Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of WWII in the Philippines
WAR AND MEMORY: 80 YEARS AFTER
THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE 80th ANNIVERSARY OF WWII
Lyceum University of the Philippines
Intramuros, Manila
February 18-19, 2025
NEVER FORGET
Eighty years passed since the end of WWII and there is a need to preserve the memory; the victory and the tragedy that happened in the war of our grandfathers and uncles.
The Philippine WWII Memorial Foundation (PhilWar), in cooperation with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines embarked on commemorating the events 80 years ago, with the Liberation and the anniversary of WWII held at the Lyceum University of the Philippines, Manila recently.
In one of the activities is the International Conference, in which various Filipino historians, researchers and members of the academe presented various important WWII Papers, some of which are not yet into popular history and never been published.
AS SPEAKER AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
It was the most important role as a Tarlaqueno, to contribute in the preservation and promotion of History in our province and in our Country to an extent.
I was one of the Filipino historians whose Paper was selected last year, with focus on the American Prisoners of War (P.O.W.), the senior officers such as generals and field commanders mostly in Bataan and Corregidor, that were incarcerated at the Tarlac P.O.W. Enclosure, or what is now the Camp Francisco Makabulos Philippine National Police provincial headquarters.
FORGOTTEN HISTORY: TARLAC WAR ENCLOSURE
Aside from Camp Makabulos or the Tarlac Enclosure that was utilized for the American prisoners from May 10 to August 11, 1942, there were also other facilities and even houses that were used by the Japanese as prison cells or sites for the Americans.
This research Paper was presented on the first day of the International Conference, and I was selected as Number 4 Presenter, Panel No. 1, which went smoothly. I will post a brief historical narrative of the Paper.
THE WWII HISTORY COMMUNITY
Prominent historians, researchers, members of the academic community and participants from other countries like America, Japan, Canada and Britain are in attendance during my Talk. My sincere thanks to Philippine WWII Memorial Foundation and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines NHCP for this important event.
Prominent historians who are acquainted with me personally in the past decades are present during the event, some of them are personal friends while others are very dear to me as my mentors:
Dr. Ricardo T. Jose (U.P. Diliman), foremost Filipino WWII Historian
Marie Vallejo, historian and author
Desiree C. Benipayo, historian and author
James Zobel, MacArthur Memorial archivist and historian
Tony Feredo, WWII Battlefield Expert
Peter Parson, son of Commander Chick Parsons
There are other important personalities and even new generations of Filipino writers in WWII History that were present during the 2-day event. The WWII History community in the country is a small group only, hence, there is always the tendency to know each other especially meeting them on such occasion like this.
Since 2017, I was selected to be speaker for various WWII commemorations in the country:
(1) 2017: Holy Angel University, Angeles City: International Conference.
(2) 2019: Tacloban City, Leyte, Leyte Normal University, National Conference.
(3) April 2020: National Conference (on-line due to COVID).
(4) 2025: Lyceum of the Philippines University, Manila, International Conference.
Thanks to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines NHCP and the Philippine WWII Memorial Foundation for the opportunity to be part of this important gathering of international personalities involved in the preservation of WWII History.
