SAN ILDEFONSO HIGIT PA SA GULAY Araw ng Kagitingan April 9, 2015, Akle, San Ildefonso, Bulacan I. Background In the last 70 years, the celebration of Araw ng Kagitingan on 9 April is centered in Mt. Samat, Bataan, timed with the commemoration of the surrender of USAFFE to the Japanese Imperial Forces. In the past, there were attempts to valorize the surrender by doing such activities as a reverse Death March from Capas to Balanga. Now that the old guards are practically all dead, it is time to revaluate the event, making another framework that would be more historically accurate. Why not associate other places in the other provinces with the event so as to involve them in the commemoration of the Araw ng Kagitingan? II. Framework The SAMAHANG PANGKASAYSAYAN NG BULAKAN proposes to commemorate not the END or the surrender, but the BEGINNING of the struggle to gain freedom through the formation of guerrilla groups such as the Bulacan Military Area or BMA. Our center of commemoration will be Akle, San Ildefonso, Bulacan, which with its mountainous terrain, became the headquarters of the BMA and which the group itself described as “Victory Hill.” It is what to Bulacan Mt. Samat is to Bataan. III. Activities 1. We will request the National Historical Commission of the Philippines to make the inspection of Victory Hill putting a new marker or monument that may be used for the event, requesting likewise their active participation and support. 2. We will coordinate with a commemorative committee of the Municipality of San Ildefonso so as to thresh out details of a Heroes Trek to Akle. The Municipality of Bustos has already committed to participate in a half marathon to be led by Mayor Arnel Mendoza. Bikers groups will be invited. The starting point shall be at the Bulacan Agricultural State College (BASC) campus, 18 kilometers from Akle. 3. Sampaka will sponsor a photo walk a month before the event. In cooperation with SM City Baliwag, it will mount an exhibit and program in the week of the Araw ng Kagitingan featuring the output of the photographers. Other activities will include essay contests among the youth participants to the trek. a. During the trek proper, different batches from different places and groups shall converge at the Victory Hill. For the youth participants who will join the essay contest, the various points related to the event will be visited and serve as stop over: the Ilusorio house or “Bahay na Pula” where women groups shall discuss the issue of “comfort women” during the Japanese Occupation, the “White House” inside the Bulacan Agricultural State College campus where historians shall discuss the peasant struggle (Sakdalistas among others) before the war and Quezon’s response through the Social Justice Program, and the “Little Tokyo” at Sumandig Elementary School where resource persons shall explain the issue of collaboration by ex-Sakdalistas and the massacre of the barrio residents during the war due to their perceived connections with the invaders. Little Tokyo was the code name of the guerrillas for Sumandig, being the abode of the Ganaps during the War. b. The final stopover at Victory Hill shall be the commemoration proper, with the wreath-laying and candle lighting ceremony and the speeches of the various VIPs and relatives of the veterans of World War II.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 08:27:54 +0000
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