Image: MalacañangPalacejf2356 04

Description: Malacañang Grounds[1] Laperal Mansion or the Arlegui Guest House. The Laperal Mansion is located along Arlegui Street. When World War II broke out, it served at one point as the residence of the speaker of the National Assembly established by the Japan-sponsored Second Philippine Republic, Benigno S. Aquino, Sr., the grandfather of current Philippine president Benigno S. Aquino III. It also served as the chancellery of Germany in the country when it was still under Nazi rule. When the war ended, it served for a short while as the National Library. It may be around the postwar era that the Laperal family got to acquire the property but in 1975, they got kicked out of the property by presidential security as the Marcos government confiscated it for “security reasons”. Now property of the Office of the President, the house became the office of the Presidential Economic Staff (precursor of today’s National Economic Development Authority) before First Lady Imelda Marcos decided to expand the house to grander proportions in order for it to become a guesthouse. After the People Power Revolution of 1986 ousted the former president Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aquino assumed the position of the presidency. As a symbolic gesture, she refused to live in Malacañang as her predecessors have; she chose to stay in the Arlegui Guesthouse instead. Her successor, Fidel V. Ramos, followed suit and also made Arlegui his residence. During Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term, the house became the Office of the Press Secretary. Malacañang Palace[2] [3] (Filipino: Palasyo ng Malakanyang), officially Malacañan Palace or simply "the Palace", is the official residence, but not the actual residence, and principal workplace of the President of the Philippines. It is located along Pasig River, Governors-General Francis Burton Harrison and Dwight F. Davis built an executive building, the Kalayaan Hall, which was later transformed into a museum. Since 1986 when Cory Aquino became president, only one president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has actually lived in the palace proper, though all lived on the grounds or nearby.[4]Coordinates: 14°35'38"N 120°59'39"E [5] 1000 José P. Laurel Street, San Miguel, Manila[6]Malacañang Palace and Museum Site of the presidency of the Philippines. The Malacañang Museum is situated in historic Kalayaan Hall – the old Executive Building built in 1920 lat: 14.5935506821, long: 120.995094299 [7] New Malacañang Facebook page seeks pics from Palace visitors[8]
Title: MalacañangPalacejf2356 04
Credit: Own work
Author: Ramon FVelasquez
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No