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MEXICAN BOTANICAL GARDEN IN INTRAMUROS

Manila, Nov. 10, 1997 - National Centennial Commission Chairman Salvador Laurel and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim opened the Mexican Botanical Garden in Intramuros over the weekend.

In his speech, former Vice President Laurel said the botanical garden is not the first exchange of monuments or parks between Mexico and the Philippines. He reminded the audience that in the 1960s, an exchange involved the installation of the statue of Dr. Jose Rizal in Mexico , while a statue of Mexican hero Father Pedro Hidalgo was set up in Intramuros.

Laurel said the botanical garden will display the plants that travelled from the New World, via Mexico, to Asia through the Philippines via the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade.

The two countries, he said, possess close bonds through a common heritage which was inherited from the mother country, Spain.

In attendance at the opening were members of the diplomatic corps, including Mexican ambassador to the Philippines Enrique Michel and educators led by Prof. Fortunato de la Pena, vice president of the University of the Philippines.