This Week’s Milestones: March 25-31, 2018

March 25, 1942

Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Hukbalahap) was organized at  Cabiao town in Nueva Ecija province as a guerrilla group formed to fight the Japanese occupation of Central Luzon during World War II. Hukbalahap, headed by peasant organizer Luis Taruc, was the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines. From 200 guerrillas and five squadrons during its founding, the Hukbalahap membership peaked at 10,000 to 15,000.

March 30, 2013

The last remaining section of the USS Guardian, which ran aground at Tubbataha Reef, was removed after being stuck on the Unesco World Heritage Site for more than 10 weeks. The US warship hit the upper side of the South Atoll, one of the two main atolls comprising the Tubbataha  Reef, on Jan. 17 while it was on its way to Indonesia. The US government apologized for the accident, which it initially blamed on faulty maps. The US government agreed to scrap and dismantle the Guardian, worth about $277 million, due to fears that towing it to deeper waters would inflict more damage on the reef.

Compiled by Kathleen de Villa, Inquirer Research

Sources: Inquirer Archives, DOT, officialgazette.gov.ph, nhcp.gov.ph