‘Barely touched’ guerrilla files to be made public

Guerrilla files pertaining to Philippine World War II history, which were found inside the U.S. National Archives and are “barely touched and opened,” are going to be shared with Dabawenyos this Tuesday, March 21, at the Palma Gil Gym through a free demonstration.

The Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) has partnered with the Department of Education (DepEd) for the conduct of the free demonstration of the guerrilla files dubbed as “Finding our Heroes.”

Marie Vallejo, head researcher and key speaker during the demonstration, said in an e-mail to SunStar Davao that the guerril- la files, which came from the US National Archives in Maryland are known in the Philippines as the Brigadier General Francisco Licuanan Jr. Collection.

The collection of files is so named to give honor to Francisco Licuanan III’s father, who was a United States Army Forces in the Far East officer. Licuanan III sponsored the digitalization project of the PVB and Filipino War Veterans Foundation Inc.

The discovered guerrilla files contained memoirs of freedom fighters, officers, soldiers, and civilians during the World War II.

“My aim is to spread the word of the records to as many institutions and people. It will instill nationalist pride. The guerrillas were instrumental in the successful return of the Americans and prevented more bloodshed,” Vallejo said.