Conquering Corregidor

MANILA, Philippines - When you’re severely missing school and everything that comes with it—hour-long history classes and textbooks that come with it—you’ll find yourself drawn to anything that’ll give you a doze of good ‘ol basic education just when you need a shot of it.

So when the opportunity to travel back into time for just a couple thousand bucks presented itself right smack in front of me, there was simply no saying no—even if it meant having to wake up at 6am to catch the first trip in a daytime adventure in an island with a story that took decades in the making.

Teeming with vivid memories of a time that we can only very well read from our Philippine History textbooks, the tadpole-shaped island of Corregidor that sits off the coast of equally historic Bataan and Cavite seemed as if it was encapsulated in a different era and a different space.

Owing to its strategic position at the forefront of Manila Bay, Corregidor has served as the naval stronghold of Manila and site of the epic battles between the Filipinos and Americans against the ambitious Japanese forces at the break of the Second World War. The latter believed that they could capture all 7,107 islands of the Philippines in a span of 50 days.

Corregidor’s rugged terrain and rocky cliff faces are dotted with crudely dug, low-lying tunnels that lurk behind a spray of leaves and branches. These proved to be very strategic hiding places for the Japanese soldiers as they lay in wait to blow resting naval ships into smithereens.

With the cool Corregidor sea breeze blowing against our faces, our tram ride took us along the spiralling island trail with our first stop at Malinta Tunnel which was where Former President Manuel L. Quezon and Vice-President Sergio Osmeña took their oath for their second shot at leading the Filipinos at such a turbulent era in our history. Malinta Tunnel’s grim story is depicted in a 30-minute light-and-sound show with each page in history unfolding at each lateral. As the heart of American operations during World War II, this passage turned hospital, arsenal and fuel reservoir became a death nest for thousands of Americans, Filipinos and Japanese. 

Sprawling amidst a backdrop of clear blue skies and lush greenery is the Filipino Heroes Memorial which holds a vast collection of the works of sculptor Manuel Casal. The memorial is home to 14 murals chronicling the Filipinos’ story of heroism from the time of Lapu-Lapu to the People Power Revolution of Cory Aquino. 

One of the island’s most solemn spots is the Pacific War Memorial where a huge dome shelters a round marble altar that stands in honor of those who have fought during the war.   The dome is strangely in the shape of a parachute and is erected at the spot where the soldiers landed with billowing parachutes on their backs as they leapt from their fighter planes to engage the enemy forces in land. Looking up, one will see a cut out of the sky from the center of the dome where sunlight is believed to perfectly hit the stone altar only at exactly 12 noon every May 6th.

A narrow path leads from the dome to an elevation with an intricate steel sculpture known as the Eternal Flame stands, marking the undying passion of the a people’s love for freedom and peace. The Eternal Flame is located at the highest point of the island offering a compelling view of blood-red sunset.

Following lunch, we were taken to the skeletal remains of a vast complex known as the Battery Grubbs. Battery Grubbs were known as the disappearing guns for their ability to vanish from the enemy’s view following a target. At the top spot of the complex lay one of the American forces’ unfinished guns as well. All 20 batteries were scattered throughout the island to keep the enemy forces from resorting into a blitzkrieg—or to at least keep the enemy at bay. Battery Hearn was the longest of the batteries in the island with a firing range of 17 miles.  

No trip to Corregidor would be complete without stopping by the Mile Long Barracks that housed nearly 3000 US soldiers including General Douglas MacArthur. After being heavily bombed during the war, what remains of the structure are its solid concrete framework and ruins of dislocated staircases and blown up windows and balustrades of quarters where soldiers whiled their nights partying or playing poker seemingly for the last time.

Corregidor has not only been a battle field during World War II. Its love affair with war stretches back to the Spanish colonial period which is why although drastically Americanized by the 1900s, remnants from a Hispanic era are still visible like the Spanish Light House at the center tip of a plaza paved with terracotta tiles and whitewashed bungalows. A 53-steps spiralling staircase and a couple of steep steel ladders took us to the top of the light house where a breathtaking view of the island’s verdant greens melted into the turquoise waters lay in wait.

As our tram bounds around a ravine overgrown with shrubs, vines, and trees that have taken growth after one of the most horrible wars in the history of mankind, we are told that this was where several hundreds of Japanese soldiers leapt to their death to save themselves from the disgrace of turning over their arms to the American forces. Corregidor is a page in a history book brought to life and perhaps that is what makes the place strangely eerie.