Zambo erects Diaz statue

The city of Zamboanga will build a statue for its favorite daughter — Hidilyn Diaz — following her triumph in the Tokyo Olympics.

Former national weightlifting coach Elbert Atilano revealed that the Zamboanga city council is now planning to build a statue of Diaz in honor of her unforgettable win in the women’s 55kg weightlifting event at the Tokyo International Forum on Monday.

Atilano said they have already ordered their municipal engineering office to start the project, which will cost around five to seven million pesos.

Although details have yet to be finalized, the monument will be made out of bronze and includes Olympic rings in its blueprint.

The construction is set to begin later this year and will be displayed at the newly-renovated Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex.

This is the perfect time to execute that project. It was a very big victory for all of us.

Atilano said the plan was initially broached up when Diaz won a silver medal in the 2016 Olympics, but city officials decided to halt it in anticipation for her golden triumph in the Summer Games in Tokyo.

“We already had an initial budget for it, it’s around P5 million,” Atilano, who discovered and trained Diaz starting when she was 10 years old until she competed in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.

“This is the perfect time to execute that project. It was a very big victory for all of us.”

If ever, Diaz will be the first Filipino sports personality who will be immortalized through a statue.

“We’ll have to meet with the engineers and architects to finish the design. People are suggesting to include Olympic rings in the background.”

Diaz arrived in the country yesterday and is now having a mandatory seven-day quarantine.