MALACAÑANG TRIVIA By Ernesto R. Zárate, FPIA THE COMPLEX Today, the complex consists of Malacañan Palace itself, Bonifacio Hall (formerly the Premier Guest House used by Marcos successor Corazon Aquino as her office and by Joseph Ejercito Estrada as his residence), Kalayaan Hall (the former executive building built under the American administration), Mabini Hall (the Administration Building), and the New Executive Building (built by President Aquino which was dubbed by the media as the “Borloloy Building”) among other, smaller buildings. Sometime from 1937 to 1940, for added security, land was purchased and reclaimed across the Pasig on the banks opposite the Palace itself. This became Malacañan Park where a small golf course was built including the barracks for the Presidential Guards, a Commonwealth-era presidential rest house (Bahay Pangarap), a swimming pool and a recreation hall. There also used to be a small zoo there. There is a rumor that there exists a secret tunnel under the Pasig River from the Official Residence area across to the Malacañan Park on the other side. Legend has it that in 1896, Teodora Alonso, mother of national hero Jose Rizal, visited Malacañang to plead for the life of her son. It is said that she climbed the stairs of the Palace on her knees to beg for clemency. In 1987, during the filming of the HBO special feature on the fall of the Marcos dictatorship, “A Dangerous Life,” the producers could not get official permission to shoot inside the Palace so they were forced to construct a fairly accurate copy of the interiors inside a studio in Australia using available photographs for details. The set designer visited the Palace several times carefully measuring distances by pacing from one area to another and noting them down is his small notebook. Aside from the sometimes unbearable stench of the Pasig River as well as the problem of its perennial flooding and the danger posed during violent demonstrations to the students of the schools (Holy Spirit, San Beda, Centro Escolar) in the area, there is this persistent perception that the seat of government of our country is in a place that has bad feng shui, that is why our country will always be in shambles. For these reasons, there are suggestions to transform the Palace into an honest-to-goodness museum and transfer the seat of government to either Clark or Subic.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 10:20:27 +0000
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