Spanish king to visit Manila

Spanish king to visit Manila

MANILA (Reuter): King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain are to visit the former Spanish colony of the Philippines next year as a "gesture of reconciliation and goodwill," President Fidel Ramos said yesterday.

Ramos said in a statement the visit and Spain's participation in the 1998 centenary marking the end of Spanish rule was significant. No date was given for the visit.

The United States, at war with Spain, helped Filipino revolutionaries end more than 300 years of Spanish rule and then annexed the country for itself. The Philippines finally won its independence in 1946.