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