CORREGIDOR STILL ROCKS

Its guns have been silent for over half a century now, but the once-impregnable island fortress beckons travelers to have a date with history.

By SUNLY COO  

There are two things the Corregidor Island Day Tour offers its visitors: plenty of low-impact exercise and a generous recounting of the once-impregnable island fortress’s turbulent past. For PhP750, you could learn more in a day about the nation’s military and political saga during World War II than you ever had half-dozing through an entire semester of history 101. Perhaps it’s because the tour guide can rattle off more riveting and quirky nuggets of information than your staid teacher ever did, all the while peppering his well-rehearsed spiel with jokes that sometimes sound corny.

     But the best reason, as any modern pedagogic expert would tell you, is the allure of being right where all the action and drama had unfolded more than half a century ago. There, standing in the ruins of a battlement or a ravaged building, it is hard to remain stoic or disinterested.

     All throughout the tadpole-shaped island are relics of the last great war—barracks where Filipino and American soldiers slept, batteries where armaments were stored and deployed, and the now silent weapons of mass destruction—and tributes to its heroes made immortal by the gifted hands of sculptors and architects. To see the sights, visitors travel in tram-like buses provided by tour organizer Sun Cruises, and do a lot of legwork.

     On a hot, humid day in late January when I join more than a hundred other tourists, we find our energy easily drained just hopping in and out of the vehicles at every stop and making the hike. It therefore comes as no surprise when the number of eager trekkers dwindles as the tour progresses, many preferring to stay in the bus and out of the sun. Apparently, bombed out edifices hold little appeal for the less hardy of the group.

Landing on Its Shores

     Our air-conditioned ferry leaves at a little past the scheduled departure time of 10:30 a.m. Not told beforehand by the booking staff that seats need to be reserved upon ticket purchase, we arrive half an hour before boarding to pay the balance and end up with seats in the last few rows, where the roar of the ferry engines is the loudest. The din drowns out the tour guide’s introductory speech of Corregidor, shrinking his captive audience in half. 

     An hour later, we reach the southern shores of the 546-hectare island lying just off the tip of the Bataan peninsula, and transfer to buses that drop us off at either the open field of the recreation hall where visitors with their own packed lunch can dine or to the Corregidor Inn for buffet. The bay windows encircling the three walls of the hotel’s restaurant open away to reveal the calm waters of Mariveles Bay, providing a soothing ambience for diners.

     With bellies full, we finally set out to explore the island. The guided tour proper actually takes up only about three and a half hours, time largely spent in the following key destinations: Gen. Douglas MacArthur Park, Pres. Manuel L. Quezon Park, Malinta Tunnel Complex, Pacific War Memorial, Aviary, and Spanish Lighthouse.

Into the Darkness   

     The light and sound show staged at the main lateral of the Malinta Tunnel is arguably the high point of the entire tour. Originally an arsenal and undergound hospital, the tunnel’s 834-feet-long-and-24-feet-wide main artery and its interconnected passageways were dug out of Malinta Hill in 1922, making it a bomb-proof headquarters for Filipino and American fighters. Then President Manuel L. Quezon moved the seat of the Philippine government to the safer confines of the tunnel, its trapped and stale air aggravating his respiratory disease.

     Before the show begins, our tour guide leads us through a portion of the labyrinth, pointing out where Quezon held his office, where the hospital beds used to be, and where the heavily padlocked nurses’ quarters were. Our excitement mounts when we have to walk a stretch of a lateral in total darkness, and squeeze between narrow openings that lead to a trail partially lined with boulders, and keep our hands and clothes from brushing against walls coated with  soot.

     After our little adventure, we congregate with other groups of visitors just inside the mouth of the tunnel. The atmosphere inside the ink-black cavern remain still as we stand in anticipation of the 30-minute show dramatizing the pivotal moments of WWII that shaped our nation. Voices of the narrator and the actors, mingling with reasonably realistic sound effects, blare from speakers as lights flash on the life-size dioramas, many of its statues sport nicks and peeling paint. Overhanging lampshades tremble and sway, and lights flicker with every “bomb blast.” At some intervals, grainy, sepia-tinted still film footage integral to the presentation is run on large screens embedded along the dark wall of the tunnel.

