Third plaque approved marking Philippine hero's links to HK

Hong Kong has approved a third historical plaque to mark a site associated with a Philippine revolutionary hero.

The marker will be unveiled later this month at the site of the former residence of Jose Rizal, a Filipino-Chinese doctor, novelist and scholar who lived at Rednaxela Terrace in lower Mid-Levels from December 1891 to June 1892.

The marker will be placed at the intersection of Rednaxela Terrace and Shelley Street by the Central Escalator and unveiled on December 30, the 108th anniversary of Rizal's execution in Manila which sparked the Philippine revolution in 1896 against the 300-year Spanish colonial rule.

'The installation in Hong Kong of a third historical marker is a fitting tribute to the memory of a great Philippine national hero, Dr Jose Rizal, as well as a testimony to the unique part that Hong Kong played in Philippine history,' said Philippine Consul-General Corazon Belmonte-Jover.

A spokesman for the Antiquities and Monuments Office said the Philippine consulate-general approached it with the proposal to erect the plaque. The proposal was approved by the Antiquities Advisory Board's education and publicity committee.

The Rizal home on No 2 Rednaxela Terrace was named after the original owner whose name, Alexander, was spelled backwards by a Chinese street painter.