Bataan Foundation Day in the Philippines Date in the current year: January 11, 2025

Bataan is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines that occupies the entire Bataan Peninsula and borders on Pampanga and Zambales to the north. Before the arrival of the first Europeans, it was inhabited by several groups of indigenous peoples: first the Aeta, then the Kapampangan and the Tagalog.

The first Europeans to visit Luzon were Portuguese traders in the early 16th century, but it was the Spanish who colonized it. They arrived in the region in the second half of the 16th century and made the island the center of trade between Asia and the Spanish colonies in the Americas. In 1647, Dutch naval forces invaded in an attempt to wrest the island from the Spanish and massacred nearly 200 Pampango villagers in Abucay.

According to historian Cornelio Bascara, the province of Bataan was formally established on January 11, 1757. Governo General Pedro Manuel Arandia created it from territories carved out of the province of Pampanga and the corregimiento (district) of Mariveles. During the Philippine Revolution, Bataan joined other provinces in Luzon in their revolt against Spanish rule.

Bataan gained fame during World War II for being one of the last provinces to fall to Japanese forces. Imperial Japan invaded Luzon in January 1942, one month after the attack on Pearl Harbor. General Douglas MacArthur consolidated all U.S. and Filipino units based in Luzon on the Bataan Peninsula, which, along with the island of Corregidor, became the last Allied stronghold in Southeast Asia.

Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the defenders of Bataan held out against the Japanese for three months. Bataan fell on April 9, 1942, followed by Corregidor a month later. After the fall of Bataan, approximately 75,000 American and Filipino soldiers were taken prisoner. The Japanese forcibly moved them to Camp O’Donnel in Tarlac province in what became known as the Bataan Death March. An estimated 5,000 to 18,000 Filipinos and 500 to 650 Americans didn’t make it, dying of starvation, exhaustion, and physical abuse. Bataan was liberated by Allied forces in the Battle of Luzon in 1945.

Since the Philippines gained independence from the United States, Bataan become one of the most developed provinces in Luzon and Manila Bay Region and one of the country’s major industrial centers due to the presence of various industries, several special manufacturing zones and two free port zones.

Aside from various light and heavy industries producing diverse products, Bataan is also home to over 10,000 micro, small and medium enterprises and over two dozen digital hubs. It is also a popular tourist destination due to its role in World War II and various ecotourism landmarks such as the Bataan National Park, the Roosevelt Protected Landscape, and the Ocean Adventure marine zoological park.