Balimpuyo Journal

If you grew up in Olongapo City, you're probably familiar with the "Kalapati Monument," which stands at the crossroads of the national highway and the road to New Cabalan. This monument is a drop-off point and a stopover for brown jeepneys on a route via Olongapo Market and New Cabalan. As a cyclist, it is one of my achievements to climb Kalapati Monument, have a stop over there, and get some refreshment before continuing the journey up to Bataan. As we rested for a while, my cyclist buddy, Sir Joseph, once asked me, "Friend! Do you know the deeper meaning of the Kalapati Monument? And I wonder. At that moment, the journey to discover the history of the Kalapati monument began. To unravel the history, I went to Barangay Hall in New Cabalan to ask for information. Luckily, Barangay Chairman Delbert Acuna Muega accommodated me and handed me a history book of New Cabalan. As I browsed through the book, I learned that the name Cabalan originated from the word "Caban," a wooden box used to keep clothing during the early times. The word caban is heard from an Aeta who asks a man what he was carrying while heading towards the relocation site.

Unfortunately, the history of the Kalapati monument is not written in that book. Barangay Chairman Muega told me that there are engraved details on that monument. With a heartfelt thanks to Chairman Muega, I ran to the monument and read the engraved details. This memorial is a tribute to the people who perished during World War II and is dedicated by the people of Olongapo City to World Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation, as written on the monument. Guia (2012) posted in his article Olongapo: The City of Excellence, the following information: Mr. Kasanobu Miyazaki, a Japanese owner of an accounting firm in Aioi City, Japan, requested that a shrine be built in New Cabalan, where his brother, Capt. Masanobu Miyazaki, died in battle at the Zig Zag Pass. Mayor Gordon suggested a peace monument instead, dedicated to the Filipino, American, and Japanese lives that were lost in that battle. With that knowledge, I dug deeper into the events of the Battle of Zig Zag Pass. As early as December 1942, during the Japanese occupation, Colonel Nagayoshi chose Zig Zag Pass due to the roughness and dense jungle of that place. The region's jungle flora is so dense that you may go five yards off the highway and still not see the road.

The Japanese had honeycombed every hill and knoll at the Zig-Zag with foxholes linked by tunnels or trenches, and they had built strong positions based on log or earth pillboxes at particularly favorable sites. All the defenses were expertly concealed, with lush jungle flora covering most of them, indicating that many had been meticulously designed and constructed. Japanese soldiers would have an advantage in any confrontation against American soldiers because of these key locations. The XI Corps was ordered to arrive in San Antonio Zambales by Mac Arthur in January 1945. On January 31, 1945, the Americans began ascending Zig Zag Pass's jungled hills, into a veritable hornet's nest of Japanese. After a 15-day combat between American and Japanese soldiers, the battle of Zig Zag Pass concluded. One of the longest and most dangerous battles of World War II is supposed to have taken place here.

According to Anderson (2008), the Japanese had succeeded in slowing the American advance, but at a high cost. Over 2,400 Japanese were slain, while 25 were captured. Over 1,400 Americans died in the war. Nagayoshi and roughly 300 soldiers withdrew to the south of the peninsula, where they joined other defenders. So, remember this as we pass along the Kalapati monument. As the American liberating troops chased the fleeing Japanese and the Japanese made their last stand, Zigzag became the scene of deadly combat between Japanese and American forces.




Image source: https://mapio.net/pic/p-82992535/