Panay Liberation Day  Panay Liberation Day, alternatively Panay Landing Day and Victory (Liberation) Day on Panay commemorates the landing on Panay during the Battle of the Visayas during World War II. It is public holiday on the islands of Guimaras, Panay, and Romblon in Western Visayas. In 1989 then-President Corazon Aquino issued Proclamation No. 430 or "An Act Declaring March 18 of every year as Victory Day in the Islands of Panay and Romblon including the cities of Iloilo and Roxas" declaring the day a special non-working holiday for the three islands. The proclamation said in part, "March 18, 1945 is of great historical and sentimental significance to both the veterans and the people of Panay and Romblon because it was the day when the Panay Guerilla Forces launched the final assault on the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces," Guimaras is included in the proclamation since it was part of Iloilo province in 1989. On December 8, 1941, several hours after the Empire of Japan launched the Attack on Pearl Harbor, they attacked the American colony of the Philippines, eventually defeating the combined American and Philippine forces and beginning nearly 4 years of Japanese occupation. On October 20, 1944, American and Filipino forces led by General Douglas MacArthur landed on Leyte during the Battle of Leyte liberating the island of Leyte and beginning the successful Philippines campaign of 1944–1945. As part of that campaign, the Battle of the Visayas began on March 18, 1945 with the Allied landing at Tigbauan, Iloilo on Panay. The area of operations for the Battle of the Visayas was divided in two because of the mountainous terrain of Negros Island. The planners chose to seize the western portion, including northwestern Negros and Panay island, during Operation VICTOR I. Lt. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger, the Eighth Army commander, appointed the 40th Infantry Division, a California National Guard formation and veterans of the recent Battle of Luzon, under Maj. Gen. Rapp Brush, with the 503rd Airborne Regimental Combat Team in reserve. Panay Island was the first objective. On 18 March 1945, after two weeks of aerial bombardment of Japanese positions, the 40th Infantry Division, spearheaded by the 185th Infantry Regiment, landed unopposed at Tigbauan, several miles south of Iloilo City. A 23,000-strong guerrilla force under Col. Macario Peralta had secured most of Panay.