In Talisay city a large commercial area is the site of the American Landing liberating Cebu. On March 26, 1945, Talisay played a part of World War 2 in Cebu. American Units of the Americal landed on Canton Beach. This Japanese bunker survived the invasion unlike another one that i covered because it was barely outside the landing zone thus was not bombarded by shells. The bunker is in Purok Kalubihan known for its Lubi (Coconut trees) these coconut trees are possibly the descendants of the coconut trees that lined the beaches from Barangay Biasong to Barangay Tangke. The bunker is circular in shape and embedded into the ground slightly, it is made of mostly reinforced concrete and coral stones. There are some theories that part of the Bunker is made of large pieces of broken concrete taken from Ancestral houses that were nearby.
At one point behind the Concrete pillbox was a complex of ditches, trenches and other defenses to defend the beach from American Attack but the Japanese abandoned there positions leaving this and other Pillboxes around the beaches unmanned. The ammunition dump for this bunker is now the bunker across modern day Malayan School and survives as a ruin. There is also a possibility that the bunker hosted a Tunnel where soldiers could go to Minglanillia. Local elders say that forced labor was used to Build the Concrete pillbox, it was built over 1 year 1943-1944. Some sources claim that the bunker was used in the Fighting but field reports from the 40th Division say that little resistance was encountered but mines and other field defenses neutralized 10 LVT’s.
The bunker even in its sad state was rehabilitated in 2013 but this attempt was not maintained as the area has again been infested with squatters and people who have no regard for historical structures like this one treating them as a trash dump. The bunker is certainly an important part of Talisay history as it is the one of the only reminders of World War 2.
