The City Government of San Pedro, through its City Tourism, Culture, and Arts Office, is one with the Filipino nation in the commemoration of the 82nd Araw ng Kagitingan.
On this day in 1942, around noon, the Filipino and American forces defending the Bataan Peninsula surrendered to the Japanese after a three-month gallant stand. The mass surrender of the US Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) to the Japanese subsequently led to the infamous Bataan Death March, where the Bataan defenders were subjected to harsh conditions while marching and riding a train to Camp O’Donnell, Capas, Tarlac. Almost a month later, the Corregidor Island surrendered to the Japanese; this marked the surrender of all USAFFE troops in the Philippines and Japan’s complete conquest of the country.
Although the USAFFE troops were defeated, this was seen even then as a glorious moment in Philippine history. In the radio address “Bataan Has Fallen” written by then-Captain (later UP President) Salvador Lopez, Lieutenant Norman Reyes enunciated these words that etched the Bataan Defenders as forever heroes: “…All the world will testify to the most superhuman endurance with which they stood up until the last in the face of overwhelming odds… Bataan has fallen, but the spirit that made it stand—a beacon to all the liberty-loving peoples of the world—cannot fall!..”
To honor this occasion, in 1961, the Philippine Congress enacted Republic Act No. 3022 declaring April 9 of every year as a legal holiday known as “Bataan Day.” in 1987, through Executive Order No. 203, President Corazon Aquino renamed it as Araw ng Kagitingan, and affirmed its status as a legal holiday in the country. Likewise, the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, with the help of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the Veterans Federation of the Philippines leads the annual commemoration of this activity.
Laguna Tourism Culture Arts and Trade Office
REFERENCES:
Agoncillo, Teodoro. 1965. The Fateful Years: Japan’s Adventure in the Philippines, 1941-1945. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.
An Act Proclaiming the Ninth Day of April as Bataan Day and Declaring It as a Legal Holiday. 1961. Republic Act No. 3022. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/…/republic-act-no-3022/.
“Executive Order No. 203, s. 1987.” 1987. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. June 30, 1987. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/…/executive-order…/.
Morton, Louis. 1953. The Fall of the Philippines. Washington, DC: US Army Center of Military History. https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/5-2/5-2_Contents.htm.
