Long left underutilized and rarely glimpsed by the public, the Malacañang Mansions recently were given a new lease of life, with some of them now open to the general public for the first time.
-
-
that brewery named after a saint and a suburb
It was September 29, 1890, which happened to be the feast of St. Michael and the rest of the Archangels, when a fellow named Enrique Barretto y Ycaza opened up a brewery in the Manila suburb named after the aforementioned saint. With a royal grant from Spain, Enrique decided to name the brewery after that suburb where he has lived and worked. So began the history of Fabrica Cerveza de San Miguel, the brewery which would become the San Miguel Corporation we would know today. The document which bore that royal grant had the old seal of Manila insigned with a crown above it. Seeing the significance of this seal,…
-
the “other” mansions of the President
We all know that Malacañang is the house associated with the President of the Philippines, but who would have known that the President, or to be more specific, the Office of the President, maintains a number of other houses (some of them function today as guesthouses) around the area of the district of San Miguel in Manila? The probably most renowned and has figured in the news recently is the Laperal Mansion or the Arlegui Guest House. Located along Arlegui St. just a few walks away from the Malacañang grounds itself, the closest among the houses to the Palace.
-
Malacañang from outside the gates
For a place as powerful and rich in history as Malacañang, it is somehow frustrating how much limited access an ordinary citizen has in visiting this place. While the restrictions are understandable given the importance of securing the country’s seat of power, it would have been nice if perhaps there can be some occasions when at least some more leeway can be given for citizens to get to see a bit more of Malacañang and the treasures the Palace holds.