Bataan (batan´, -tän´, bätä-än´), peninsula and province (1990 pop. 426,000), W Luzon, the Philippines, between Manila Bay and the South China Sea. Balanga is the provincial capital. A mountainous, thickly jungled region, it has some of the best bamboo forests in the Philippines. There is a pulp and paper mill, a large fertilizer plant, and an oil refinery (established there in 1961). Subsistence farming is carried on. Early in World War II (Dec., 1941-Jan., 1942), the U.S.-Filipino army withdrew to Bataan, where it entrenched and, despite the lack of naval and air support, fought a gallant holding action that upset the Japanese timetable for conquest.