Photo Release

What are the metes and bounds of the shrine?: Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda seeks the referral of the privilege speech of Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito to the Committee on Culture and the Arts, which she chairs. Ejercito, in his speech delivered Tuesday, May 9, 2023, seeks an investigation on the relocation of the monuments of national heroes Dr. Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto from the Pinaglabanan Shrine in San Juan City. Legarda noted that Pinaglabanan Shrine is being maintained by the local government of San Juan and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP). The senator said areas designated by the NHCP have historical and cultural significance, which she said, could be included in the cultural mapping bill she sponsored and hopefully will be passed this May, being the Heritage Month. “I would like to help the good sponsor from San Juan to establish the metes and bounds of the coverage of the Pinaglabanan Shrine so that we would know what it would mean, meaning, not just to the constituents and the people of the City of San Juan. But if it is marked as such as a historical landmark, then that is our national heritage and part of our national patrimony... and any movement of such monuments or a shrine, of course, would need the concurrence of the agency, which declared it as such,” Legarda said. (Senate PRIB photos)