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MANILA, Philippines-  Identify the subjects of these sculptures on Roxas Boulevard

These sculptures by Julie Lluch were commissioned by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza and installed on Roxas Boulevard on Aug. 21, 2003.

Both men were assassinated during the Marcos dictatorship. One came home in 1983 from an exile in the United States and was shot on the airport tarmac; the other was gunned down in front of the Antique Capital Hall in 1986. Both men were once governors of their respective provinces, Tarlac and Antique.

One subject started his political career as the youngest mayor of Concepcion, Tarlac, at 22, and became a journalist, too, covering the Korean War. When martial law was declared, he was a senator and was one of the first to be arrested. He inspired his fellow political prisoners, ignited the opposition, and fasted inside his jail cell for 40 days in defiance of the military tribunal, which found him guilty of murder and subversion and sentenced him to die by firing squad. In 1980, he suffered his first of heart attacks, after being in solitary confinement for seven years. He was allowed to be operated on in Dallas, Texas, and for three years spoke against the dictatorship from abroad. Even though he knew he might be assassinated upon his return, he came back on Aug. 21, 1983.    

The second subject was the country’s youngest governor at 28, a post he won in Antique in 1971. His projects focused on sustainable development for third-world countries, with the aid of the Ford Foundation, USAID and other development-funding institutions. In 1980, he went on a scholarship to the JFK School of Government at Harvard University and upon his return ran for assemblyman. He lost the election due to fraud, but in an ironic twist of fate, the Supreme Court finally declared him the real winner in 1986 — five years after his death. He was campaigning for the opposition’s presidential candidate in 1986 when he was pursued by gunmen, who sprayed bullets into his head and body. At the end of this merciless assassination, his body had sustained 24 bullets.

Both widows of these martyrs defiantly refused to remove the bloodied clothing their husbands were wearing when they were gunned down during their wakes, showing an entire nation the brutality of the Marcos dictatorship.

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Last week’s question: Who is the New York based French chef whose Daniel restaurant is considered one of the 10 best restaurants of the world?

Answer: Daniel Boulud

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