in the Philippines

• On December 7, 1941 (Washington time),

Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor in
Hawaii, the main base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet,
resulting to 2,897 deaths.
• General offensive plan: To acquire the Dutch
and British possessions in Southeast Asia.
Japanese navy had to destroy the U.S Pacific
Fleet.
 • At the dawn of December 8, 1941 (Philippine
time), 10 hours after the attack in Pearl Harbor,
the Japanese bombers under the command of
General Masaharu Homma, conducted air attacks
in various places of the Philippines.

• The main Japanese forces,

PEARL HARBOR under the command of Lt.

Homma landed
Lingayen, Pangasinan on
in

Dec. 22, 1941.

• They destroyed the air and naval defenses in

Davao, Tuguegarao, Baguio, Iba, Tarlac, and
Clark Field. American planes on the ground
were caught by surprise. The American
Asiatic Fleet in the Philippines withdrew to
Java, Indonesia.
 of
and
• December 24, 1941- MacArthur finally implemented War Plan Orange 3 (WPO-
3), which ordered the withdrawal of all island forces to Bataan peninsula and
the evacuation of all civilians within the area
• The enemy bombers were hitting Port Area Manila at the time and President Manuel Quezon
was advised by Gen. MacArthur to evacuate to Corregidor Island.
• December 26, 1941 - General MacArthur declared Manila an open city, wherein the enemy
forces may enter the area provided they stop shooting. This would spare the city from further
destruction. Military installations were removed from Manila.
• On December 30, 1941, the second inaugural ceremonies of the Commonwealth at the
Corregidor tunnel took place. President Quezon took his oath of office as President of the
Commonwealth.
• January 2, 1942 - the Japanese forces had already entered Manila. Many people stayed in air-
raid shelters for many days.
 • January 3,1942 - General Masaharu Homma, commander-in-chief of the
Japanese Imperial Forces issued a proclamation announcing the end of the
American occupation and the imposition of martial law in the country.

• January 23, 1942 - Jorge B. Vargas received an order from General

Homma to assume the position of the Executive Commissioner of the
Central Administrative Organization of Occupied Philippines.

• Movement was registered with the imposition of curfew, first from

Martial law 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., and finally from midnight to 6:00 a.m.,
in the from May 18 onwards.
 • When Japanese renewed their offensive on April 3 , 1942 with
of bataan fresh troops, heavy artillery, tanks, and air support, the
and corregidor American and Filipino survivors on the Bataan Peninsula were
so weakened by disease and starvation that they were unable
to offer any effective resistance . The food situation in Bataan
dropped below half-rations .
• Major General Edward King as the commanding officer
Fall of bataan ignored the order of MacArthur and surrendered his troops in
Bataan on April 9, 1942.
• Before the surrender came into effect, he transferred his
female army nurses to Corregidor in the hope that they might
be evacuated from the Philippines. These female nurses were
then considered the “Angels of Bataan”.
• Lieutenant General Wainwright was authorized to continue
the battle against the Japanese to the end following
MacArthur’s order.
 • The 11,000 defenders of Corregidor held out against intense
of bataan Japanese bombardment until May 6, 1942. Food, water and
and corregidor ammunition had dropped to critical levels when the Japanese
finally secured a beachhead on the island on May 5, and landed
tanks.
• General Homma warned Wainwright during surrender negotiations
that he would execute all prisoners of war unless the surrender.
• General Wainwright ordered the American flag to be lowered on
Fall of corregidor Corregidor in the hope of avoiding a massacre.
• Defenders of Corregidor were subjected to the same appalling
brutality that had been inflicted by the Japanese on the survivors
of Bataan.
• Nevertheless, the strength and will of the Filipino people did not
waver even after the surrender of Bataan and Corregidor to the
Japanese. Underground guerrilla movements were put into action
by Filipino and American soldiers, as well as unyielding civilians in
the countryside.
 • April 10, 1942- Death March began in Mariveles and Cabcaben.
Death march • The Filipino-American troops were forced at gunpoint to march from
Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga. Some were kicked and beaten.
• Around 10,000 lives were claimed by this infamous trail.

