Location: Corregidor Islands, Cavite (Region IV-A)
Category: Sites/Events
Type: Site
Status: Level I- National Historical Landmark
Marker date: 1949
Installed by: Philippines Historical Committee (PHC)
Marker text:
CORREGIDOR
DERIVED ITS NAME FROM CORREGIMIENTO OR MUNICIPAL DISTRICT. ABOUT 1225 THE ISLAND BECAME A STRONGHOLD FOR CHINESE PIRATES UNTIL THE LATTER WERE DRIVEN BY THE MOROS. BECAME SPANISH POSSESSION, 1570, WHEN SPANIARDS ARRIVED IN MANILA FROM PANAY. OCCUPIED BY THE DUTCH, 1600. RECAPTURED BY THE SPANIARDS AS A FORTIFICATION BESIDES BEING USED AS LIGHTHOUSE, DOCKYARD, NAVAL CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL, PENAL COLONY, AND CHECKING POINT FOR SHIPS TO HAVE THEIR PAPERS CORRECTED. SURRENDERED WITHOUT RESISTANCE TO ADMIRAL DEWEY, MAY 6, 1898. FIRST OCCUPIED BY THE AMERICANS AS A CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL, NOVEMBER 14, 1904, AND FIRST GARRISON, THE 35TH COMPANY, C.A.C., COMMANDED BY CAPTAIN C.E. KILBOURNE, ARRIVED, MAY 8, 1908. BECAME THE SEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES DURING WORLD WAR II AND THE SCENE OF PRESIDENT QUEZON’S TAKING OATH OF OFFICE ON HIS SECOND TERM. PRESIDENT QUEZON AND HIS FAMILY SOUGHT SHELTER AT MALINTA TUNNEL, DECEMBER 24, 1941. OCCUPIED BY THE JAPANESE, MAY 6, 1942; RETAKEN BY THE AMERICANS, MARCH 2, 1945. TURNED OVER TO THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, OCTOBER 12, 1947.
