From Four Nodes of History: The Human Rights Challenge in the Philippine Security Sector But General Wainwright and his staff had lost their fighting spirit and failed to figure out that they were surrounded by a very much smaller – though determined – force that was now extremely weak. At that moment he could have destroyed Homma’s entire force in a major counter-attack. Homma’s forces were finally reinforced, bringing them back to their former strength, upon the direct intercession of the Japanese Emperor. Bataan fell when Homma resumed the offensive. Homma was dumbfounded when the USAFFE surrendered with 75,000 troops on April 9, 1942. All along he had been thinking there were at most 25,000 manning Bataan.33 Homma shifted his attention to Corregidor, which eventually surrendered with 13,000 USAFFE troops. All in all, 88,000 USAFFE prisoners were taken in Bataan and Corregidor. MacArthur, with a small party, escaped using PT boats. Had MacArthur just let his three tactical commands (North, South, and Visayas-Mindanao) carry out guerrilla warfare using regular troops (i.e., trading space for advantage and refusing decisive battles), the 14th Japanese Army with only three Divisions would have been overstretched and logistically drained to accomplish anything. 82 Based on MacArthur’s unpublished manuscript (which he did not have published in his lifetime, possibly because of his embarrassing faulty leadership), Japan’s intent in the Philippines was primarily to control the air and naval bases. They were recognized as strategic to protect Japan’s hold on Southeast Asia and not for economic reasons, unlike in China and the rest of Southeast Asia. The poor leadership of MacArthur and his flight to Australia had cost the Filipino people and the USAFFE a tremendous toll in lives, destruction of property and much humiliation and suffering. MacArthur was not reprimanded nor retired; instead, he was given the highest military medal of the US, the Medal of Honor, and assigned to lead all allied forces. He was also given the absolute authority to reorganize the Philippine commonwealth and the army prior to the granting of independence. Long after MacArthur’s death, a journalist exposed a scandal that tarnished the General’s reputation. On January 1, 1942, President Quezon, afraid that the United States would abandon the Philippines, apparently issued bribes in the form of Commonwealth-issued checks to ranking US Commanders in the Philippines so that they will give