Synecdochical narrative of the sixth military district: World war II memories in the Balantang Memorial Cemetery National Shrine

Abstract

World War II commemorations in the Philippines have been found to be too preoccupied with the role of America in liberating the country from Japan. This research provides an examination of the historical background on the 6MD’s guerrilla resistance in Panay through archival research and key informant interviews with a 6MD WWII veteran, an Ilonggo WWII historian, and members of the Veterans Foundation of the Philippines (VFP)- Sons and Daughters Association (SDAI) in order to analyze the museum exhibit in the Balantang Memorial Cemetery National Shrine. Following the theories of Anthony Cohen and Ellen Badone on the levels and boundaries of group identity, this thesis argues that the remembrance of the Second World War in BMCNS is unique for it follows a theme surrounding the Sixth Military District’s (6MD) commander General Macario Peralta Jr., rather than the common narratives observed in most of the Philippines’ WWII memorials and monuments. Using the information from the 6MD and the PVAO’s Shrine Curator, the act of meaningmaking was done in interpreting the museum exhibit’s narratives. This work argues that because the BMCNS museum employs the person of Macario Peralta as a central figure in representing the history of the war in Panay, the museum is able to create an image of their group’s identity which differs from the common themes of war. This research introduces the concept of a Synecdochical Narrative which is a form of museum representation that utilizes a singular figure in order to elevate and make distinct the identity of the group from which they belong to.