Libingan ng mga Bayani, Taguig City
27 January 2016

Their Majesties Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan offered a wreath in honor of some 44,000 Filipino soldiers who died during World War II.

According to the Official Gazette (www.gov.ph), Japan occupied Manila on January 1942 and ended the resistance of Philippine and American forces with the Fall of Bataan and Corregidor. At the beginning of the occupation, a military administration of the Japanese government was established all over the Philippines.

Liberation began on October 1944 by Filipino guerillas and allied forces upon their landing in Leyte province, followed by the engagement with Japanese forces in the Battle of Manila on February 1945. The Second Republic, with Dr. Jose P. Laurel as President, was nullified and civil government was returned to President Sergio Osmeña on February 28, 1945.

The Philippines and Japan gradually normalized its diplomatic ties and economic relations after the war, and was formally established on 23 July 1956 upon the ratification of the Reparations Agreement between Japan and the Republic of the Philippines by the Philippine Senate.

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