Mayor asks historians to recognize Baguio

BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan appealed anew to historians to recognize Baguio’s significance on how the country was liberated.

In his speech during the 66th anniversary of Baguio’s liberation, Domogan said historians should have emphasized the second World War in the country practically began and ended in Baguio.

He said shortly after Japanese imperial forces bombed Pearl Harbor on December 1941, Japanese forces also bombed the former main gate of Camp John Hay and later captured Baguio.

On September 2, 1945, General Tomoyuki Yamashita and 16,000 soldiers after retreating from Manila to the Cordillera mountain range, surrendered in Kiangan, Ifugao. He was later transported to Baguio City and formally signed the deed of surrender at the American ambassador’s residence also in Camp John Hay.

He was later tried in Manila for war crimes.

The mayor said more than the attention given to the Fall of Bataan or other historic occasions marked by defeat of either Filipino or American forces, triumph should instead be celebrated, such as Yamashita’s surrender in Baguio.

On September 2007, in recognition of this account of history, former President Gloria Arroyo visited Kiangan, Ifugao to commemorate one the country’s historic milestones.

A memorial where Yamashita surrendered has been established in Kiangan. A museum, containing paraphernalia and pictures during WWII was also built. (Rimaliza Opiña)