Barasoain church brought bad luck to Aguinaldo, Erap

MANILA, Philippines - Two presidents – Emilio Aguinaldo and Joseph Estrada – who took their oaths of office at the Barasoian Church in Malolos, Bulacan did not finish their term of office, a top official of the National Historical Institute (NHI) said yesterday.

Carmenda Reyes Arevalo, NHI supervising researcher, told reporters during a news forum in Quezon City that Aguinaldo’s term abruptly ended when American forces captured him during the Filipino-American war while a people power revolt ousted Estrada in 2001.

She said that “no other incoming president will take his oath inside Barasoain Church.

”She issued the statement as president-elect Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has yet to announce where he will hold his inauguration and take his oath as the new president of the Philippines.

His transition committee is considering the Quirino Grandstand at the Rizal Park in Manila or the Quezon Memorial Circle along Elliptical Road in Quezon City.

She said traditionally, Philippine presidents take their oath at the Quirino Grandstand, except for Aguinaldo, Estrada, and the late President Corazon Aquino, the president-elect’s mother, who took her oath at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan. President Arroyo took her oath first at the People Power Shrine on Edsa in 2001 and in Cebu in 2004.

The Quirino Grandstand is still undergoing repairs after it was declared unsafe by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Arevalo said that Quezon Circle could be an “eerie place” for inaugural ceremonies because the remains of the late President Manuel Quezon and his wife Aurora are buried in the shrine where public gatherings are held.

“But the transition team tasked to prepare the inauguration are still undecided where the oath taking will take place,” she said.

The Barasoain Church, which derives its name from Tagalog word “Baras ng Suwail” or dungeon of the defiant, was an underground hiding place of insurgents during the Spanish regime.