I knew the name Corregidor from my ASEAN studies.

This tadpole-shaped piece of land at the mouth of Manila Bay was the site of some classic Cold War-style subversion back in the 1960s, when the Marcos administration used the island to train a force for eventual infiltration into Sabah (which the Philippines has never officially recognized as Malaysian). The goal was to destabilize the territory, incite rebellion, and then intervene militarily. With Malaysia still young and ASEAN even younger, the success of this scheme would have been pretty devastating for both.

It was also reported that the Muslim recruits attempted to back out, and were then massacred, leaving a lone survivor. Much remains murky about this part of the story, as the varying accounts attest. But as fuel for the Muslim insurgency in the south, its effect was indisputable.

Most of the world, however, knows Corregidor because of the fierce battles that saw the island (and with it the rest of the Philippines) transferred to Japanese control in May 1942, and then wrested back, with further huge loss of life, during the allied advance in 1945.



Sun Cruises have pretty much got the monopoly on this outing, and although we would have preferred a less rush-rush, more contemplative pace, the trip was well organized, and good value for money (the ticket covers the return boat journey, the guided tour, and lunch).





If you live in Quezon City, you'll need to start bright and early to get to the Esplanade terminal in time. But you get to see dawn break over Manila, and you have a good excuse for a bacon, cheese, and egg pancake sandwich (with pineapple juice) at your nearest 24-hour Jollibee.



Corregidor is full of history. You can still walk the Malinta Tunnel, from which a gravely ill Quezon governed the Commonwealth until being evacuated to the United States (where he died before the war ended). The laterals that were brought down in a massive Japanese suicide blast when defeat loomed have been left in their shattered state.









You can wander through the ruins of batteries and barracks, and pause before memorials and grave markers. And you can smell the sweet gums, and fill your eyes with the blue, blue views.

























Only a few weeks ago, we were in Okinawa, contemplating very similar scenes. It's another reminder of the vastness of that war, and the vastness of the subsequent vision to build a different world. May we think hard before venturing into another such conflict, or undermining the flawed but still useful post-war order that has at least helped to avoid that eventuality so far.