was also good. It was a buffet lunch inside what looked like an ancestral house with wide-opened windows where you can view flags blown by the breezy air circling the clear water that surrounded us.
It was a day when we traveled back in time, when freedom was meek and hostility lingered. I could not help but have more respect to soldiers.
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