THE UNIVERSITY, in partnership with the city government of Manila, commemorated the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Manila and the liberation of the Santo Tomas Internment Camp with rites at the Plaza Mayor on Thursday, Feb. 3.
The commemoration featured a wreath-laying ceremony attended by officials of UST, Manila City Hall, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, and the embassies of the US, UK, Japan, Australia, and Canada.
In his opening remarks, UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. highlighted the importance of remembering while recalling the heroes and victims of World War 2.
“Remembering is part of healing. We can only make sense of the past by our ability to retell the story and acknowledging the pain and sufferings inflicted,” Ang said.
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, who delivered the keynote speech, hailed the heroism of Manuel Colayco, a UST faculty member who was killed at the gate of UST as he guided the American forces sent to liberate the campus from Japanese control.
“Colayco was a picture of fearlessness, as he risked his life being the commanding officer of the Allied Intelligence Bureau – Manila Unit,” Domagoso said.
Colayco had a UST site named after him, the Colayco Park located behind the Main Building, until it was replaced by the Quadricentennial Park.
UST itself is an important World War 2 historical site, as it became an internment camp for some 3,700 foreigners, mostly Americans and British, who were trapped in Manila at the outbreak of the Pacific war. The internees suffered from hunger and malnutrition. The death toll reached 465.
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“UST will be remembered as a living proof of the harsh realities of an armed conflict,” Moreno said. Joanne Christine P. Ramos
