Agrifina dela cruz biography definition

Monument to Lapu-Lapu in Manila, Philippines

The Statue of the Sentinel of Freedom or the Lapu Lapu Monument is a monument to Lapulapu formerly located at the center of the Agrifina Circle at Rizal Park in Manila, Philippines.^[1]

History

In 2004, House of Representatives members Raul del Mar (Cebu City–1st) and Nerissa Corazon Soon-Ruiz (Cebu–6th) initiated the installation of a statue of Lapulapu in Rizal Park as a move to honor Lapulapu as a hero of not only Cebu but the whole Philippines.^[2] They urged the Office of the President to accept their proposal.^[3] Then-tourism Secretary Richard Gordon, who was a 2004 senatorial candidate,^[4] supported the installation of the statue.^[5] The project was opposed by the National Historical Institute (NHI) led by Ambeth Ocampo, which insist that only statues of heroes of the Philippine Revolution could be erected in the Agrifina Circle.^[