Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim yesterday led the observance of the 73rd birth anniversary of the late “King of Philippine Movies” Fernando Poe Jr. at the Manila North Cemetery, along with supporters and family members led by Poe’s daughter Grace Poe-Llamanzares, who is currently the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chairman, with an announcement that a monument in his honor will be inaugurated come December.                                                               
Lim constantly honors “Da King” each time his death or birth anniversary comes, as a way of showing his continued support for him and the legacy he left behind, by being personally present at masses being held at the site of the late actor’s grave during such occasions. The mayor also led the laying of wreath and lighting of candles at the foot of Poe’s elevated niche yesterday.                             
In an interview following the mass, the mayor expressed gladness and gratitude to President Aquino for having issued a new proclamation that declared Poe — Ronald Allan Kelley in real life — as a National Artist, which he said is a fitting recognition for someone who has touched the lives of many Filipinos during his lifetime.                                                                                     
“The people will continue to remember Poe not as a presidential candidate but for the kind of life he led, which continues to inspire his fans that are still there to show their support for him,” Lim said.                                              
The National Artist award was graciously accepted by Susan Roces and daughter Grace, in recognition of the fact that the one conferring it, President Aquino, is a legitimately-installed president whose mandate is beyond question.
Lim, who awarded Poe as an “Outstanding Manilan” posthumously, meanwhile, announced that by yearend, a monument of the late actor will be installed along Roxas Boulevard as a way of perpetuating his memory as a true and sincere champion of the masses.                                                                             
“He truly deserves that award,” Lim stressed.                                
The mayor also reiterated earlier pronouncements that for him, it was really Poe who won the elections where he ran as president.                                                       
As a senatorial candidate who accompanied FPJ in his provincial sorties, Lim said the masses would go down from the mountains and converge at the plazas for one or two days in advance, bringing their own food, just to see and listen to Poe.                                                                                                    
Meanwhile, despite yesterday being a holiday, Lim delivered five wheelchairs to either senior citizens, handicapped or have become immobile because of illness, in various areas in the city’s fifth district.                                             
The mayor spends his weekends and holidays personally delivering wheelchairs to residents requesting for them, so as to spare them from the difficulty of having to go to city hall and bringing home the wheelchair.