Corregidor Island Tour

Sunday, February 16, 2014

While everyone was enjoying their dates, chocolates and bouquet of flowers last Valentine's day, Radney and I were re-discovering a very important part of our Philippine history. We've visited Corregidor Island, also known as "The Rock" and sometimes referred to as the country's "Fortress of Freedom". It played an important role during World War II, being the military base of American and Filipino soldiers before and during Japanese invasion. In the Lorcha Dock was where Gen.Douglas MacArthur had escaped for Australia and in one of his speeches said the famous line, 'I Shall Return' to Filipinos. I've also read that relative to the island's size, is the most bombed place on Earth. The fortifications built by the Americans on the island before the war, surprisingly are still there and well-preserved for historic purpose and as tourist destination. By riding a tranvia, we've reached the batteries (Battery Way and Battery Geary), the bomb craters, ruined barracks and hospitals, tunnels, and bomb-proof shelters that were left after the war. The adventure part of the tour was the lateral tunnel night tour, inside the Malinta Tunnel. With our hard hats and flashlights on, by passing through the air passages we've learned how the main tunnel and around 60 lateral tunnels are interconnected. The whole Corregidor tour, aside from being so educational, proves that you can go for an amazing vacation without spending too much on plane tickets and accomodation. Some of the historic monuments found here are the Pacific War Memorial, Malinta Tunnel, Filipino Heroes Memorial, Japanese Garden of Peace and the Corregidor Lighthouse. By the way, I thought that Corregidor is part of Bataan province, I just knew that although close to Bataan peninsula, it is actually under the territorial jurisdiction of Cavite. Located only at the entrance of Manila Bay, it is a 2-hour ferry ride from Manila via Sun Cruises.