Capture of President Emilio Aguinaldo

Bernardino, Trisha Therese R. NSTP1 CS
2012-22558

The first president entered the Malacañang, not as a head of state but a prisoner of the colonial power. The Filipino-American war lasted for 2 years and ended on March 23, 1901 by the capture of President Emilio Aguinaldo. From Palanan, Isabela where his hide-out was, he was brought to the Malacañang. By the time, Malacañang has been a temporary residence of the American Military Government. Aguinaldo was kept there in execution under the hands of the guards of the palace walls. Although he never live in the palace, he left a legacy and that is the original design of the Philippine flag and the design of the presidential seal. And so many years have passé, the presidential seal have gone under so many changes, but there are some of the Aguinaldo’s design that have remained. Aguinaldo was the president of the Philippine Revolutionary Government. Malacañang was located in a ten hectares of land beside the Pasig River and surrounded by twelve buildings and some trees. Beside the Malacañang is the Kalayaan Hall. This is where the president’s secretary holds his office. Premiere Guest House was located at the west of the palace and it is where the office of the first lady was located. While at the east of the palace we can find the Mini Hall. It is where the executive secretary holds for the presidential fairs. By the large lot area of the palace that is 9,931 square meters, there is seventy rooms and forty toilets and bathrooms inside the palace. The Malacañang Palace in the 1700’s was just a leisure villa of the Spanish gentlemen namely Don Luis Rocha. And in 1802, the villa was sold to Don Jose Formento, a coronel of the Spanish Army, by Don Rocha. The Spanish government took an interest in the villa in 1825 and bought it from Senyor Formento for five thousand one hundred pesos. The Spanish government turned it into a sub-residence for the Spanish Governor’s General. The natives considered the place a dwelling place of the mighty beings. They passed in the grove in tip-toe and whispered “May Lakan Diyan”. And from that ‘May Lakan Diyan’ turned into Malacañang. Manuel Luis Quezon was throned as the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935. In his term, he tackled the flood problem in the Malacañang. He solved the problem by reclaiming the 15 feet of the Pasig River and by constructing a concrete wall. And after that work of Pres. Quezon the problem have gone. In May 6, 1942, the Corregidor fall and the Japanese take the custody of the Malcañang. The second president of the Philippine Repubic was Jose P. Laurel in 1943. Laurel signed the pack between the Philippines and Japan. Laurel’s term ended immediately in 1944. On August 1, 1944, Quezon died because of tuberculosis in the United States. Because of the death of Pres. Quezon, Sergio S. Osmeña Sr. become the second president of the Philippine Commonwealth. That time the Philippines is under a dual presidency. President Osmeña’s term ended in the year 1946. Manuel A. Roxas become the first president of the third Philippine Republic in the year 1946. On the same year he granted the independence by the United States. He died in a heart attack year 1948. Elpidio R. Quirino as the vice president of Roxas took over the seat of being a Philippine president. There is a room inside the Malacañang where the former president’s memorabilia was placed. The said room was named after the president. Ramon F. Magsaysay is the third president of the third Philippine Republic in the year 1953. He made the Malacañang open for the public. After four years of service, he died on a plane crash. When Carlos P. Garcia had been the fourth president of the third Philippine Republic, he stopped in letting the common people get inside the palace. This remained for the four years of his term. But Diosdado Macapagal made the palace a ‘Palace of the Common Men’ in the start of his term year 1961. He also change the date of the independence day from July 4 to the twelfth of the June. His term ended on 1965. And it became the start of Ferdinand E. Marcos’ term. In the late 1970’s, the nationalism intensifies. January 28, 1970, the Youth Activist stormed Malacañang then Marcos declared Martial Law. Marcos’ term lasted for more than two decades. Corazon C. Aquino was proclaimed to be the seventh president of the third Philippine Republic. President Aquino was the wife of the former senator Ninoy Aquino who died on August 21, 1983. Pres. Aquino’s first act was to open the palace and made it a museum. She chose the guest house to be her office because of the security and also because she think that she is just a guest in the palace for the entire of her term and not to live there forever. She is also the first president to choose a house outside the walls of the Malacañang walls. Fidel V. Ramos being the president in the year 1992 bring the palace to the people. He lives across the street of the Malacañang. At the start of the day of the president, there is no time being wasted. He started to work in the very beginning of his day. At 7 o’clock in the morning the president arrived at the palace having his work already done. The work is done inside the car. The car was a Malacañang office in miniature. For the changes gone after so many years, the Malacañang is very different from the very beginning. But we can say that it is good because also the nature changes, for if it never undergoes any renovations, it may be fragile and cannot resist from a storm that may come into the Philippines. We can say that every president have its own way of ruling the country. They also have their own visions and objectives. But each of them gave us one thing that we can’t regret because there is something that will not exist in the present if there is nothing they do in the past.