THE provincial government of Bulacan recently paid tribute to the 15 surviving World War 2 veterans for their courage AND SACRIfiCES DURING A CEREMONY ATTENDED BY PROVINCIAL OFfiCIALS AT BUSTOS GYMNASIUM and BMA Park in Bustos, Bulacan.

The acknowledgement of the war veterans through Resolution 641-T’2023 was held during the “Ika-80 Anibersaryo ng Pagkakatatag ng Bulacan Military Area (BMA) at Paggawad ng Parangal sa mga Beterano ng Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig” program.

Out of 15, only 11 members of Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP) attended and received plaque of recognition and a copy of the resolution.

These were Lolita Abela of Santa Maria; Emilia Bautista, Restituto Enriquez and Gregorio Silvestre of Bocaue; Serafin Layug of Pulilan; Miguel Capiral of Obando; Serafin Bernabe and Soledad Sanchez from the City of Malolos; Segundo Pamintuan of San Miguel; Nazario Constantino, Emerita Salas and Emerenciana Santiago from the City of Baliwag; Gelacio de la Cruz of Marilao; Nicolas Salamat of Paombong; and Leonardo Moya of San Rafael.

Bulacan Vice Gov. Alexis Castro, together with Philippine Veterans Affairs Office Assistant Secretary Restituto Aguilar, who represented PVAO Administrator Undersecretary Reynaldo Mapagu; Bustos Mayor Francis Albert Juan; Vice Mayor Martin SJ Angeles; and Board Members Arthur Legaspi and Richard Roque, represented by his chief of staff Maricel Santiago, led the wreath laying activity before the statue of Gen. Alejo Santos and awarding of recognition to the guerillas of World War 2.

In his message, Aguilar thanked the Bulacan provincial government and the Bustos municipal government for their unwavering support to the veterans.

“Nais kong pasalamatan ang pamahalaang lokal ng Bustos at ang pamahalaang panlalawigan ng Bulacan dahil sa inyong suporta sa ating mga beterano at sa inyong mga gawaing nagpapalawig sa kasaysayan ng ating mga beterano at mga bayaning Bulakenyo. Patuloy po nating gunitain ang ating nakaraan,” said Aguilar.

“Ito po ang magbibigay sa atin ng karunungan. Ang kasaysayan ang siyang gabay sa ating pagtahak ng daan tungo sa mas mapayapa, malaya at maunlad na bansa,” added Aguilar.

Meanwhile, 13 deceased members of VFP were also honored during the affair. These were Lourdes Nepomuceno, Artemio Reyes and Camilo Lapat of the City of San Jose del Monte; Salvador Garingan and Marcelo Lorenzo of San Miguel; Florencio Luat of San Ildefonso; Cornelio Santos of Marilao; Nicanor Santos of Hagonoy; Tomas Mendoza and Pablo Sta. Ana of San Rafael; Reynaldo Tobias of Santa Maria; and Cristina Viesca and Rosalina Villalobos from the City of Meycauayan.

The Bulacan Military Area is an National Historical Commission of the Philippines historical marker created under the East Central Luzon Guerilla Area.

The historical marker of BMA shows letters, memo, orders written from 1943-1944 about the guerilla and military operations against Japan that happened in the area.