FPJ monument to rise in Manila

MANILA, Philippines - A life-size monument of the late movie icon Fernando Poe Jr. will rise in Plaza Ferguson in Manila.

FPJ run but lost to former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the May 2010 presidential elections.

The FPJ statue, made of bronze, would be unveiled tomorrow, coinciding with his 8th death anniversary. A mass will be celebrated at 8 a.m. at his tomb at the Manila North Cemetery.

The statue, showing FPJ’s both hands on his pockets, was done by sculptor Jonas Roces.

FPJ’s widow, actress Susan Roces and their daughter, former Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) chairperson Grace Poe-Llamanzares and Mayor Alfredo Lim will lead the unveiling rites.

According to Lim, “Ang tunay na Pangulo sa puso ng nakararaming Pilipino” were inscribed in FPJ’s statue to describe the late actor.

FPJ run under the political party of his buddy, former President Joseph Estrada during the May, 2010 elections with Sen. Loren Legarda as his running mate against the tandem of Arroyo and ex-senator Noli de Castro.

When he died on Dec. 14, 2004, he had a pending protest against Arroyo before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET). His death, however, rendered the protest moot and academic.

The statue of FPJ is seen as a “political coup” of Lim’s camp over Estrada who is for mayor of Manila in next year’s elections.

Lim is reportedly wooing the support of Roces and Grace Poe, who is a common senatorial candidate of Estrada’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) and President Aquino’s Liberal Party-led coalition ticket.