Lapu-Lapu statue unveiled today

Senator Richard Gordon and officials of the Department of Tourism (DoT) and the Korean Embassy will unveil at 7:30 a.m. the monument of Lapu-Lapu, the Filipino chieftain who scored the first victory in Asia against foreign colonizers 484 years ago today.

The imposing statue stands at the Agrifina Circle near Taft and Burgos Avenues between the old Department of Finance building and the DoT building in Manila. It is in the direct line of perspective from the statue of Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal at the Luneta Park, also in Manila.

Gordon, former DoT secretary, will deliver the keynote address, while DoT Undersecretary Oscar P. Palabyab will give the welcome address and a briefing on the project.

Minister Shin Gil-Soe, consul general of the Korean Embassy, will deliver a message and response. The Korean Freedom League and the Poongsan Microtech Philippines Inc. donated the statue to the Filipino people through the efforts of then Tourism Secretary Gordon.

Gordon said the donation by the Korean people of the Lapu-Lapu statue can be symbolically compared to the donation of the Statue of Liberty in New York City to the United States by the people of France.

As chieftain of the island of Mactan off Cebu in the Visayas, Lapu-Lapu led Filipino warriors in the famous Battle of Mactan on April 27, 1521 that led to the death of the Spanish explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, who discovered the Philippines.