Esplanade Seaside Terminal (Getting to Corregidor)

One of the hardest things about Corregidor, the island at the mouth of Manila Bay, the Philippines, is getting there and then getting off the island. (General MacArthur left in a hurry in March 1942, but had his own squadron of PT boats.)

In many ways, the daily tour is ideal, except that: it’s then impossible to go from Corregidor to nearby Bataan and there to study the contours of the Death March, which took place in early April 1942, after Bataan and Corregidor had fallen to the Japanese. Bataan is only a few miles from Corregidor, but otherwise about a four hour drive from Manila. (Look at some maps.)

Background: Corregidor was the Gibraltar of the American presence in Asia, from 1898 until 1942. A fortified island, it guarded Manila Bay and bristled with gun emplacements and rapid deployment troops, but it could not hold out against the Japanese. Now Corregidor is a national park, with the stark remains (mostly in ruins) of the American fortress.

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On Corregidor, I would recommend a night’s stay at the Corregidor Inn, the only hotel on the island. (There are a few rooms to rent on the beach, but they are bug-infested and dank.)

The inn, however, is old world charming, and from there you can walk around the entire island in a half day of touring, which is ideal. You’re spared the herd mentality of the trolley tour.

But then to recross to Mariveles will necessitate paying about $70 for another one-way trip on a summoned fishing boat, but at least now you’re ready to start touring Bataan.

In all, between the ferries and hiring local fishing boats, and spending a night at the Corregidor Inn, the island battlefield is an expensive proposition, but it’s well worth the aggravation that comes with the arrangements, as the island is a stark memorial of great power politics—their rise and fall—in Asia.

A good book to frame the background to the fall of Corregidor is Bill Sloan’s Undefeated: America's Heroic Fight for Bataan and Corregidor. He’s a professional writer and historian, and tells the stories well.

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Source

• Text: Matthew Stevenson
• Photos: Matthew Stevenson