Runner Edmundo Paez retraced in 1986 the 102-km 1942 Bataan Death March to correct the route taken by a foreigner and to gather athletes to pay tribute to World War II veterans. E.I. REYMOND T. OREJAS
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Edmundo Paez, the man who started a 102-kilometer noncompetitive run as a tribute to World War II veterans, has died.
Paez, 74, died of heart failure on June 24, his daughter, Lani Umali, said on Sunday.
Paez is survived by his wife, Amelita, and three children.
It is not yet known who among the younger runners will continue Paez’s yearly retracing of the route of the Bataan Death March from Mariveles town in Bataan province, to Capas town in Tarlac province, which he initiated 31 years ago.
He quit running in 2016, preferring to walk instead with athletes making the 500-meter sprint to the San Fernando train station in this Pampanga capital.
The train station was where Japanese soldiers loaded and crammed about 70,000 Filipino and American troops onto sugarcane “bagon” (freight boxes) for a 12-km march to Camp O’Donnell in Capas.
They surrendered in the Bataan peninsula after a prolonged standoff against the invading Japanese Army for over five months.
The Death March from Mariveles began on April 10, and on April 11 from Bagac town, also in Bataan, after the surrender of the Allied forces on April 9, 1942.
Hundreds died of hunger, dehydration or fatigue before reaching San Fernando. Thousands more died in the Capas camp.
Photo ops
“My walking [during the tribute run] is just for photo ops (photo opportunities),” Paez said in jest last year.
He and 28 members of Safer Runners of San Fernando initiated the Araw ng Kagitingan ultra marathon after the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution.
A wrong trail taken by an athlete from New Zealand prompted him and the group to correct the route at the request of veterans.
The group does not collect any fees and has sustained the tribute run through donations.
Paez said he continued the race for the war veterans, who at their much advanced age, were fast dwindling in number.
In April this year, Filipino veterans Felicisimo Mendoza and Narciso Magbitang sent off runners by waving them off, instead of the usual short walk from Kilometer Zero in Mariveles.
Fewer than 8,000 Filipino veterans of World War II are still alive, according to records of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office.
1,000 runners
The tribute run used to draw 1,000 runners, including Olympians Mona Sulaiman and Orlando Bauzon and five Milo marathon champs.
Young runners like Richard Sigue, 18, and Dominic Esguerra, 20, both from Sta. Rosa town in Laguna province, said they learned of the veterans’ “sacrifice for freedom” through the run.
Paez hoped that the likes of Sigue and his generation could take over the marathon to sustain the tribute even after all the veterans had passed away.
“We should not forget their heroism. It’s the reason we are a free nation now,” he said.