►Dr. Ernie A. de Pedro, Takayama Managing Trustee, has surveyed the current status of the Takayama Memorial, and found the statue tightly wrapped in industrial tape and caged in a steel frame with wire-mesh to shield it from construction debris.

Though three Takayama devotees – Dr. E. A. de Pedro, Raquel Calma Nakayama, of Star Travel, and Teresa Cabigas (who all attended the Takayama Beatification Rites in Osaka on Feb. 7, 2017) — were prepared to drape garlands on Blessed Takayama on Nov. 17, the operation was deemed by project supervisors as too cumbersome to implement.

Another day will come! – when the situation at the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 project (MMSS-3 Project) clears up.

IN THE HISTORICAL CALENDAR – FRIDAY, NOV. 17, 2017:

►Marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Philippines-Japan Friendship Park at Plaza Dilao on Nov. 17, 1977.
►Marks the 25th (Silver) anniversary of the proclamation of the Takayama Memorial as a National Monument by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) on Nov. 17, 1992.
►2017 marks the 425th year of the founding of the “Dilao” settlement in 1592 as the first ‘Japantown’ in the Philippines (originally at the area now occupied by Manila City Hall — next door to the sprawling Chinese “Parian” which was located at the Metropolitan Theater area).
►2017 marks the 255th year of the fourth relocation of the Japanese “nihon-machi” to its present site (at Paco Railway Station) in 1762. ◘