Boxing champ Manny Pacquiao is new addition to Madame Tussauds Hong

Wazzup Pilipinas?! 

The eight-division world champion is now ready to rumble with fans on the boxing ring



Wax Figure of Manny Pacquiao at the famous Madame Tussauds Hong Kong

Tourist favorite Madame Tussauds Hong Kong introduces another global icon to its roster, as world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao joins other superstars in the famed wax attraction’s Asian flagship.

Pacquiao’s inclusion comes just a month after he announced his retirement from the sport. Pacquiao joins Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach as the only Filipinos to have their own likeness created by the wax artists at Madame Tussauds, with Pacquiao as the first Filipino male to have his own installation in the attraction.

Making the wax figure extra special, Pacquiao donated the boxing garb that his wax figure wears, and considers them to be among his lucky garments throughout his boxing career. “Pacman (Pacquiao’s monicker) fans will be delighted to see our take on Manny Pacquiao at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong. From the attire, the physical features and details, and even the setup, it will be like watching the boxing star in action,” says General Manager, Hong Kong Cluster Eric Mak.

The Pacquiao wax figure is set in a boxing ring, giving fans around the world the chance to take fun snapshots with him in action. The Pacquiao in the ring attraction at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong is a fitting tribute to one of boxing’s greatest athletes, whose over 25 years in the sport saw him slam boxing records and go up against other boxing greats.

https://youtu.be/VGVYz640tU4

Craftsmanship fit for a champ


Wax Figure of Manny Pacquiao ready to box with Madame Tussauds Hong Kong visitors

Pacquiao started his professional boxing career in 1995 and retired only this October at age 42. He is the only boxer to become a champion in eight divisions and to clinch 12 world titles. Some of his most notable fights include bouts with Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar De La Hoya, and Floyd Mayweather.

“I am amazed at the final product. It looks so much like me. I am excited for my fans to see this and get to take pictures. It’s like being together in the boxing ring. I’m honored to be chosen for this opportunity, and grateful to Madame Tussauds for their wonderful work on my wax figure,” Pacquiao comments.

Madame Tussaud also shares that it took six hours to measure Pacquiao for his wax figure. “We put great effort in accurate detailing to bring an unmatched experience for fans of the global icons we have at Madame Tussauds. Our team is proud to launch such an iconic athlete at Madame Tussauds and we can’t wait for Pacquiao’s Filipino and global fans to see him in action at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong,” Mak adds.



Special Pacquiao promo


Wax Figure of Manny Pacquiao ready to box with Madame Tussauds Hong Kong visitors

The Pacquiao wax launch was hosted by Madame Tussauds Hong Kong virtually, with Pacquiao gracing the event and doing a short interview. As a special treat for Pacquiao’s Pinoy fans, Madame Tussauds Hong Kong announced a special package promo for those looking to visit soon. For only PHP 1,200 (HKD 178), visitors at Madame Tussauds get an admission ticket plus a digital photo pass to take a snapshot with Pacman on the ring. To avail of the promo, visit https://www.madametussauds.com/hong-kong/ and simply input promo code Manny2021 before checking out or you may purchase your ticket here: https://bit.ly/3oGhOBK. Promo duration is until December 31, 2021.

For more information, visit https://www.madametussauds.com/hong-kong/ and follow Madame Tussauds Hong Kong on Facebook, @MadameTussaudsHongKong on Instagram, and @TussaudsHK on Twitter and Youtube.



Madame Tussauds Hong Kong is one of the 26 global locations of the famed Madame Tussauds Wax Attraction, which originated in London in 1835. Opening in 2000 and undergoing a massive HKD 20-million renovation in 2006, Madame Tussauds Hong Kong is the first and flagship of Madame Tussauds in Asia. It is home to some of the most popular global celebrities, sports superstars, and public figures, and renowned superstars from Asia.

Development projects in General Santos will bring comfort and convenience to airport and seaport passengers

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

General Santos City and the rest of Mindanao will benefit from the transportation initiatives in the aviation and maritime sectors as these will capitalize on the city’s resources, resulting in economic and employment opportunities for Filipinos, Transportation Secretary Art Tugade emphasized Monday, 22 November 2021. Secretary Tugade said the development projects in the General Santos Airport and in the Port of General Santos will also bring comfort and convenience to airport and seaport passengers. He made the statement during the inspection of airport and seaport development projects in General Santos City together with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

“In the quiet of our endeavors, we worked on the projects as quietly as we can. But in the quiet of our endeavors, nakaka-produce ‘ho tayo ng mga proyektong ganito,” Secretary Tugade said.

Joining President Duterte and Secretary Tugade during the inspection were Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General Jim Sydiongco and Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) Jay Santiago.

Once the development projects are complete, General Santos Airport will be the first airport in Mindanao to have cutting-edge and innovative contactless features similar to those found in the Clark International Airport in Pampanga. This will make airport services effortless, safe, and convenient for all users, said Secretary Tugade.

Secretary Tugade also announced that the airport, through Philippine Airlines (PAL), will start international operations to and from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia via the GenSan-Kuala Lumpur-GenSan route on 09 December 2021.

“Matagal na panahon na ‘yung estado ng GenSan as an international airport ay nabinbin at nasuspinde. Ngayon, dahilan sa pagbabago na inintroduce natin sa termino ng ating mahal na Pangulo —announcement: December 9 of this year, the Philippine Airlines has formally signified to us that they will again start here their international operation, GenSan - Kuala Lumpur – Gensan,” he said.

