PhilStar first talks about this story in 2017. It is from the lips of Ferdinand Marcos Sr, and they paraphrase his words. This tale is an interesting one, indeed--according to Ferdinand Marcos, the story starts on January 22 of 1942, and ends January 26 of 1942. The stage is set west of Salian River within Bataan.

There is blood on the map of Asia, growing from Europe, spreading against the map. The Great War is being continued by a larger conflict, and the Philippines is now more involved than ever. Japan’s invasion has brought upon torment to the Filipino people. With a growing death toll, the fate of the Philippines is bleak and muddled. 

PhilStar states that this play, in Ferdinand Marcos’ words, has a cast list of 2,100. Our protagonist is Ferdinand Marcos. Our castlist has 100 Filipino soldiers, and there are also 2,000 Japanese soldiers fighting against them, in a last ditch effort to hinder the Japanese advance to Bataan. Ferdinand Marcos will later claim this defense slowed the Japanese to a critical point, stopping them before they could wreak more havoc within Bataan. Today, we will be focusing on this war story from Marcos and if it was real at all.

Imagine, if you will, being a soldier.

Imagine, if you will, going to fight on your own.

Imagine, if you will, fighting against twenty other people, all better fighters than you.

Do you notice the first discrepancy in this story?

These are the odds that Marcos posed in his telling of the story. One hundred Filipino soldiers against two thousand. This battle is suicide, seemingly. According to Ricardo Jose, it is--which is why it’s completely falsified.

Ricardo Jose, a military and diplomatic history expert, has opposed this story’s credibility. Twenty Japanese soldiers to one Filipino man. For this battle to go on for four days at all is a gigantic anomaly. This inconsistency is unavoidable. Even most Marcos fanatics would be able to see inconsistencies within this statistic. However, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt: presumably, this is just hyperbolic. But imagining winning in twenty on one odds is almost impossible enough to stupor the best of them, too unfeasible for most to believe. Perhaps he’s talking it up, but nearly every single politician talks up their achievements. This isn’t strange. 

What is strange is the absence of this battle from any records.

In Japanese military records of this date, there are no mentions of any battles happening at the setting Marcos specified on this day. None at all. If such a defense really did delay the occupation of Bataan, how is it never mentioned at all? Upon research for this battle, sources I found were minimal too--for such a lofty claim, it seems lost upon the dozens of other war stories he’s spun. In fact, this story seems almost miniscule in the sea of claims he’s made. Outside the one article found, this story is nearly nonexistent. No other mentions of this lie, no other news sources speaking about what he said. But that proves, even more, the lack of credibility behind this claim. If it was true, wouldn’t more reference it or study it as a valid battle? Wouldn’t we discuss this heroic tale? If it was more than a white lie, why are there no records and no acknowledgements of this story? Why doesn’t it have a name, either? It seems to blend in as one of the many lofty stories Marcos told, most of which were baseless. What proves this isn’t baseless too?

Another point is that Marcos has been seen and proven to lie about battles before.

During 1986, Jeff Gerth, a writer for the New York Times, said that Marcos’ referrals to war exploits and guerilla victories had no backup within files in the US Government Archives, files which had been invisible to the public for 35 years. Multiple army investigations had found no proof for one of Marcos’ largest claims of leading a guerilla force named Ang Mga Maharlika from 1942-1944 against Japanese occupiers. Some claims discovered by the US. Veteran Administration regarding the Maharlika also saw allegations of ‘atrocities’ committed against Filipinos. These claims were foundational to Marcos’ platform, and it puts into question the whole premise of his leadership. 

The last piece of evidence against this battle is the fact that Marcos would not even be fighting in this battle, if it was real at all.

Marcos was an intelligence officer. He would not have been in any proximity to this battle, nor would he fight in it. You cannot claim credit for this victory when you have no association to it. There is nothing to provide us proof of his involvement, and almost all of his claims are nearly debunked once we factor this in. Why would he be involved at all? It seems to be a final nail in the coffin to this story’s credibility. 

Debate about Marcos all you’d like. Debate about his claims to fame and the impacts of his presidency. One thing shines true here--Marcos has lied about this story. He may not be a complete liar, but he has lied about this--and such a loud and boisterous lie being lost to time is strange. But the credibility of this claim is about as hollow as they come. It serves to tell a tale of a grandiose lie and a lie that’ll be forgotten nonetheless. Marcos is a playwright of tales where he’s the hero--but plays are fiction, and that’s all this story will ever be.