The Bessang Pass Natural Monument is a protected area and memorial that commemorates the victory on 14 June 1945 by Filipino soldiers serving the U.S. Army Forces in the Philippines Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL) over the Imperial Japanese Army in the Battle of Bessang Pass which led to Japan's eventual surrender and end to World War II in the Philippines. It covers an area of 693.32 hectares (1,713.2 acres) and a buffer zone of 427.79 hectares (1,057.1 acres) in the municipality of Cervantes in Ilocos Sur. The mountain pass was initially a component of the Tirad Pass National Park, declared in 1938 through Proclamation No. 294 by then President Manuel Luis Quezon. On 10 August 1954, it was established as the Bessang Pass National Shrine with an area of 304 hectares (750 acres) by virtue of Proclamation No. 55 signed by President Ramon Magsaysay. The national shrine was finally declared and reclassified as a natural monument under the National Integrated Protected Areas System in April 2000 through Proclama