IN September 1941, an emergency airstrip was built in a natural meadow within a pineapple plantation in the municipality of Maluko, Mindanao, as part of the US military's preparations in the Philippines amid rising tensions with Japan. This hidden airstrip would later play a significant role during World War 2. On Dec. 5 and 6, 1941, several B-17 bombers were transferred to this location, just days before the Japanese attack on Clark Field in Pampanga on Dec. 8, 1941.

On March 16, 1942, after escaping Corregidor by patrol boat, General Douglas MacArthur, along with his family and senior staff, was flown from this airstrip to Australia aboard four B-17 Flying Fortresses. It was from there that MacArthur famously declared, 'I came through, and I shall return.' A week later, Philippine President Manuel Quezon, his family, and staff also departed from this airfield.