Malacañang Through the Ages

Carmina and Patch explore Malacañang’s beginnings, when it’s appropriate for the letter “g” to make an appearance at the end of its name, and its myths & legends. Dive in with them as they discover why Malacañang is a symbol of both tradition and intrigue. Lastly, listen in as Carmina shares why this topic resonated with her so deeply after her recent trip to the Philippines.

Learn more: YouTube: Malacañang Documentary 1998, YouTube: The Malacañang Tour | Toni Talks, Fascinating Facts and Secrets About Malacanang Palace, Revisiting Malacañang Palace's storied past and a tour of its recent renovations, and Malacañan Palace : the official illustrated history.

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Transcript

Welcome to FilTrip, a podcast where we explore everything fun, weird and in between about the Philippines. Hi Patch.

 Hi Carmina. Happy New Year.

 Yes, 2025.

 Can you believe it is our fourth season?

 No.I had to pause because these days, each day is blending into the other, and it just shocks me sometimes how much time has passed. But yes, four years.

 And when I look back at podcast episodes, we really covered a lot.

 Yeah, and we've touched on leadership, right? Throughout our history. Of course, we know fundamentally why leadership is very important.

 And I guess that's why today, we very consciously made a decision to tackle a topic that, while it's not directly about leadership, it's a symbol of leadership in the Philippines. The Malacañang Palace was established on January 11th, 1863, as the official residence of the Spanish Governor General. But it had a life many, many years before that official establishment, as we've learned in our research.

 So let's talk about that first.

 In 1750, along the banks of the Pasig River, a Spanish trader named Luis Rocha built this simple weekend house along the river banks. So many wealthy families had vacation homes along its shores. And Rocha's casita, as they called these small Spanish houses, featured a simple bath house made of nipa and bamboo.

 And that's where people would go to cool off in the river waters.

 And what struck me when I was reading about this patch, I mean, knowing very many challenges that the Pasig River has endured, and especially the memories that we have about Pasig River. Pasig River was described as where the elite spent their weekends.

 Right. The waters were always described as crystal clear.

And gushing.

 Right.

 As supposed to the stagnation that we grew up with. But it's hopefully getting back to that place, right? Because of all of the conservation efforts.

 Okay. Carmina, may I just say, so I was very curious as to who this Luis Rocha character was. 

 And I tried to look very hard for more information about him. But I don't know about you. I couldn't find it.

 But I did find some interesting information about his wife. His wife is Gregoria Tuason, who is the daughter of the very wealthy and at that time considered to be one of the, if not the wealthiest, quote and unquote “Filipino” because he was this Chinese businessman, Son Tua. And he founded the prominent Tuason family.

 He owned many lands and there was this interesting anecdote.

 You're going to talk about one of the potential origins of the name, right? Go ahead, go ahead.

 Okay. So apparently, one of his Indian manservants, his duty was to hush people who were traveling the Pasig River. When he was in his siesta, the manservant would say, Malacayan, which means he's big, right?

 And so the Malacayan translated to somehow the Malacanang name. That was one of the origin stories.

 You know, Malacayan or he's big can be literal or figurative.

 That's true, because they did describe him as hot tempered, so maybe he's this imposing figure.

 Large?

 Yes.

 So, I mean, there were pictures too that I found or renderings of how he might have looked like, and I could see how that could have been. Again, can't imagine. Pasig River used to be a really active thoroughfare and trading post, right?

 So, I wish there was more images.

 Well, I mean, speaking about fishermen and the origin of the Malacañang name, Right. there are several other theories, right? And fishermen figures very heavily in several of them.

 So, there is this word Mamalacaya Han. That's the earliest documented reference to the name. And it's by a Spanish historian Felipe de Gavantes, where he stated that the term Malacañan, Malacañan without the G, meant place of the fishermen.

 And then again, someone else referenced this, Jose Montero Ivadal reiterated this origin. And then in 1972, Ileana Maramag and her work on the palace history supplied the Tagalog word Mamalacaya, which means fishermen. So, the original Mamalacaya Han with the Tagalog suffix han means place of.

 And so one can deduce, right, during the Spanish colonial period that the authorities adapted it. And then another one, meaning of the right. So, this is a less common theory, suggesting that it's derived from the Tagalog word Malacanan, meaning of the right, possibly referring to the location of the palace on the right bank of the Pasig River.

 When this apparently was like a place of lush vegetation, the natives were very superstitious, and they thought that there was a magical place. So, they will say, Maylacan dyan, and translated it could mean two things, either where the noble are or full of mighty beings. But, you know, this whole thing about having a G or an N at the end intrigued me too, because as I was doing my research, as you probably saw, right, I saw different ways that people were spelling it.

