Leading the 70th Anniversary celebration of the Leyte Landing is President Noynoy Aquino. It is a commemoration of the day when General Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his vow to return to the Philippines and liberated the country from the Japanese forces.
MacArthur together with the American forces landed on Red Beach on the morning of Oct. 20, 1944 in the municipality of Palo, Leyte. It is where he announced to the populace their liberation stating: “People of the Philippines, I have returned! By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil."
The Battle of Leyte, which lasted from Oct. 20 to Dec. 31, 1944, resulted in the victory of the Allied forces against the Axis powers. It ended the almost three years of Japanese occupation of the Philippines and also the Japanese-sponsored Second Republic of the Philippines in which Jose Laurel and Benigno Aquino became the President and Vice-President respectively.
The return of MacArthur also marked the re-establishment of the Commonwealth government on Philippine soil in which the city of Tacloban became the Capital of the Philippines, from October 20, 1944 to February 27, 1945.
Aside from the American forces, Australians also fought in the Philippines during the Second World War. A monument honoring the 92 Australians who died during the liberation of the Philippines has been unveiled throughout the 70th celebration of the Leyte Landing.
The memorial has been placed near to the site where MacArthur first stepped ashore after leading the advance from Australia.
Colonel Bruce Murray, defense attaché to the Philippines, said in a news item: “Australians fought and died in the Philippines from the time of the US surrender in 1942 until the country’s final liberation in 1945”.
He added “The Royal Australian Navy’s participation in what is arguably history’s largest naval battle at Leyte Gulf, and its role in providing crucial support to nine amphibious landings during the campaign, made a valuable contribution to the overall success”.
People Surge (alliance of super typhoon Yolanda’s victims in Leyte and Samar) considers the event as pointless due to the fact that Leyte, particularly Tacloban City, is still recovering from the devastation.