Bilibid Prison

An aerial view of Bilibid Prison on 1945

A distinctive landmark of northern Manila, the wagon-wheel shaped Bilibid Prison had been originally established by order of Queen Isabella II in 1865. The facility had a stated capacity of 1,127 prisoners divided between two separate sectors, with one intended to serve as a the Manila jail for short term incarcerations, and the other intended as a long term prison. It would remain in use in the capacty for the next 75 years, when the New Bilibid Prison was opened in the south of the city, with the older facility relegated exclusively for use as the Manila city jail.

With the Japanese occupation of the city in early 1942 the prison was soon put to work instead to house American prisoners of war captured during the campaign to take the islands, as well as for overflow of civilian internees from the nearby University of Santo Tomas. The facility formed a secondary objective of the Americans on their approach to the city three years later, with the main objective being Santo Tomas.