 I found an article that kind of set the record straight, at least in my mind. This is funny, because during President Corazon Aquino's administration, a policy was introduced to distinguish between the two terms. Can you imagine, like, this had been going on for centuries?

And it took Cory Aquino to implement a policy. Malacañan, without the G, is used when palace comes after the word, so it refers to the official residence of the president. And Malacañang with the G denotes the office of the president.

 That became a policy, because of all of this centuries-old confusion.

 But I think just in general or to the public, that's still not distinguished.

 Well, I mean, it didn't get distinguished from me until now, so...

 Exactly. By 1802, the house changed hands for a mere thousand pesos. It was purchased by Colonel José Miguel Fomento.

 And after his death in 1825, the Spanish government acquired the property, seeing its potential as a retreat for their governor generals. This timing proved to be fortunate, because when this devastating earthquake destroyed the official residence of a governor general in Intramuros in 1863, Malacañang became the seat of power for the Spanish governor generals.

 This article that I read very insightfully said, it's not like the White House that was purposely built by the first American president for American presidents, nor is it like Buckingham Palace that was purchased by the king for royal residents. So it was kind of an accidental thing that happened, that it became the Philippines’ symbol for the seat of power. And apparently, there was every intention to return to the original seat of power, which is the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros.

 But funds did not arrive for the reconstruction until, I guess, many, many years. And so when it became apparent that it wasn't going to happen quickly, the Spanish Governors Generals just moved all official business to Malacañang. Because it was originally a summer villa, where it was just really meant for a summer retreat, that wasn't really fit for purpose for the Spanish Governors General.

 And the way it was described in all of the articles that I've read was, it wasn't really well made. Flooding happened continuously; hygiene was a problem. And then over the years, as it became apparent that it was going to be more of a permanent thing, the subsequent residents kept improving upon it.

 From when it was a summer home to the residence of power, during the Spanish period, they replaced the roof tiles with corrugated iron, which was considered technologically advanced during that time. And during the American Colonial period, they expanded the grounds. They added a left and right wing.

They added a new azotea facing the river. They centralized the staircase with public galleries. They raised the ground floor in an attempt to mitigate the flooding that you mentioned.

 They replaced a lot of the wood with concrete and added hardwood paneling and chandeliers.

I found this really interesting documentary. We're going to link it in our show notes. So it was produced and created during the Fidel V.

Ramos administration. And the film was released in 1998. I mention it because a lot of pictures, Patch and images are in this video.

 Yeah, it's so interesting to look at those images, right?

 It is. And then it also had clips of past presidents and their descendants, in most cases, their children, narrating their experiences while living there. So even if the quality of the film is not that great, and in some places the audio even cuts out, but it doesn't take away from the experience of reliving what it was and all of the occupants and their perspectives about leadership.

 So I thought it was well made, although you can tell it was also propaganda for Fidel V. Ramos, but why not, right? He created it, so he was basically putting, you know, some of the highlights of his presidency in it as well.

 But I've never seen a documentary about this very important place in our history, in our in 17 minute film like this, where you're able to hear the former president's voices, see pictures, hear their children talk about it.

 It kind of makes it real as opposed to just a piece of property that we see.

 And one of the factoids that I learned about it, our very first quote unquote president, Emilio Aguinaldo, entered it not as a president, but as a prisoner of war by the Americans.

 Right.

 And it kind of tracks with our history, right? Because the Spanish governor general has had it for the longest time as their seat of power, or then the Japanese, when they occupied the Philippines, and then the Americans, and then finally to the presidents of the Philippines. So Patch, I also found out through this film about all of the different myths and legends about this place.

 The haunting?

 Yes, among many things. Where do we begin? So let's start with the tree, Mr. Brown.

 It's the balete tree.

 Yeah, I heard about it.

 In past episodes, we've talked about the balete tree as this dwelling place of beings in our folklore, right? One of the stories that was featured in that film was about the wife of Fidel V. Ramos, Amelita Ramos, who was interested in plants.

 So she noticed that the trunk of this tree was hollow, and she tried to beautify that tree by putting plants. Around it and within, and a week later, she came back and found out that all the leaves were gone. Some of the staff members of the palace said, well, that's because we didn't ask for permission.

In modern times, we kind of tend to scoff at these things, right? She asked for permission from the tree, Mr. Brown. After that, she said, things turned out well, but you could tell she was still skeptical.

 And supposedly, he was an occupant of the palace during the American Colonial period.

 And speaking of occupants, when General Dwight Eisenhower stayed, a butler came to serve him a drink in the middle of the night, and it turned out that there was no such butler living at that time, but the description did match Manuel Quezon's butler, who, of course, by that time was dead.

 Oh my goodness, that just gave me goose bumps. And even Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the current sitting president, has his little anecdotes about growing up there. He recounted one incident, he was going to open a door to one of the suites, and as he was reaching for the knob, it just opened by itself.