     Production-wise, the show is a bit disappointing given the evolution of more sophisticated multi-media tools. And since the audience has to proceed en masse from station to station during the entire program, you have to put more spring into your steps. Otherwise, you will find yourself lagging behind the rushing crowd, peering and straining over shadowed shoulders just to get a peek of the displays. But in fairness, the show offers a wealth of behind-the-scenes political and military maneuvers that even the apathetic might find intriguing. When it was over, though, many of us couldn’t wait to get away from the maw of darkness and poor ventilation.

Points of Interest

     A more solemn atmosphere pervades the redundantly named Japanese Garden of Peace Park. Standing sentry over the various Japanese soldier memorial shrines, the frozen antiaircraft gun relics, and the Shinto Shrine is a 10-foot Jibo-Kannon stone Buddha. For Japanese tourists, this is often the last stop in their tour, allowing Japanese war veterans and their relatives time and solitude to pray for peace and, perhaps, forgiveness.

     Standing in grim contrast are the gigantic 12-inch mortars found in Battery Way and Battery Geary. These killing machines which took 14 people to man—eight just for loading—are capable of firing up to 14,610 yards in any direction and at the rate of one round per minute for each mortar. Touted to be the most effective antipersonnel weapon of Corregidor, they were the first line of defense against Japanese air raids. Their formidable sizes now irresistibly draw tourists over for a snapshot or two.

     Holding far lesser interest among sightseers are the preserved buildings or what remain of them—the roofless Mile-Long Barracks that served as quarters for soldiers and officers, the Radio Command Post where gaping shafts are all that were left of elevators that once transported heavy shells, and the Cine Corregidor that screened its last movie with Gone With the Wind.  

     Vintage car enthusiasts delight over Gen. MacArthur’s and Pres. Quezon’s sets of wheels parked neatly beneath an archway not far from the old theater. The 1937 Cabriolet built by GM was the president’s gift to the general for accepting his invitation to train Filipino troops; while the equally luxurious 1937 Chrysler Airflow Limousine was used to shuttle the former president to his engagements.

     But the best place to relax and take in the scenery is the Pacific War Memorial’s well-manicured park, adjacent to the domed shrine honoring our courageous soldiers and the Americans who fought beside them. Incidentally, the memorial also houses a museum modestly stocked with WWII artifacts and photos of national and foreign dignitaries who have visited the island.

     To reach the park, we have to walk past the shrine where its cool, white marble floor and the tranquil open vista surrounding it make me feel as if we are treading on sacred ground. It is an idyllic place to sit down and let one’s mind wander freely. But we have to leave this oasis of serenity too soon and head off to the end of the park where the Eternal Flame of Freedom, an awe-inspiring and graceful piece of sculpture rendered from round steel bars, pierced the sky. Aristedes’s creation loom unflickering against the strong winds that buffet visitors who aren’t too exhausted to venture that far. For their efforts, they are well rewarded by the stunning panorama of Corregidor’s coastline spreading far below. 

I Can’t Believe We Missed It

     Too busy taking in the sights, I have only given the brochure a cursory glance when it was sparingly handed out, and thus failed to notice until we got home that the tour guide did not bring us to the Filipino Heroes Memorial. It was disappointing to miss out on the island’s newest landmark designed by the renowned Arch. Francisco Mañosa and displays 14 Manuel Casal murals. 

     According to the brochure, the murals depict the long line of heroic battles waged by our countrymen from the Battle of Mactan in 1521 to the 1986 People Power at Edsa. But that, I guess, is the drawback of the day tour—you couldn’t get to visit all the sites the island has to offer. Maybe next time, an overnight stay at Corregidor Inn or at one of the cottages in the Beach Resort Complex might merit consideration. Which means, after a hot humid day traipsing all over the island, there would still be plenty of time for a cool and leisurely swim.