Malacañan Palace

Malacañan Palace was built in the late 1700s as the residence of Don Luis Rocha. It was later sold to Col. Jose Miguel Formento, and after his death, was purchased in 1825 by the Spanish government. In 1847, it was designated as the official summer rest house of the Spanish Governor-General. By 1863, it became the official residence of the highest Spanish official in the islands after the Palacio del Gobenador in Intramuros was destroyed by an earthquake. It was subsequently used by the American Governors-General until 1935, when Manuel L. Quezon was elected President and became the first Filipino chief executive to occupy the Palace as his official residence. The edifice, during its long history, underwent many changes and improvements, the grandest being the renovations of 1978-79. After the 1986 People Power Revolution, President Corazon C. Aquino converted the Palace into a museum, and it served that purpose until 2001 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made it her official residence.