GORDON RECALLS LAPU-LAPU’S BATTLE OF MACTAN: Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon walks down the steps of the Lapu-Lapu monument in Luneta Park, Manila after he offered wreath in tribute to the first Filipino hero whose victory of the historic Battle of Mactan marks its 488th anniversary last April 27. When he was tourism secretary, Gordon was instrumental in the construction of the Lapu-Lapu monument as a gift by the South Korean government to the Filipino soldiers who fought with them. Many consider the Lapu-Lapu’s statue as the “Sentinel of Freedom of the Philippines” and “The Statue of Liberty in Asia.”