The bill declaring September 2 of every year as a special non-working holiday in Ifugao province in commemoration of General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s surrender in 1945 is awaiting President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval. “The 2nd day of September 1945 is a significant date in the history, not only of Ifugao but also of the country,” Ifugao Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat Jr., principal author of the bill, said. Yamashita, commander of the Japanese Imperial Army in the country during World War 2, surrendered in the town of Kiangan, Ifugao on Sept. 2, 1945. He signed surrender documents in Baguio City on the next day. The bill — which Pangasinan’s sixth district Rep. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas co-authored — provides that the Ifugao provincial government, in coordination with the Kiangan municipal government, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office and the Military Shrines Service, “shall lead appropriate and meaningful commemorative programs and activities to be participated [in] by officials and employees of the national, provincial and municipal government agencies and instrumentalities, and civic, religious, nongovernment, business and civil society organizations, in order to give significance and honor the heroes and heroines who contributed to the Philippines’ liberation from the Japanese forces.”
