By Celeste Anna R. Formoso and Ronces Paragoso
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, April 23 (PNA) — Dreams of the future is better than the past, but history has to be understood and preserved in order for people in the present to act to move forward, according to Ricardo P. Jose, Ph. D., of the Department of History, University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman.
Jose, who was in this city Wednesday to attend the commemoration of the 70th Philippines Liberation Anniversary dubbed “A Salute to Valor: Palawan-70 Years of Freedom,” said this after stating that the province has a lot of WW2 narratives and incidents that have not yet been fully recorded.
“One thing that we found out here was there’s really none. Usually, recordings are main stream; in Leyte, Bataan, Manila,” he said.
Palawan is significant history, he said, because of its strategic position. “It covers the West Philippines Sea; the airfield here is very strategic and the Japanese knew this that’s why they built it here. They were the ones who did it first, actually,” he said.
When the Americans learned of this in 1944-1945, they immediately incapacitated the airfield that was built by the prisoners of war (POW), who were brought to Palawan, to cut Japanese supplies from coming in.
“Once they took over the airfield here, they used it as support to the invasion of Borneo, and then the South, and even reached Vietnam from here,” he told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
He believes that when the supplies were cut, and the airfield under the command of the Americans, the surrender of Japan to the Allied Force was sped up.
Aside from the tactical airfield, he said that the support of the guerilla force under the Palawan Special Battalion (PSB) during WW2 is also significant because they were able to contain the Japanese Imperial Army forces until the arrival of American troops under the leadership of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
“There’s only one real book about Palawan’s history, it’s called Palawan’s Fighting 1,000; it’s the only one written so far,” Jose claimed. The copy is now at the Palawan Special Battalion WW2 Museum privately-run by Higinio “Buddy” Mendoza, the son of local hero Dr. Higinio A. Mendoza, Sr.
Jose said he has materials from his trips to the United States several times, and some other travels, where he collected historical materials not only about Palawan but the whole country.
He added that he found reports from Palawan; maps, action reports from communications, and others.
Since he knows this, he said he might do it on his own to write about Palawan’s WW2 history. “The Japanese occupation here was not really well known,” he said.
Among others, he said he also discovered that there also circulated “guerilla money” in the province during WW2. Having the guerilla money, he said, was life or death then because the Japanese soldiers did not like it.
“The Filipinos were very ingenious in producing that in the mountains, and since Palawan is big, the issues were different for different islands and areas. Cuyo had them, Brooke’s Point too, had them, so, they are really among the rarest Filipinos here during WW2,” he furthered.
Having the guerilla money, Jose explained, only means that during WW2, Filipinos were very organized, very systematic against their Japanese enemies.
What makes Palawan history important
There were three incidents that also make Palawan important in Philippine history. One was about two submarines of the Allied that were sunk within the vicinity of the southernmost municipality of Balabac.
Jose said the Japanese put mines in the area, and one submarine hit this and sunk. Palawan guerillas, he said, were able to rescue at least 10 people, and a week after, another submarine hit the same mine and also sank too.
“They are still there now, but the guerillas rescued the crews so, that’s another thing,” he said.
During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, or even before it started, there were major Japanese ships that passed west of Palawan. The guerillas spotted them and reported to the Allied Forces.
They also sank two cruisers, and damaged another, causing the Japanese ships to go back to Brunei.
“These were two very heavy cruisers, and one was a flagship of the Japanese admiral, who was forced to transfer to another ship. That’s just off Palawan so, these cruisers are still there under the ocean,” Jose stated further.
During WW2, the USS Dace of the U.S. Navy sank the heavy cruiser Maya near Palawan, and the 769 Japanese navy men, who were rescued from it were transferred to Musashi.
The wrecks of the battleship Musashi was recently discovered in the deep waters of Sibuyan Sea, Cebu by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
Musashi “capsized and sank in 4,430 feet (1,350 m) under the command of Captain Toshihira Inoguchi, who chose to go down with it; 1,376 of his 2,399-man crew were rescued.” About half of the battleship’ survivors were evacuated to Japan, and the rest took part in the war in the Philippines.
The Japanese battleships in Coron, which are also important, were different, he said.
“Coron was strategic because after Manila was being bombed, the Japanese vessels transferred there to try to seek refuge, but they were detected by the Americans, who sank them there,” he narrated.
Another important historical fact that went unrecorded was the arrival in Palawan seas of two submarines that reportedly provided support to the guerillas.
“We still do not know where they landed, but they gave supplies to the guerillas. This is not very well-documented. Added to that, there were also two submarines that came here and landed commandos, whose main mission is to help the guerillas developed and establish watch stations to man the coast,” he said, adding it was also for them to always check the weather.
Weather is reportedly very important during WW2 to both the Americans and the Japanese military operations. Some of the commandos, who were landed, were weather experts, who report to Gen. MacArthur.
Preservation of cultural and historical sites in Palawan
With all these, Jose said it is very important that Palawan restores and rehabilitates its cultural and historical sites.
He particularly mentioned the Mendoza Park that is currently undergoing a facelift, and where local hero Dr. Mendoza was buried; the Plaza Cuartel, that he is glad now has a marker and will also be restored further; and the classic if not one of the best penal colonies, the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm.
”The buildings in Iwahig are original, and to make it more important, in 1945, the suspected collaborators of the Japanese were incarcerated there, like Claro M. Recto, and two others,” he said, adding there’s a memorial that stayed there.
”Palawan’s history not only goes back in prehistoric times. Of course, there’s its strategic location in the West Philippines Sea,” he said.
With rich wartime history, Palawan could become one of the most important cultural and historical sites that tourists will visit. (PNA)