Liberty Shrine Ready for Independence Day
Posted on 23 April 2019
By NQC Admin
The Lapu-Lapu City Government will open the refurbished Liberty Shrine in Mactan on 12 April 2019, in time for the 498th anniversary of the Victory at Mactan.
The local government funded the improvement in the site to accommodate thousands of people in attendance, especially as the site was chosen to be the main venue of this year’s Independence Day celebration on 12 June 2019. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is the invited Guest of Honor.
Expected guests at the Liberty Shrine are the members of the diplomatic corps, national government officials, and local government officials. The site’s hosting of the Independence Day will emphasize the country’s anticipation of the 500 years of the Victory at Mactan in 2021.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) has sent its team from the Heraldry Section to check the height of the flag pole. This is in preparation for its declaration as the site of the permanent hosting of the national flag as per Republic Act No. 8491 or the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines of 1998. The commission’s conservation team will also train personnel from City Government in charge of the upkeep of the shrine, in the conservation procedure for the statue of Lapulapu and the removal of the vegetation on the Magellan Monument.
The connection between the Victory at Mactan and the proclamation of Philippine independence is very evident. In Emilio Jacinto’s article “¡¡Gising na mga Tagalog!!” (Wake Up Filipinos) dated 23 October 1895, he wrote: ¿Saan na napatungu ang dugu ni Kalipulako (sic, Lapulapu), ang masiglang hari ng Maktan, niyaong pinatay niya ang lilong si Magallanes? (Where has the blood of Lapulapu, the jubilant king of Mactan, flowed, after he killed the liar Magellan).
Jacinto’s question was answered by the Philippine Revolution that gave birth to the Filipino nation. Likewise, the document “Acta de la Proclamation de Independencia del Pueblo Filipino” read during the proclamation of Philippine Independence in Kawit proudly evoked once again the name of Kalipulako, implying that the spirit of Mactan prevailed through centuries of colonization until the time of the founding fathers of the nation.
