Multi-agency task force to retrace Death March

A multi-agency task force under the Department of National Defense will be retracing today routes of the infamous Bataan Death March to add more meaning into this year’s observance of Araw ng Kagitingan.

Highlighting this year’s 140-km. journey from Mariveles, Bataan to the Capas National Shrine is the unveiling of an original boxcar used to transport some 90,000 to 100,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war (POWs) by the Janapese Imperial Army.

“On April 6, a new activity called Retracing the Death March Route Caravan will be done,” Multi-Agency Task Force head, Defense Undersecretary Ernesto Carolina said.

Carolina, concurrent acting administrator of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) said the Bataan Death March Caravan will be participated in by local barangay officials of Bataan, Pampanga and Tarlac.

“Markers will be set up along the Bataan Death March routes and there will be prayers and floral offerings as the caravan moves,” Carolina said.

He said the activity will be capped by the unveiling of an original but rehabilitated boxcar used to transport prisoners of war at the Capas National Shrine in Tarlac.

The Death March Route Caravan and the unveiling of the boxcar according to Carolina are this year’s addition to a series of activities lined by the government “to celebrate the legacy of our freedom fighters and inspire new heroes in today’s generation.”

Tomorrow, as a tribute to the fallen defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, an activity dubbed as “Tribute in Honor of all Filipino Heroes” will also be held in the military fortress located at the mouth of Manila Bay.  An Oratorical Contest to be participated in by siblings of the country’s veterans would be held at the Veterans Center Auditorium in Taguig City on April 8.

All these activities will be done in honor of the Filipino soldiers and American servicemen who perished in the Death March which military historians described as one of the worst war crimes ever committed in the annals of any military conflict.

“The Death March was characterized by wide-ranging physical abuse, murder, savagery resulting to high fatalities,” military records showed.

Of the hundreds of thousands who surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army following the Fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942, only 54,000 reached the Japanese concentration camp in Capas, Tarlac.

President Arroyo will be the guest of honor and speaker during the Araw ng Kagitingan celebration to be held on April 9 at the Mt. Samat Shrine in Pilar, Bataan. 

Likewise, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro will also be joining surviving veterans and their families as  guest of honor and speaker on April 10 at the Capas National Shrine  in an event dubbed as “Pagugunita Sa Capas.”

The week-long commemoration will be concluded on April 11 with the Sunset Ceremony to be held at the Libingan ng mga Bayani at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. – Jaime Laude