 Complete the following phrase:  Although MacArthur had no specific directive from the Joint Chiefs to do so, and the fighting on Luzon was far from over, he committed the Eighth Army, Seventh Fleet and Thirteenth Air Force to a series of operations to liberate the remainder of the Philippines from the Japanese. A series of 52 amphibious landings were made in the central and southern Philippines between February and July 1945. In the GHQ communiqué on July 5, MacArthur announced that the Philippines had now been liberated and all operations ended, although Yamashita still held out in northern Luzon. Starting in May 1945, MacArthur used his Australian troops in the invasion of Borneo. MacArthur accompanied the 