HISTORIC MOMENT IMMORTALIZED Leyte holds a major place in Philippine historical past, highlighted by the touchdown on Oct. 20, 1944 of American forces led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, an occasion commemorated with statues that includes MacArthur and President Sergio Osmeña, amongst others. This historic second is memorialized on the MacArthur Leyte Touchdown Nationwide Memorial Park in Palo, Leyte. Native officers at the moment are asking the Division of Protection to arrange a naval base within the province on account of its strategic location. – PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PHILLIPINE ARMY’S eighth INFANTRY DIVISION
TACLOBAN CITY—Elected officers in historic Leyte province urged the federal government to contemplate placing up a naval base and army airstrip within the province.
Tacloban Metropolis Mayor Alfred Romualdez, in an interview, stated having these amenities within the province could be a major benefit not only for Leyte, the location of the well-known landings by Allied Forces led by American Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1944, but additionally for Japanese Visayas.
Romualdez, who additionally chairs the Regional Peace and Order Council, made this pronouncement on Thursday in assist of a decision handed by the Provincial Board on Dec. 3 inviting the Division of Nationwide Protection (DND) to assemble a naval and airstrip facility in Leyte.
READ: Leyte board OKs transfer to ask DND to place up naval base in province
“I welcome it. You realize, they wouldn’t suggest a naval base with out thorough examine. There’s all the time a purpose behind it,” he stated.
Romualdez, a cousin of President Marcos Jr., confused that apart from enhancing safety, a naval base and airstrip might additionally assist deliver buyers to the area.
READ: Visayas governors ink manifesto of assist to President Marcos
“If it boosts safety and even enterprise confidence, why not? Within the final 10 to fifteen years, we’ve seen naval bases present vital assist, particularly throughout typhoons and different disasters,” stated the mayor of probably the most populous metropolis and the financial middle of the area.
Overseas assault unlikely
Romualdez dismissed issues that establishing a naval base in Leyte might make the province a possible goal for international assaults.
READ: Marcos OKs army’s P2-trillion want checklist for weapons, tools
“No different nation will invade us. That received’t occur,” he stated.
Provincial Board Member Carlo Loreto, the writer of the Dec. 3 decision, stated the power would improve safety within the province and all the area, whereas additionally contributing to financial development and catastrophe response efforts.
Leyte’s strategic location, he added, makes it a really perfect website for a naval base.
Leyte boasts a shoreline roughly 498 kilometers lengthy, bordering the Leyte Gulf to the east. This gulf was the location of the historic Battle of Leyte Gulf, considered the most important naval battle in historical past throughout World Struggle II.
The province holds a major place within the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation. The marketing campaign to free the nation started in Leyte, led by the legendary MacArthur, who famously landed on the shores of Palo city on Oct. 20, 1944.
“The mixed battles of Leyte Gulf destroyed the Imperial Japanese Navy as an offensive power and decisively led to the defeat of Japan in 1945,” in line with archival data from the Nationwide Museum of the USA Navy.
The Provincial Board stated it was leaving to the DND to pick a website for such amenities within the province.
Protection Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. beforehand introduced plans to assemble further naval bases and airstrips throughout the nation as a part of the DND’s efforts to strengthen nationwide protection capabilities.
These amenities are additionally meant to assist the Philippine Navy’s new property underneath the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ modernization program.
Teodoro has confirmed plans to construct a brand new naval base in Misamis Oriental, which is able to function the Philippine Navy’s central operations hub in Mindanao.
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