Donated slab of Berlin Wall in PHL by next year –DFA

The piece of the Berlin Wall reserved for the Philippines will finally make its way to the country early next year, 25 years after the barrier's historic fall.

The deed of donation for the artifact has already been officially turned over to Philippine Embassy Chargé d’affaires Mardomel Melicor by Margit Gehrcken of the Berlin Senate Chancellery, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in a news release Wednesday.

The section, called “Mauerteil,” is the 22nd section of the wall's 40 sections, the DFA said. It stands 3.65 meters tall and 1.2 meters wide.

In a note, the Berlin Senate said it is “happy that part of the Berlin Wall would stand in Manila as a monument to remember that it was possible to successfully overcome and reunify divisions in Berlin and Europe.”

In a piece for Manila Bulletin in September, former Philippine Ambassador to Germany Jose Abeto Zaide said that during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's term, the Philippine Embassy in Germany worked with the Berlin Protocol to get a piece of the wall for the Philippines.

The talks, he said, resulted in Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit's agreeing to donate a piece of the Berlin Wall to the country.

Zaide added that the task only needed Arroyo's availability to sign the Golden Book at the Berlin Rathaus (City Hall), a consent of the EDSA committee to receive the Berlin Wall, and a logistical support for shipment of the 2.8-ton gift package to Manila.

The plan never pushed through because Arroyo's visit to Germany never materialized. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News