Death march

• On the 4th of July 1942, surrendered Filipino and American

soldiers in Mindanao were made to march on a rocky dirt road
and under the blazing tropical sun, from Camp Keithley in
Dansalan to Iligan in Lanao – a distance of about thirty-six (36)
kilometer (25 miles) prior to their transfer with the rest of the
Mindanao POWs to Camp Casisang, Malaybalay, Bukidnon.
 • January 23, 1942 - The Philippine Executive Commission was
established, with Jorge B. Vargas as chairman. The following was
appointed as department heads: Benigno Aquino, Sr., interior; Antonio during the wartime years
de las Alas, finance; Jose P. Laurel, justice; Claro M. Recto, education,
health, and public welfare; and Quintin Paredes, public works and
communication; Jose Yulo was named Chief Justice of the Supreme
court

• December 2,1942 - The Japanese Military Administration announced that political

parties had been dissolved "of their own free will." The Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod sa
Bagong Pilipinas (KALIBAPI), a non-political organization, was established.
• June 18,1943 - the KALIBAPI members appointed a committee to nominate the
members of the Preparatory Commission for Philippine Independence (PCPI).
• The new constitution contained 12 articles lifted from the 1935 constitution that fitted
the wishes of the Japanese.
 and the
• September 20, 1943 - The KALIBAPI, under the leadership of its director general,
Benigno Aquino Sr. held a party convention to elect 54 members of the National
Assembly.
• Jose P. Laurel was elected as president of the second republic and both Benigno Aquino
Sr. and Ramon Avancena as a vice-president.
• October 14, 1943 - The new republic was inaugurated on the front steps of the
legislative building in Manila.
• Some farmers of Pampanga banded together and created local brigades for their protection. Luis Taruc, Juan Feleo,
Castro Alejandrino, and other leaders of organized farmers held a meeting in February 1942 in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija.
They agreed to fight the Japanese as a unified guerrilla army
• Representatives from Tarlac, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija threshed out various details regarding their
organization, which they agreed to call "Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon" or HUKBALAHAP. Taruc was
chosen to be the Leader of the group, with Alejandrino as his right hand man. The members were simply
known as Huks!
• Japanese met stiff resistance by the defensive soldiers as
they attacked the American defensive line on January 9,
and Filipino–American
1942 despite troops living on half-rations, drinking troops
contaminated water, and increasingly weakened by disease.
• Japanese outflanked the defenders of the Abucay-Mauban
Fall of
line by finding an accessible path over Mount Natib. On
January 24, 1942, withdrawal to the island of Corregidor
called the Bagac-Orion line. Despite the hopeful remarks,
no significant support for the defenders would be attained .
MacArthur directed that there would be no more retreats by
his troops on Bataan and no surrender and the troops
resisted every attempt by the Japanese to penetrate their
second line of defense.
• President Roosevelt abandoned the Philippines to the
Japanese.
• US Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall,
contacted MacArthur of an assumed new command in
Fall of
Australia and suggested him to consider leaving the
Philippines.

• On March 11, 1942, MacArthur departed for Australia.

• After landing in Australia on March 17, 1942, Gen.
MacArthur made his promise to the Filipinos. “ ”
 • General MacArthur returned to the Philippines with
his army late in 1944.
• From October 23 to October 26, 1944 the Americans
and the Surrender
of the Japanese
engaged Japanese forces in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
• By mid-December, the American soldiers had reached
Mindoro. US liberation forces successfully docked at
Lingayen Gulf on January 9, 1945
• Lt. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, supreme commander of the Japanese
troops in Manila, mobilize his kamikazes (Japanese suicide pilots);
but they failed to stop Americans. The Japanese also deployed
MAKAPILI units to defend Manila but neither succeeds.
• Fighting continued until Japan's formal surrender on September 2,
1945.