Anything under the sun
Romulo passed Iloilo fleeing to Australia
Lt. Col. Carlos P. Romulo – the last man off Bataan – was in Mandurriao airport, Iloilo City when Bataan fell to the Japanese on April 19, 1942.
He left Cabcaben airport in Bataan under the heavy Japanese shelling at around one o'clock in the morning of April 9, 1942 and landed in Mandurriao at dawn. After taking his breakfast at the airport, he heard over the radio the voice of his subordinate Lt. Norman Reyes broadcasting the Fall of Bataan from Malinta Tunnel in Corregidor island.
The historic announcement of Lt. Reyes runs: "Bataan has fallen, but the spirit that made it stand – a beacon to all the liberty-loving peoples of the world cannot fail!"
Hearing these words, the teary-eyed Romulo remembered that the day before he was in Malinta Tunnel with Gen. Jonathan Wainright – commander of US-Filipino forces in the Philippines from whom he received a secret message from Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Australia to go there.
Incidentally, Romulo recorded what he saw in Iloilo. He saw "peasants on their early morning way to rice fields. Carabao carts and carromatas trudging the quiet road. Flowers were everywhere. It was April – springtime in Iloilo."
The plane journey of Romulo from Cabcaben airfield was a story in itself. At first, the plane was overloaded with six passengers including the pilot. So, the plane cannot take off despite several attempts so they had to jettison their packs into the air.
The plane itself was an old one retrieved from the junk pile. Its engine was no longer functioning and was replaced by that of another junk plane of that type (J2F4) fished out of Manila Bay with barnacles already clinging to its sides. They were the only two of that type of airplanes in the country then. This plane was a US Navy patrol plane which is quite already obsolete then. They named it "Old Duck."
The plane was piloted by Lt. Roland J. Barnick, a US Air Force pilot who had never flown a J2F4 plane. On this very perilous journey (the Philippine air was then controlled by the fast Japanese Zero Fighters), the fleeing plane was guided by an old air map. Their first stop was supposed to be Cebu. But after arriving, they they found Cebu with many ships and concluded that they could be a Japanese fleet. So, they turned to Iloilo.
The next day, Romulo left on another plane provided by the US Air Force and alighted at a Bukidnon airfield where he was greeted by General Manuel Roxas who was also ordered by McArthur to proceed to Australia, but he refused to leave the country.