Mariveles says it is asking NHCP if marker painted pink is Death March marker

November 27, 2019

The local government of Mariveles, Bataan on Monday clarified that the  “stone marker” which was painted pink which denoted the start of the 1942 Death March has yet to be verified by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).

In a phone interview with The Daily Manila Shimbun, Mariveles  Administrative Aide IV George Imperial Jr clarified the stone is not an official “KM 0” marker.

“It is still for verification of the historian… actually it was a marker of US detachment,” Imperial said.

“What is verified is the place itself… there is an official marking in front of the flag,” he added.

The NHCP said they are still checking if the stone is for verification.

Even it is not official, Imperial said they are still working on restoring the stone. He said the pink color their worker painted was removed.

“The color pink is water-based so it is already removed but the color white which was first painted was hard to remove because it is enamel paint,” he said.

The local government official claimed it was the previous administration that is making an issue on the stone.

“On 2017 it was first painted white, the white markings and in 2018 they painted the whole stone. We only just beautified the whole place last October of this year because it was neglected,” said Imperial.

“There is a malicious intent… it was painted last October and they only just posted it this month… It was not a big issue. There is also no problem with us if they report us but what they did is very malicious,” he said.

Last week, a certain Pocholo Pineda posted about painted stone which he called a “Death March Marker”. The post gained thousands of likes and shares which resulted in people venting their ire on the local government.

Ernesto Raguine, Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO) supervisor said it was not ordered by Mariveles Mayor Jocelyn Castañeda for the stone to be painted.

Raguine said his worker unintentionally painted the stone because of the remaining paint he still has after rehabilitating the park.

The local government of Mariveles, Bataan has apologized. Ella Dionisio/DMS