MANILA is set to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Manila and the liberation of the Santo Tomas Internment Camp with rites at Plaza Mayor on Feb. 6.
The Faculty of Arts and Letters and the Department of History will lead the wreath-laying ceremony at 8 a.m., followed by a program and Mass at 9 a.m.
Officials from the United States Embassy, Department of National Defense, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, and the City of Manila are expected to attend the event.
In an interview with the Varsitarian, UST history instructor Gian Mayo said the commemoration would keep alive the memory of the events of World War 2 and the heroism and sacrifices of Filipinos and other nationalities.
“By remembering the individual heroic deeds, we are also reminded that they gave up some parts of their lives to something greater than themselves, their beloved country. This is why we should commemorate their lives,” Mayo said.
One of the heroes of the liberation was Captain Manuel Colayco, a UST faculty member and part of the United States Army Forces in the Far East.
In 1945, Colayco guided the Allied Forces into UST, which had been converted into a 19.5-hectare walled internment camp where Japanese aggressors held 7,000 foreigners captive for 37 months.
The internees suffered from hunger and malnutrition, with the death toll reaching 465.
Colayco was mortally wounded during the liberation effort and died at the gates of UST. The site behind the Main Building would later be named Colayco Park in honor of him, but it was renamed Alumni Park and subsequently, Quadricentennial Park.
UST last held an in-person commemoration of the liberation of the Santo Tomas Internment Camp during its 77th anniversary in 2022, a ceremony attended by then-Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna.
