Say bye for now, Times St.

It is understandable that Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III as President-apparent would rather not make Malacañang Palace as his official residence. For the next six years of his term in office, the 50-year old bachelor Aquino will stay in such a big house by his lonesome since he has no First Family to bring along with him.

As a young man when his late mother, former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino first took office after the February 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, their family opted to live outside the Palace. The Aquino family chose to stay at the so-called Arlegui residence, located across the street leading to Gate 7 of the Palace.

It was Mrs. Aquino who turned Malacañang Palace into a public museum. This was to highlight the EDSA battlecry against the lavish and decadent lifestyle of the regime of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and the members of the First Family.

Thus, this was how the world learned about the existence of more than 1,200 pairs in the shoe collection of former First Lady Imelda Marcos and her Filipina terno dresses accumulated through the 20-year rule of her late husband. These personal items of the flamboyant First Lady became the major come-on of the Palace Museum.

Instead of holding office at the Main Palace like her predecessors did, Mrs. Aquino moved over the Presidential office to a nearby two-storey structure, with glass-paneled walls called the Premier Guesthouse. Mrs. Marcos had built this structure across the Main Palace that was originally intended to house state guests.

Mrs. Aquino conducted her big meetings with Cabinet members and other state guests at the State Dining Hall. She hosted social gatherings at the Main Palace that has huge function rooms that included the Ceremonial Hall at the second floor and directly below it, the Heroes Hall. She kept the Music Room for reception of visiting foreign dignitaries.

When former President Fidel V. Ramos succeeded her in office in June 1992, he continued Mrs. Aquino’s innovation of both using Arlegui as official residence and keeping the Palace doors open as a museum for public viewing. Ramos improved upon the museum by allowing a Malacañang Heritage Foundation to run it as a self-sustaining project and put up collections of other Philippine Presidents as museum displays which were added attractions.

It was former President Joseph Estrada who brought back the tradition of the First Family living inside the Palace compound when he took office in June 1998. Estrada made the Premier Guesthouse as his official residence and had it renovated to suit his family lifestyle. It became one of the major criticisms he earned during his first 100 days in office.

The Arlegui residence, on the other hand, was turned into a “half-way” house for certain Estrada Cabinet members who lived far from the Palace to help ease their travel woes to and from their offices.

It was not a surprise when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, after taking over from Estrada after EDSA-2 in January 2001, decided to restore the Main Palace as the official residence of the country’s Chief Executive and the members of the First Family. After all, she stayed and lived at the Palace as a young girl during the four-year rule of her late father, former President Diosdado Macapagal.

The Premier Guesthouse was back to being used as offices for the Executive Secretary and other Palace executives. The Arroyo administration used the Arlegui mansion to house the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) and later served as office of the Presidential Action Center.

Since President Arroyo and the First Family lived and stayed at the Main Palace, unfortunately, this resulted to the closure of the Malacanang Museum from general public viewing. The Imelda shoes were donated and transferred to the Marikina Shoe Museum where they were supposed to be transferred for public display. The Filipina ternos of Mrs. Marcos were supposedly transferred to designated warehouses in Pasig City, the office of the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

From official statements of her presidential spokespersons, Mrs. Arroyo and the members of the First Family have already packed out most of their private belongings they took with them when they first moved there and other personal stuff they amassed during their more than nine years of stay at the Palace. The Arroyos are going back to their La Vista family residence in Quezon City which, by the way, is closer to the Batasan Pambansa where she will henceforth be holding office as Congresswoman of Pampanga.

Meanwhile, the Arlegui residence built in the 1930s, is currently being repaired and repainted. The 4,924 square meter mansion has 12 rooms and a swimming pool that now is barely maintained. The mansion has been painted white on the outside and pale yellow on the inside, and the pieces of furniture, including the Presidential seat, were also in shades of yellow, the signature color of the Aquinos.

Although he once lived for six years at Arlegui, Aquino is reportedly having second thoughts of going back to live there again. Youngest sister Kris was still single then and along with him when they stayed with their mother at Arlegui. But now that all his four sisters are living with their respective families, Aquino really has valid reasons why he is not inclined to stay in such a big place for his official residence.

Staying at Arlegui could also bring back bitter memories of Aquino’s near-fatal ambush during the bloody August 1987 coup d’etat against his mother when mutinous soldiers led by then Col. Gringo Honasan stormed the Palace.

For now, the Presidential Transition Coordination Team (PTCT), which President Arroyo formed and tasked to meet with the incoming Aquino administration officials, would temporarily use Arlegui as office.

The latest buzz is that Aquino may likely opt to stay at the Bahay Pangarap building, one of the structures at the Presidential Security Group (PSG) headquarters located just across the Palace. This would satisfy both the requirements of the bachelor-President for privacy and for his security. He can also easily go to and from his office at the Palace via the PSG barge to cross Pasig River.

Aquino must bid bye his neighbors in their family residence at Times St. in Quezon City. Anyway, that will be for a short while until June 30, 2016.