Malacanan Palace

We visited Malacañan Palace after lunch at Casa Roces. We had to give our full name and complete date of birth to the coordinator  10 days before our trip so that the government could check out our backgrounds, I guess. Also, there is a dress code. No slippers, mini skirts or sleevelss tops. We also had to go through 2 sets of checkpoints  before we could get to the entrance of Kalayaan Hall, above.

It looks very elegant and ornate, befitting a president's residence/office.





If you're like me and you're confused about the whole "Malacañan" and "Malacañang" business, our tour guide told us that "Malacanan" refers to the Palace/building while "Malacanang" refers to the whole complex, including Bahay Pangarap and gardens.

When we go here during the Holy Week for our Visita Iglesia, guards prevent us from taking photos of the exterior of the complex and our guide told us it was for security reasons. Enemies could piece together the photos to map out the entrances and exits of the whole place.

A podium where one can pretend to be the president

The tour will take you through the museum only, so we didn't get to see where PNoy works but we did get to see where Marcos declared Martial Law and where the congressmen used to hold meetings.

We went to many rooms filled with memorabilia while our guide shared interesting tidbits about some of the items on display...

 ...such as these chandeliers from the 1930s which were imported from Czechoslovakia and Austria and were said to be worth $1 million!!!

 Here's a nice shot of Cory Aquino and Doy Laurel before a giant bust of megalomanica dictator Marcos. That bust was destroyed by some rebels some years after the 1986 Edsa revolution

 This was the original desk and chair where Marcos declared Martial Law

 These are the dinnerware that are only used for state dinners. The seal and gold trim details are quite a sight!

Marcos was obsessed with his image and this is an idealized portrait of him by Claudio Bravo

 One can also get a photo with the "president" here but no horns or rude signs, please.

Lots of nice artwork are on display, but very few have proper captions on them.  An editor said we didn't even get to see the Monet and Manet paintings that Imelda bought with our money. All her shoes are apparently in the Marikina shoe factory, too.All in all, definitely worth a visit if you're interested in Philippine history and art