With the expanded passenger terminal building (PTB) of the General Santos Airport, Secretary Tugade said the gateway can now accommodate 2 (two) million passengers annually from its previous annual capacity of 800,000 passengers.

Meanwhile, the Soccsksargen Region’s main maritime gateway, the Port of General Santos or commonly known as Makar Wharf, can now accommodate at least 1,300 large ships for port calls every year after the wharf’s upgrade and expansion.

Included in the Makar Wharf’s development projects is its new Port Operations Building, which ensures not only efficient port operations, but also ship and cargo monitoring.

President Duterte commended Secretary Tugade and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for the timely completion of the transport development projects in the province amid challenges posted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Indeed, it is another significant milestone under our Build, Build, Build Program that envisions to improve travel and mobility throughout the country as well as stimulate our economic activities. The initiative comes at a crucial time when General Santos City takes on the role as the gateway to Soccsksargen and the rest of Mindanao,” President Duterte said.

“Its completion will greatly boost our interconnectivity and revive the agro-industrial and eco-tourism prospects of Southern Mindanao,” he added.

General Santos City Mayor Ronnel Rivera, for his part, expressed his gratitude to President Duterte’s Build, Build, Build Infrastructure Development Program as it will open an array of opportunities for General Santos City and the rest of the region.

“This opens a wide array of opportunities, not only as an improvement of our infrastructure facilities, but also an investment opportunity that will generate more economic activities for the city of General Santos, and a multiple expanded growth to the whole nation,” Mayor Rivera said.

30th Conferment Anniversary of Celia Diaz Laurel’s “Woman for Peace” Award

Wazzup Pilipinas!?


November 29, 2021 marks the pearl anniversary of Mrs. Celia Diaz Laurel’s conferment of the highly prestigious international peace and humanitarian award “Woman for Peace” given by the Insieme Per La Pace (Together for Peace) Foundation.

Like its founder and president Madame Mariapia Fanfani who herself had devoted all her life to cater to the sick, poor, and victims of war, the honor is bestowed upon remarkable women who have helped promote, advance, and partake in global peacebuilding processes through meaningful social, educational, and cultural means.

Mrs. Laurel’s vast humanitarian work began in 1986 when she volunteered to head our country’s national bid for the United Nations’ Million Minutes of Peace —a worldwide campaign asking people (even with differing religions) to pledge and devote “minutes of meditation, positive thinking or prayer for peace.” Under her leadership, she launched a series of peaceful undertakings that triumphantly landed the Philippines at the fourth slot (out of the 88 participating nations) with an overwhelming 94,000,000 minutes collected and dedicated to peace!

Following this success, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar flew to the Philippines in 1987 to honor Mrs. Laurel with the “United Nations for Peace Award” and to personally invite her to speak at the Million Minutes for Peace international conference that same year. She then attended the Universal Peace Conference in Mt. Abu in India and the World Media Association in Seoul, South Korea. She also stood before the International Security Council to discuss, among others, the impact of insurgency in the Philippines on the general security of the nations in the Southeast Asian region.

Alongside these many international engagements, she likewise organized and established several key socio – civic organizations like Causa Philippines, Inc., (a humanitarian movement against international communism), DAYTOP Philippines (Drug Addicts Yield to Persuasion), Handog Lingap sa May Kapansanan (HALIKA), Philippine Tuberculosis Society, Kidney Transplant Association, Gifted Children and Youth Foundation, Memorial to the Peaceful Revolution, Save the Children (Community Development), People’s Welfare Foundation, Philippine International Friendship Organization, Philippine General Hospital Foundation, Philippine National Red Cross Overseas and Diplomatic Divisions, and Peace Development Foundation, Inc. She also worked in the countryside where she focused on health and education developments like providing sustainable potable water in depressed areas and building public school libraries. Months before the big awarding ceremony in Madrid, Spain for the Woman for Peace, Mrs. Laurel tirelessly had already been providing relief to fellow Filipinos devastated by natural calamities (i.e. earthquakes, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, and the killer cyclone in Ormoc City) that hit our country in the early 90s.

The grand awarding ceremony was held at Pabellon De Cecilio Rodriguez in Madrid, Spain on November 29, 1991. Besides Mrs. Laurel, other honorees that year were Queen Noor of Jordan, Madame Chirac of France, and Madame Silva of Portugal. The occasion had 400 guests in attendance –– comprising mostly of prominent international personalities like Senator Gianni Agnelli of Italy and royalties like Prince Saddrudin Aga Khan, King Simeon of Bulgary, and Baron and Baroness con Thiessen Bormenisza. With her conferment, she joined the revered roster of past awardees like Queen Sophia of Spain, Raissa Gorbachev, Former US First Ladies Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush, Marcella Perez de Cuellar, Diana Vreeland, President Violeta Chamurro of Nicaragua, and Queen Sirikit of Thailand.

In her acceptance speech which she excellently delivered in full Italian, Mrs. Laurel emphasized her “fervent wish that the day will come– perhaps in the next 100 years – when the efforts of Together For Peace, with all our collective efforts, will bring about a social floor below which the poor in the world will never again sink and suffer.”

Almost thirty years later, that fervent wish, sadly, remains unachieved.

With Celia Diaz Laurel, our country’s very own Woman for Peace, now at peace with her Creator, it becomes therefore incumbent upon us who were left behind to continue the crusade she tirelessly but silently began decades ago. The nearing pearl anniversary of her conferment, therefore, is meant to evoke and challenge us to continually work towards achieving peace and creating a harmonious social balance in the next thirty years or so… especially here in this part of the world –our beloved Philippines – where we, STILL need them the most.