SEPTEMBER 3 is formally set as Baguio’s Victory Day.
Representative Mark Go announced on Monday, June 5, that President Rodrigo Duterte is set to sign a House Bill declaring September 3 as a holiday in Baguio City where World War II in the Pacific started and ended.
“It’s worth repeating to emphasize Baguio is where the second world war in the Philippines began and ended” Go said.
Go said that declaring September 3 as a special non-working holiday will give more meaning to the commemoration of the surrender of the Japanese military forces in the country.
Historical records reveal that WWII in the Pacific started in Baguio when Camp John Hay was bombed by Japanese warplanes on December 8, 1941, a day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. At that time, the John Hay Air Station was an American rest and recreation center.
The WWII in the Pacific ended on September 3, 1945, when General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Japanese Imperial Army signed the formal surrender documents to United States General Jonathan Wainwright and British General Arthur Percival at Camp John Hay.
Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan said he hopes that the date will became a national holiday as a victory day for the countless brave Filipino soldiers and their allies who fought and sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country. (With a report from University of the Cordilleras intern Shaura Elaine Cuyan)