By Rex Catubig
As early as 2022, after the completion of the WCES HE building that served as the temporary headquarters and residence of Gen Douglas MacArthur during the liberation of Luzon, the heritage group Jayceeken had planned to hold a commemorative celebration at the historic site. But it did not happen.
In 2023, we spearheaded the MacArthur Landing celebration but moved it from the Villa Milagrosa location of MacArthur’s statue, to the unfinished new site at the approach of Tondaligan.
It wasn’t easy to break new grounds. We encountered initial resistance from Sgt Dionisio Dolor of the Knights of Columbus which had been leading the ceremonial event since 2007. And Mayor Belen Fernandez herself, though favorable with the celebration, was not keen on holding it at the unfinished location as she saw the architectural design of the pedestal as looking eerily like two above-ground tombs.
Despite these, we were able to overcome the initial misgivings and successfully held the first ever memorial on the Tondaligan site.
The next year, 2024, we went to the Mayor to advise her of the event to be held that Monday. It was Friday afternoon around 4pm. While she was amenable to the idea of holding it again in Tondaligan, she dropped a bombshell. “Why not”, she said, “ stage a reenactment, instead of just the usual wreath laying?”.
The idea did not quite appeal to me. I thought of the logistics and the lack of time. It was Friday afternoon, and because of the weekend, we had only Monday to actually piece together the concept. But the Mayor was adamant so I took it as a challenge. Luckily, I had these plucky staff I had worked with over the December festivities. Wasting no time, they scouted for a MacArthur stand -in, scoured for a tailor able to rush two sets of khaki uniforms, and produced the needed paraphernalia.
That Monday afternoon, we did some blocking. It did not live up to my expectations. But a theater superstition holds that if the rehearsal is bad, you can expect a good performance.
The moment of truth came that sunny Tuesday morning. After the preliminaries, I asked the audience to welcome Gen Douglas as he returned to our shores—pointing to the beach. Amid the blazing sun, two tall uniformed men escorted by a couple of soldiers, and trailed by fisherfolk and residents, burst into view—and accompanied by martial music by the UL DBC, they marched victoriously to the pedestal site and stood majestically there.
It was a glorious sight. Gen Douglas MacArthur has landed in Bonuan Blue Beach. He has returned.
The crowd went wild. It was something I had not expected. But it was clear we made a cultural precedent.
After that, things just snowballed. Just a few days after the Landing date, the provincial government held a webinar with the Archivist of the MacArthur Memorial in Virginia, USA as the resource speaker. And in the panel was Mike Villa-Real, an avid MacArthur researcher/enthusiast.
I found it soporific as scholarly seminars go, but midway, I sat up, and listened intently as James Zobel, without any prompt from the panel, just casually but authoritatively mentioned that Gen MacArthur landed in Bonuan Blue Beach.
The panel was caught off guard and left speechless. That statement ran counter to the narrative they uphold.
After that, all systems went into high gear on our end. Now convinced more than ever that MacArthur truly deserves to be honored in these shores where he landed, Mayor Belen activated all machinery to memorialize this decisive epochal confirmation of an historical fact. And in 2025, in the 80th Landing anniversary, aside from the reenactment that now was set at 3pm to reconstruct the Landing timeline, Prof James Zobel was invited and graced the ground breaking ceremony for the planned MacArthur Memorial, followed by a seminal lecture confirming the Bonuan Blue Beach Landing, attended by the academic community.
Without a doubt, we had established and reconfirmed a historic fact. And we had made it come to life.
It would be a tough act to follow. But I already had a plan marinating in my mind for the 2026 commemoration.
(To be continued)