 Yes, creepy. And apparently also the ghost of the former president, Carlos P. Garcia, could be seen.

Was it over a chessboard or something?

 Yeah. I understand why a lot of the presidents don't actually live there.

 Yes. I mean, Corazon Aquino, right? She famously popularized making just the palace her office and not so much a residence.

 I mean, her reason that she gave in that video said that it was because she was trying to perpetuate the symbol that she's only a temporary occupant and kind of contrasting herself from the former occupants. But I bet you one of the reasons is the ghosts. And so as we're talking about the different presidents, they put different stamps on it.

 Most notably, Ramon Magsaysay, who fashioned himself to be the champion of the common men. He opened the palace to the public as in totally open every single day, which really became a nightmare, apparently, for number one, his wife. And in this film, First Lady Luz Banson Magsaysay recounted the challenges of this policy.

 She said the furniture's wear and tear was impossible to manage. Of course, loss of privacy. And she said, people brought food and stayed the whole day.

 I mean, wouldn't you?

 Right. So she was able to convince the president to dial it back to two to three times a week, which if you ask me, is still too much.

 President Magsaysay made notable contributions, right? But of course, we cannot deny that during the Marcos years, they had the most dramatic transformation, is what I'm trying to say. First of all, they were the residents for the longest.

 Yes.

 I mean, looking back, of course, it was all ostentatious and really at that time, was it necessary? But it is an objective statement to say there was much improvement that they made.

 That's true. And you know, if you look at our history, right? So the first president who took it over after World War II was Sergio Osmeña.

 And again, this film just showed the devastation of Manila. I mean, dead bodies were on the street. And they captured it on this film.

 So all of the presidents after World War II were very much focused on rebuilding the nation. And Malacañang was an afterthought. Everyone was just trying to survive.

 And during Marcos' time was around the time when we really started to bounce back. And in fact, we often say when he took office, we were the tiger of Asia. Wasn't that the description for the Philippines?

 We were really in a great place to potentially bounce back to our former glory. But sadly, history had other plans.

 The renovation not only expanded, but also significantly altered the existing structure. So the old palace was almost entirely gutted and rebuilt using modern materials like poured concrete and steel girders. Several other significant features were added.

 A grand ceremonial hall, they expanded the guest suites, a new presidential bedroom, and they also enlarged the dining room. But perhaps most notably, Carmina, a disco was installed on the roof level. So isn't that just like the image that you would think of during that era of extravagance?

 Yeah, and that azotea that you mentioned earlier, when you talk about azoteas, it's supposed to be like open, right? It's a sprawling, open space. That azotea eventually became the Heroes Hall.

They turned it into a stateroom, sealed by tinted bulletproof glass.

 Right.

 And because of a state visitor, there was even a mosque built on the grounds. And speaking of a mosque, there's always been a chapel within the complex, right? And it used to be in the basement, then I think it eventually moved around, but there's always been a chapel there.

 Is the mosque still there? I wonder. And in my research also, they're taking note of this sunken bathtub with a mirrored ceiling in the presidential bedroom.

 I mean, I'm thinking, how extravagant is the sunken bathtub that it's always being noted in the descriptions?

 Well, apparently, it's also large, like, you, like, you know. Why?

 Okay.

 Why? But according to Mr. Google, or Ms. Google, yes, there is still a mosque.

 So all this renovation was completed May 1, 1979, to coincide with the Marcos’ silver wedding anniversary. Of course. Props to them for modernizing the infrastructure.

 And you say that our listeners can't see Patch's face, but very grudgingly, and I understand why, because that's my insides are churning while giving this props. We know they're back in power, right?

 Right.

 And so we probably and already see, again, much renovations happening there. Again, grudgingly seems like for the better, again, more modernizing and elevating the design and aesthetics. And it kind of makes me, again, think back to those early years of priorities, right?

 Those presidents in the beginning who couldn't even feed the people. For elevating the palace or upgrading the palace to take care of the people. And I do wonder if the priorities are still straight today.

 But, you know, I mean, improvements are improvements. I'm sure they're gonna be great.

 We do want to also state what happened when the Marcoses fled. During the People Power Revolution of 1986, famously the palace was stormed when the Marcoses were overthrown, and ordinary people were able to roam the grounds. And so we saw all the excesses that were within the palace, famously all the shoes of then First Lady Imelda Marcos.

 I think we talked about several of these features when we had one of our episodes about the People Power Revolution.

 Yeah, it also exposed their weakness, the medical facility that they built for the former president.

 That's true, right.

 I guess all this kind of puts into sharp focus for me that this Malacañang Palace, Malacañang, again, in stark contrast with other palaces around the world, it's not a big imposing structure away from the people. So by its very location, it symbolizes closeness of the presidency to the people, because it's really just a stone's throw away from ordinary residents in Intramuros. It's not on some big, vast land that's isolated from the rest of the population.

