Malacañan Palace now 'open' to the public

Filipinos may not physically have access to the country's seat of power, but that doesn't mean they can't take a tour every now and then.

The Malacañan Palace is now "open to the public through inclusive and people-centric social media," Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a statement Monday.

This, as he announced the launch of a Facebook page aimed at "harnessing social media to share the history, residents, traditions, and legacy of Malacañan Palace to a diverse online audience."

"Dubbed 'Malacañan Palace,' the Facebook page features a rich heritage from its beginnings as a riverside rest house owned by the Rocha family to its establishment as the seat of power where Spanish and American Governors-General held office, and as the official residence of the presidents of the Philippines," Lacierda said.




The initiative, he added, is also in preparation for the 150th anniversary celebration of the Malacañan Palace next year.

It is also "part of the mandate of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office as official custodian of the institutional memory of the Office of the President," Presidential Museum and Library website and Tumblr accounts, Lacierda said.

"Through Facebook, citizens online can contribute their own pictures and memories of the Palace thereby harnessing the Internet as a space for remembering," he further noted.

The page, which had over a little over 2,000 "likes" as of press time, features historical and architectural trivia about the Palace, including the numerous renovations it had undergone over the years.

Some photos of historic events and visits to the Palace have also been posted.

One of its first posts was about President Ramon Magsaysay's decision to open the Palace to the public during his term.

"Men, women, and children, many of them barefooted, many others in slippers or in bakya [clogs], streamed through the palace gates, milled around the President and shook hands with him, and then walked in and out of the rooms," the Facebook page quoted reports as saying.


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