The battle of Leyte Gulf, 70 years ago

Last Monday was the 70th anniversary of the Landings in Palo, Leyte when the US Forces under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his promise to the Filipinos in his famous stirring words, "I shall return." The effects of the American invasion in Leyte reverberates even today where the majority of Filipinos still trust and embrace the Americans believing that we are their "Brown" brothers.

That's because Gen. MacArthur had to debate, defend and oppose those in the US High Command who wanted to by-pass the Philippines and go straight to bring the war to the shores of Japan believing that the Philippine campaign would be so costly in arms, materiel and men.

But Gen. MacArthur prevailed and thanks to the Cebu guerrillas who earlier captured the so-called "Koga Papers" when the Kawanishi flying boats of Admiral Mineichi Koga crashed off the shores near San Fernando and Carcar bearing with them the "Sho-Plan" a.k.a. Z-Plan, the final defense of Japan's remaining Empire. This is why the landings were moved from December to October 1944 as the US saw that Leyte was lightly defended.

But the landings in Leyte wasn't a walk in the park as the Japanese Imperial fleet had a three pincher plan to attack the Americans in Leyte. Thus a couple of days after the landings came the greatest Naval engagement in the world… the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf had three major sea battles that won the day for the Americans. Today we also celebrate the famous Battle of Sibuyan Sea where the famous Imperial Navy Battlewagon, the Musashi (it's the sister ship of the Yamato, they were the biggest Battleships of World War II) was sunk by American carrier planes near Romblon.

Tomorrow is also the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Surigao Strait. This battle was triggered by PT-Boats on both sides of the southernmost tip of Leyte in the Island of Panaon and on Dinagat on the other side. As the Southern Force under the Command of Admiral Shoji Nishimura passed the Surigao Strait the PT-Boats swung into action firing torpedoes in the dead of the night. The Seventh Fleet with battleships that survived the famous attack in Pearl Harbor joined them. It was sweet revenge for the US.

By morning the rest of the Seventh Fleet destroyed most of the Southern Force with Admiral Nishimura killed in action inside his Flagship the Yamashiro, which sunk with many other Japanese wars. Another famous Japanese Battleship Fuso also sunk in the Surigao Strait. As a consequence of these famous Battles in Leyte Gulf, thousands of dead Japanese navy sailors were washed into the shores of Dinagat and Surigao… forcing the citizenry to bury or burn those dead Japanese navy sailors.

Finally there was the Battle of Samar were a Japanese decoy force came from the North to lure Halsey's carriers. That engagement cost the Americans five ships including three Jeep Carriers sunk. But strangely despite this minor victory, the Japanese suddenly pulled out of that engagement which resulted in the sinking of a Japanese carrier and two battleships. The Battle of Leyte Gulf was won. It was to be the most decisive battle of World War II as the Japanese Navy was no longer a force to reckon with.

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All that talk about Pedestrianization isn't something new. Take a good look at what used to be I think it is Gomez St. that small road in-between the Sto. Niño Basilica and the Metropolitan Cathedral and you will notice that this road has been totally taken over by the throng of pedestrians who come to visit the two churches in Cebu City.

As for the Sto. Niño Basilica, I do not dispute the argument of Basilica Rector Fr. Jonas Mejares that vibration come from vehicles can cause damage to the Basilica. However we must qualify which vehicles make the most vibration. For sure, they are caused by trucks and buses… or even rickety old jeepneys and motorcycles with loud exhaust systems.

But with the City of Cebu experiencing a high growth rate on the purchase of brand new motor vehicles, this talk about Pedestrianization should not be focused on the people working in heritage sites. This is why we've already written so many times already that Mayor Michael Rama should call for a Traffic Summit; similar to the one that I called when I took over CITOM in the late 1990s and in the early 2000s.

Why should we have another Traffic Summit? Because the results of that summit was never implemented. You may argue with me and ask "Why call for a Traffic Summit if it doesn't get implemented anyway?" This is a very good question. When the Traffic Summit comes up with positive results, which are collated directly from the people on the ground…therefore it is a crime not to implement it. So call the summit before you pedestrianize Colon.