 And even the way you access it today, it's apparently still the same way that you would have accessed back then, right? Through narrow streets and alleys.

 I think we did mention at the top of this episode that we discovered that Malacañang Palace is where most of the official work happens, but presidents residing just in the Malacañang compound, but not in the palace itself. President Corazon Aquino resided in the Arlegui Guest House. President Fidel Ramos resided in the same guest house.

 President Joseph Estrada resided in the remodeled Premier Guest House. President Benigno Aquino III in Bahay Pangarap, as well as President Rodrigo Duterte. And finally, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who renamed Bahay Pangarap, Bahay Pangulo.

 Very interesting facts. I'm going to rattle off a few more maybe obscure facts. It had the first air-conditioned room in the Philippines.

 It hosted the Prince of Wales in the 1920s, who, of course, became King Edward VIII, and he visited to play polo. It's apparently the only major government structure that survived World War II. And another factoid that I found is by the end of World War II, Manila was the most devastated city in Asia, second “in the world after Stalingrad.

 That blows my mind. Yeah.

 Well, if you see pictures, the aerial pictures of Manila, I can see what they were referring to.

 And lastly, in Southeast Asia, the palace is the second oldest official residence of the head of state after the Royal Palace of Bangkok. And it's even older than the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

 So how many presidents have been residing in Malacañang Palace?

 We have 17 presidents so far.

 The reason why I ask that is because it's interesting to me that they were 18 Spanish governor-generals, 14 American civil governors. And as of today in history, there's still less Philippine leaders residing in that palace.

 With the first one being a prisoner of war.

 Yeah, isn't that?

 Ay, ay, ay. Well... You know, this is really very timely for me, as I've come back, as we all know, from my vacation in the Philippines in December.

 And of course, we indulged in all of the pleasures of being back home after many years, and especially during the holiday season. But this topic, I didn't really realize while I was there would resonate so much with me after having been there because of course, you know, we were on vacation, but we were seeking all of the comforts and the neighborhoods that would give us all of the goods and goodies, but it's really so important to not just live in your bubble. And for example, when I went to Intramuros, I had a walking tour actually with a wonderful touring company called Wander Manila.

 It was a walking tour of Intramuros. The plight of the Filipinos, if you just look, it's visible. You know, there were really a lot of children still that you can tell are hurting.

 There were beggars that many of the establishments really work hard to like shield the tourists from, but they're there, right? And if you think about it, you're seeing them in those casual settings, and I'm sure there's so much more beneath the surface.

 Right.

 And then as we were commuting back from Intramuros, we were stuck in traffic. And again, you just need to look out your window and see the devastation around. Like, there were so many people, Patch, on islands, in the highway, having their meals.

 And you have to think, like, where do they live? Like, how are they surviving day to day? And there was even one part of the highway where, you know, in the Philippines, there's like interruptions in the highway because there's water coursing underneath and there would be these gaps.

 I saw a couple crawling out of that gap, carrying pillows, blankets, clothes. And I wondered, where were they coming from? And all really that was under there is waterway.

 And so this episode is really a reminder about how we need to choose the right leaders. Again, so ironic that this is the topic that we chose as our first topic, not having that benefit of experiencing what I had experienced, right? And it's just, I couldn't help but make the connection somehow.

 Right. Because obviously also we're talking about the palace and the stark contrast that the Filipino people are living in.

 As I was speaking of earlier, the palace is not far from the people, the ordinary people. And this is what is happening. This is depressing, but I'm bringing it up because we're coming up again in 2026 when we're about to elect a new Filipino leader, right?

 And it's not too early to think about these things.

 We often are very much involved in our own day-to-day. We kind of feel removed from this plight that you were talking about. But I'm glad you talked about it.

 I'm glad that you mentioned it because it's just a reminder. Once again, we really need to pick the right leaders because even us here in the States, we could still make our own steps to make a difference. We should also feel hopeful because there are organizations and there are people who are still trying to make a difference.

 And maybe we will feature them in future episodes, right?

 Yeah, I agree. So it's been really good to talk about Malacañang Patch and we not only talked about the history and its origins.

 Significantly, we also talked about the location that it's not isolated from the very significant population.

 To me, what really it underscores is that Malacañang is more than just a building. It's really this witness to all of our struggles as a nation. And more importantly, what we should still aspire to as a nation.

 So it should remind us of our past and our challenges, but also what kind of future we want for the country.

 That's our episode. We hope you join us on our next trip.

 O siya, siya.

 Thanks for listening to FilTrip with Carmina and Patch. Support FilTrip through PayPal and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever all podcasts are downloaded.

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