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by Lakambini Sitoy
Photos by Willie Avila
This feature appeared in the Independence Day edition of The Evening Paper (June 12, 1996). I have not been to the Malacañang Palace Museum since. Doubtless it is much changed.
Third of three parts
The Ferdinand E. Marcos room contains a portrait of the late president as a young man; he stands on a mountain of some sort, one foot confidently up on a rock, as he holds a couple of stone tablets, sort of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai. Above the portrait hangs the seal of the President of the Republic of the Philippines, which no one else but Marcos used. Instead of the traditional merlion, which stood for ultra mares, Spanish dominion over all the seas of the world, is an eagle, Marcos’s personal symbol.
Marcos was elected to office in 1965, imposed martial law on September 21, 1972, and was deposed in a bloodless coup d'etat on February 1986. His unpopularity in many quarters here and abroad has not been stressed, however. The display is as neutral as those of the other presidents. One thing of interest though, is a blackboard standing in a corner of the room, in approximately the place where the jubilant crowd that burst into Malacañang after the Marcos’s departure found it. Drawn on the blackboard is a map of EDSA, Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame. It was drawn, says Mae Gaffud, by generals loyal to President Marcos shortly before the departure of the president and his aides in February of 1986. When President Ramos takes his guests around personally, he explains how the figures on one side of the board, 300 men in Aguinaldo, 500 in Crame, two tanks, one light anti-aircraft gun, etcetera, were a bloated estimate of the number of personnel and weapons under his command.
The Macapagal Room is comparatively bare, containing some old photographs, and the portrait of Diosdado Macapagal, fifth president of the Third Philippine Republic, his term running from 1961 to 1965. It is supposed to be a music room; there is a gramophone and an old piano. This was one-half of the bedroom of Ferdinand Marcos. On the ceiling is a circle containing several triangles made out of pieces of wood. Marcuos allegedly believed that the pyramid was a symbol of power and would restore one's health. This room reportedly contains a secret panel hiding the staircase that leads to the back of Kalayaan Hall.
“Mrs. Evangeline Macapagal is in the process of sending us her husband's memorabilia,” Gaffud says, by way of explaining the sparseness of the Macapagal display. “Her husband wants to have a hand in the selection of each piece.”
One goes past elevators that lead to the basement, which the Marcos couple used. The elevators are no longer in service. The next room is the President Fidel V. Ramos room, not devoted to memorabilia but displaying gifts from the leaders of various nations, including a pilot's helmet and goggles given to Ramos, in acknowledgement of his role in piloting the nation towards Philippines 2000. The room does not seem to have been designed around any theme. The Foundation plans to put in exhibits that would reflect the programs that Ramos initiated and is spearheading.
The Corazon C. Aquino Room is a welcome relief from all that narra paneling. Its walls are painted white, and before entering it, one goes through a sitting room, also in white, with two contemporary chairs positioned by a lamp shade. On the walls of this room are imposing images from the February 1986 EDSA revolution, which resulted in the overthrow of the Marcoses and Aquino’s assumption of the presidency. The images crackle with life: in one of them, riot police hose down demonstrators at a barricade, in another, then-presidential candidate Aquino is mobbed by supporters as she travels down the street in an open vehicle. Entering the room itself, the first thing one sees is the painting of the EDSA Revolution, mural-like, entitled Inang Bayan and done by Nemi Miranda. On the wall is a bank of framed international magazine covers, all with President Aquino on the cover. The furniture is in tasteful beige. Another object of interest is a sheet of uncut paper money, 500 peso bills bearing the image of Senator Benigno Aquino, her husband, once a possible candidate for the presidency before his assassination in 1983. Mrs. Aquino has personally affixed her signature to each one.
The Museum ends at the changing exhibit gallery, which overlooks the Atrium. The displays here are personally decided by President Fidel Ramos. The latest exhibits relate to the events that led to the Philippine Revolution in 1898. The last display featured the Philippine flag, the various designs that preceded the current one, and the groups that used them. When foreign dignitaries come to visit, Gaffud explained, the exhibits are changed to reflect the Philippines relations with their home country.
Beyond the gallery are more halls, but these are used for official business and hence closed to the public. The sounds of an ongoing press conference may reach visitors through the woodwork, tantalizing one with the prospect of running into President Ramos in person, but this possibility is nil. The armed security men who guard this exit seat to that.
THE MUSEUM is scheduled to reopen following month-long renovations that help to protect the displays from the onslaught of the rains and the annual rising of the Pasig River. Apart from the ravages of nature, the exhibits must be protected from the intrusions of curious viewers. The items are all in the process of being insured. Mae Gaffud stresses that it is not people's money that goes into the repairs, or even into the museum itself. The Malacañang Heritage Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization. On the board of trustees is First Lady Angelita Ramos (Honorary Chairperson), Mr. Cesar N. Sarino (Chairman), Honorable Robert de Ocampo (Vice chairman), Dr. Jaime Laya (Treasurer), National Artist Napoleon Abueva, Dr. David Barradas and Mr. Cid Reyes (Trustees).
The Foundation is supported by donations from Land Bank of the Philippines, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, Philippine National Bank, Department of Tourism, San Miguel Corporation and others.
The bulk of its income, however, comes from the guided tours: guides ferry from 1000 to 2000 people a day through the Museum during peak season, which is October to February. These are mostly school children and tourists, Japanese, American and European. Gaffud notes that some Filipino adults have gone in completely blind, knowing next to nothing of their country's leaders. The Malacañang Palace Museum has been criticized for the spareness of its display, and perhaps its detractors are correct. But as donations and memorabilia come in, these voices may go silent. At the moment, it seems to appeal most to the very young, particularly the school children who come in droves from all over the country, as far down South as Davao and Cotabato. Hopefully they will carry the images of the museum with them to adulthood. Perhaps the connection between this nation's people and its history and leaders, severed for many generations, is on its way toward renewal.
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copyright 1996, 2024 Lakambini Sitoy
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