page_title: Replicas of the Statue of Liberty
section_title: Philippines
hierarchical_section_title: Replicas of the Statue of Liberty / Asia / Philippines
caption_attribution_description: English: Chief Scout Executive Arthur A. Shuck presenting to Carlos P. Romulo a miniature of the Statue of Liberty in April 1950.
context_page_description: Hundreds of replicas of the Statue of Liberty have been created worldwide.
context_section_description: As early as January 1945, there were already news of a campaign that would help erect a Statue of Liberty replica in the Philippines. The said monument was supposed to be sponsored by The Chicago Daily Times whose goal was “to commemorate one of the great epics in the struggle for human freedom–the liberation of the Philippines.”
  Fast forward to 1950, the Boy Scouts of America was celebrating its 40th anniversary. Jack P. Whitaker, then Scout Commissioner of the Kansas City Area Council, had earlier suggested the creation and distribution of several Statue of Liberty replicas to all American states and territories, including the Philippines.
  The eight-foot statues, which were cast in bronze, were distributed all over the U.S. and the world from 1949 to 1951. Almost 200 replicas were delivered to the 39 states of the U.S. and countries such as Panama and Puerto Rico. The Boy Scouts of the Philippines, on the other hand, received its own replica in the early part of 1950.
  The statues were donated by the Boy Scouts of America as “an expression of scout brotherhood and goodwill.” Not surprisingly, their 40th anniversary theme was “Strengthen the Arm of Liberty.”
  Miniature versions of the statue were also given as gifts. In fact, the Philippines became the first independent nation to receive one of the 4,000 eight-inch statues from the Boy Scouts of America. In April 1950, the said statue was officially given by Chief Scout Executive Arthur A. Shuck to Carlos P. Romulo, then chief of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations.
  In the Philippines, several places were suggested as the site where the eight-foot bronze replica would be erected. The task of choosing the perfect site was delegated to the National Urban Planning Commission, and among those it considered were “Engineer Island, atop the proposed reviewing stand on the Rizal Park, and on the center island rotunda between the Old Legislative building and Manila City Hall.”
  In the end, the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) erected the statue just outside Intramuros. As the icon of the United States, the replica of Lady Liberty would survive several attacks by student protesters in the 1960s. It remained standing until the early 1970s, when the BSP decided to transfer it to the Scout Reservation in Mt. Makiling which would serve as the statue's home for two decades or so.
  In a 2002 article published by the Philippine Star, then BSP PR head Nixon Canlapan revealed that the Statue of Liberty was eventually moved and stored at the BSP headquarters on Concepcion Street (now Natividad Almeda-Lopez) in Ermita, Manila.
  Turns out, the American-sponsored replica was not the first Lady Liberty in Manila. In the 1930s, one of Manila's biggest shopping stores at that time became the talk of the town not just for its products but also for its unique multi-story building. Located in Juan Luna Street, the L.R. Aguinaldo's Emporium had an Art Deco facade featuring two contrasting statues: Andres Bonifacio on the right and the Statue of Liberty on the left.
  Established by Philippine retailing pioneer Leopoldo R. Aguinaldo, the store would later become known as the Aguinaldo's Department Store. After the war, Leopoldo's son Francisco took over the business and the store was moved to Echague.
  The Echague branch in the 1950s was known for introducing its customers to quality products both from the Philippines and abroad. It also commissioned young interior designers to update the store's furniture section. Thus, the store catapulted the careers of famous designers like Myra Cruz, Edgar Ramirez, and Bonnie Ramos, among others. Aguinaldo's succumbed to the competition and closed in the 1960s. The original building in Juan Luna Street still stands, along with both the Bonifacio and the Liberty statues.
  Since the creation of the Liberty statues in Intramuros and Juan Luna Street, other Philippine provinces soon followed suit. Statue of Liberty replicas in can be found in Pangasinan and as far as Camp John Hay amphitheater in Baguio.
caption: Chief Scout Executive Arthur A. Shuck presenting to Carlos P. Romulo a miniature of the Statue of Liberty in April 1950.
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