They say that merely almost two months in office, President Rodrigo Duterte has already accomplished a lot for the country, especially in his fight against crime and illegal drugs nationwide.
Now he wants to rename Malacanang and aims to do it before his term ends. He prefers calling it “People’s Palace” and reminded reporters gathered around him early Thursday morning in Davao City that he had always done so.
“I never say diretso ‘Malacañan Palace,’” Duterte said, insisting that the term “Malacanang” reeked of everything imperialist, especially those who had made a slave of us in the past. “I only call it ‘The People’s Palace,’” he said.
“Hindi naman palasyo iyan eh. Noon lang iyan sa mga panahon ng mga…pumunta dito at ginawa tayong alipin. ‘Yun mga Espanyol pati mga Amerikano, sino pa?” he said. (It’s not really a palace. It was then during the time those (invaders) came here to enslave us—the Spaniards and the Americans. Who else?).
“You know why? In the word “Malacañan,” it sucks with imperialism. Totoo. Sino man ang nagpangalan ng ‘Malacañan Palace’? Mga Espanyol man iyan. (It’s true. Who named it Malacanang Palace? The Spaniards did). Why should I (not) just address it as the ‘People’s Palace of the Republic of the Philippines’?” he asked.
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“Posesion de Malacanang,” (Palace of Malacanang) was “a country home and temporary residence of outgoing Governors General awaiting the next ship to Spain,” said the Presidential Museum and Library website.
Then in 1863, after a destructive earthquake destroyed the Palacio del Gobernador, the palace was made the country’s seat of power. After later becoming the official home of the American governor-general when the Philippines was under US rule, it became the palace of the Philippine president when the country became a Commonwealth in 1935.
But after Duterte changes the name to People’s Palace, he plans to open it to everyone regardless of their station in life. Some observers say it was what the late former President Ramon Magsaysay also did in his term before he died.
“Yun ang dapat, mga tao mag-kain doon kasi kanila yung bayan (That’s what’s proper, the people having dinner there, because the people own the country).
“And one day, I’ll invite also everybody. Dahan-dahan lang. Itong mahirap. Itong mahirap kasi hindi ito naka-ano nang—hindi iyan malakas sa isang ano, hindi nakakita iyan. So I’ll invite mga taga-Tondo, Pandacan muna, kung— para makita nila anong palasyo ng tao,” he said.
(It should be done gradually. The poor—the poor ones, because they could not…if they are not especially close (to someone in authority) they won’t be able to see (inside the palace). So I’ll invite those from Tondo and Pandacan first. So they’d see the People’s Palace.”
Sources: (gmanetwork.com, newsinfo.inquirer.net)
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