Malinta Tunnel The Malinta Tunnel is a tunnel complex built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines . It was initially used as a bomb - proof storage and personnel bunker , but was later equipped as a 1 , 000 - bed hospital . The main tunnel , running east to west , is long , wide and high . Branching off from this main shaft are 13 lateral tunnels on the north side and 11 lateral tunnels on the south side . Each lateral averaged in length and in width . Name . The Malinta Tunnel derives its name from Malinta Hill , a rise through which its shaft is bored . " Malinta " is Filipino for " full of leeches " , " linta " being the local word for " leech " . Construction . Its construction , without benefit of new equipment or funds apportioned by the United States Congress due to agreements reached during the Washington Naval Conference , began in 1922 and was completed in 1932 . The Army Corps of Engineers rented obsolete equipment from Baguio gold miners for a nominal fee and made do with condemned TNT from the Ordnance Department . The explosive delivered was in powder form , and had to be wrapped into makeshift cartridges using magazine pages , which were placed into holes drilled into the rock . Labor was provided by the Philippine Commonwealth in the form of 1 , 000 convicts from the Bilibid Prison in Manila . A company of engineers from the Philippine Scouts worked on the construction as foremen and clerks . The cement for concrete used to line the tunnels was bought from the Japanese . Battle of Corregidor . During the Battle of Corregidor , the third lateral on the north side from the east entrance served as the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur and the USAFFE . Malinta Tunnel also served as the seat of government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines . At the vicinity of the tunnel ' s west entrance in the afternoon of December 30 , 1941 , Manuel L . Quezon and Sergio Osmeña took their oaths of office as President and Vice - president of the Philippine Commonwealth in simple ceremonies attended by members of the garrison . Japanese troops forced the surrender of the remaining American and Filipino forces on May 6 , 1942 while under the command of Lt . Gen . Jonathan Wainwright . Retaking of Corregidor . During the re - taking of the island by U . S . forces in 1945 , Japanese soldiers who had been trapped in the tunnel after the entrance was blocked as a result of gunfire from began committing suicide by detonating explosives within the bowels of the tunnel complex the night of February 23 , 1945 . The collapsed laterals resulting from these explosions have never been excavated . Today . Today , Malinta Tunnel is the venue of an audio - visual presentation by National Artist Lamberto V . Avellana of events that occurred during World War II , including the evacuation of President Quezon and General MacArthur by Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three from Corregidor to Mindanao . They were later flown to Australia . Quezon ran a government in exile in the United States during the war . A plaque in the Malinta Tunnel , donated and placed by a Texas A & M Aggies club with permission from the Philippine government , now marks the spot of the most well - known Aggie Muster that took place during World War II in 1942 on the island of Corregidor .