The National Museum's past and its history with PH presidents


On June 30, 2022, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. will have been the fourth Philippine president to be inaugurated at the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) in Ermita, Manila.



The previous three presidents to take their oath there were President Manuel Quezon in 1935, President Jose Laurel in 1943, and President Manuel Roxas in 1946.

Suffice it to say that Marcos Jr. picked a historic and storied place for his inauguration as the 17th president of the Philippines.

Read more here: https://mb.com.ph/2022/06/02/bongbong-picks-national-museum-as-site-for-inauguration/

(National Museum of the Philippines photo / File photo / MANILA BULLETIN)

The NMP complex is actually composed of four different museums: the National Museum of Fine Arts (NMFA), National Museum of Anthropology (NMA), the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), and the National Planetarium (NP) which was built separately in 1974 during the tenure of Marcos Jr.'s father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

Occupying Japanese forces took over the NMP in 1945 during the tail end of World War II. It was subsequently bombed out by United States (US) forces during the liberation effort. Four years later in 1949, the museum complex was rebuilt as part of the post-war rehabilitation program.

The NMFA, NMA, and NMNH buildings were formerly the Old Legislative Building, the Department of Finance building, and the Agriculture and Commerce Building, respectively.

It was the Old Legislative Building (NMFA) that the camp of Marcos Jr. specifically named as the inauguration site.

It was also here that the Commonwealth of the Philippines was proclaimed by former President Quezon in 1935.

Both chambers of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, were previously housed in the Old Legislative Building: the Bicameral Congress from 1926 to 1972, and then the Philippine Senate post-martial law from 1987 to 1997.

Marcos Sr. stepped on its halls during his time as senator from 1959 to 1965, and as Ilocos Norte’s 2nd district representative from 1949 to 1959.

Marcos Jr.–like his father–served in the two chambers: as a Senator from 2010 to 2016, and for two terms as Ilocos Norte’s 2nd district representative from 1992 to 1995 and then again from 2007 to 2010.

Two other venues had been considered for Marcos Jr’s inauguration: the Quirino Grandstand and Fort Santiago.

Marcos Jr. initially wanted the Quirino Grandstand for his inauguration since it is traditionally where Philippine presidents are inaugurated, with his late father having been inaugurated there, too.

However, the grandstand is currently home to several Covid-19 field hospitals, hence the need for a different venue.

Read more here: https://mb.com.ph/2022/05/23/marcos-gives-first-presser-as-presumptive-president-and-it-was-a-surprise/

Interestingly, Marcos isn’t the only presidential scion to be inaugurated in a venue different from where their parent was inaugurated.

President Diosdado Macapagal was inaugurated at the Quirino Grandstand in 1961. His daughter, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, first took oath in 2001 at the EDSA shrine following the ouster of President Joseph Estrada. Her second oath-taking took place in Cebu City in 2004, although she flew to Quirino Grandstand to deliver her inaugural address.

President Corazon Aquino took oath at Club Filipino, San Juan City in 1986; her son, President Benigno S. Aquino III, took his oath at the Quirino Grandstand.