The Bataan Peninsula is a rocky extension of the Zambales Mountains, on Luzon in the Philippines. It separates the Manila Bay from the South China Sea. The peninsula features Mount Natib (elevation 1,253 metres (4,111 ft)) in the north and the Mariveles Mountains in the south, which includes Mount Samat, the location of the historical marker for the Bataan Death March.
Mariveles, at the southern tip, can be reached via jet ferry plying the Mariveles-to-Manila route that has an approximate travel time of 40 minutes.
In 1647, Dutch naval forces landed in country in an attempt to seize the islands from Spain. The Dutch massacred the people of Abucay in Bataan.
The province of Bataan was established in 1754 by Governor-General Pedro Manuel Arandia out of territories belonging to Pampanga and the corregimiento of Mariveles which, at the time, included Maragondon, Cavite across the Manila Bay.
Shortly after the Japanese Army invaded the country in December 1941, the combined US and Filipino forces were being gradually overrun and General Douglas MacArthur moved his troops to the Bataan Peninsula in an attempt to hold out until a relief force could be sent from the US. Japanese forces started a siege of the peninsula on January 7, 1942, and launched an all-out assault on April 3, a few months after the Battle of the Points. The majority of the American and Filipino forces surrendered on April 9 and were forced to march more than a 100 kilometres (62 mi) from Bataan to Tarlac, which became known as the Bataan Death March.
Mel Tiangco (Pilar) - popular television newscaster and television host; head of GMA Kapuso foundation.
Manuel C. Herrera (Pilar) - a deputy tanod bayan (Ombudsman at present) during the Marcos regime and later, head of the prosecution panel in the Benigno Aquino, Jr. murder case that led to the EDSA Revolution of 1986. And then became one of the justices of the Court of Appeals from 1987 to 1997, and chair of the National Unification Commission
Tomas del Rosario (Orani)- a Filipino judge and statesman who served as the first governor of the province of Bataan from 1903 to 1905. He is remembered for advocating the separation of church and state
Cayetano Arellano (Orion) - The first Supreme Court Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines.
Jackie Rice (Dinalupihan) - Filipina actress who won the title of Ultimate Female Survivor on the third season of Startstruck.
Tomas Pinpin (Abucay) - A printer, writer and publisher, was also the first Filipino printer and is sometimes referred as the "Patriarch of Filipino Printing."
Luz Banson (Balanga) - Was the wife of Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and was the seventh First Lady of the Philippines, she was also remembered as one of the most admired First Ladies and distinguished herself for her warmth and simplicity
Felicito Payumo (Dinalupihan) - Chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority from 1998-2004.