It seems that, even with zero intentions, I still end up visiting a museum of sorts whenever I go anywhere. Don’t get me wrong; visiting museums is interesting, but compared to being outdoors, personally, the prospect pales in comparison. We did not even know about this place, until our driver-slash-guide for our day-of-chasing-waterfalls mentioned it.
When we got back on that early-morning ferry from Camiguin, the rest of the day was spent travelling back to Cagayan de Oro City, checking into our accommodations, and spending the afternoon river rafting. I already blogged about that, so check it out.
Our flight back to Manila was not until the evening of that day, so what we did was pack our bags and meet up with the van driver that Lorie contacted, who will take us on a day tour to a couple of waterfalls, then bring us to the airport in time for our flight.
But we hit a snag early on.
The Ma. Cristina Falls was not open to visitors.
This was just a couple of months from a late-night blast at a market in neighboring Davao City, which was suspected to be a terror attack. The Ma. Cristina Falls happens to be a major source of electrical power in the entire Mindanao region, so security was tightened.
When we arrived at the gates leading to the Falls, there were armed guards everywhere, and they won’t let anyone in.
Deflated, we kinda pressed our guide to think of an alternative place to visit. One of the guards at the Ma. Cristina Falls told him about a smaller waterfalls several minutes away. But before that, our guide suggested we drop by the Macapagals’ ancestral house, which was on the way.
So… why not?
A piece of history right on a roadside in Iligan. If we were just driving by on our own, we wouldn’t have known about this ancestral home.
The Macaraeg-Macapagal Ancestral House is located in Timoga, Buru-un of Iligan City. Incidentally, it just celebrated its 50th anniversary when we were there (this was November 2016).
The biggest claim to fame of this ancestral house? It is the fact that it was the home of TWO Philippine presidents, albeit in different generations (the father and his daughter).
Entrance to the compound is free, but visitors are encouraged to donate. A male staff member welcomed us, talked a bit about the place, then gave us a tour.
Just a bit of a background…
The ancestral house was the home of Diosdado Macapagal, the ninth President of the Philippines, and his second wife, Eva Macaraeg. Hence the “Macaraeg-Macapagal” name.
This became the residence of Diosdado Macapagal when he was still the Vice-President. Currently, it is being maintained by the local government and promoted as a tourist destination. During Arroyo’s presidency, this was the venue of several Cabinet meetings. Today, it appears that reservations may be made for anyone interested to actually stay here for a night or two.
Let’s go in, shall we?
The moment you walk past the guard house, you’ll see a wide front yard with a small playhouse called… Gloria’s Playhouse.
Yep. That used to be the playhouse of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who spent some of her growing-up years here.
It was quite small, perfect for a little girl playing house. The toys and other items inside were the actual ones used and played with by Gloria herself. We were allowed to step inside, sit on the bed and just hang out, haha!
I gotta say, though, that there was that one creepy doll…
*shudders* I’ve never really been much of a fan of dolls. Or clowns. *shrugs*
From the front yard, we walked to the main building. It looks well-kept and taken care of. Usually, the concept of ancestral houses gives me a bit of the creeps, giving me images of hauntings and the supernatural.
….I watch way too many scary stuff, huh.
The first room we were showed into was the office of then Vice-President Diosdado Macapagal. It was surprisingly spartan, with just a desk, several framed photos and documents on the wall, and a bust of the former Vice-President.
It’s not every day that we get to sit on a desk that a famous man in history sat on, is it?
The bedrooms and other rooms inside the house were off-limits, so we limited ourselves to the living room and dining area. There were a number of old photographs and portraits on the wall, and some items and trinkets that looked clearly antique.
This is probably my favorite part of the house: the sunroom. Which was actually as wide as the main area of the house. There were several seating areas on various parts of the sunroom, and I can totally picture how relaxing it would be to just laze around in this part of the house, with a book or just some music to accompany you.
There is another yard on the side of the house, with a large tree that provides substantial amount of shade. The main attraction is definitely the statue of a father pushing his daughter on a swing.
…Needless to say, the statues are of Diosdado Macapagal and his daughter Gloria.
This was definitely an interesting peek into the past lives of a man that I only got to know about through textbooks in history classes back in school, and a woman that is both loved and hated – probably in equal measures – right now in my country.
Yeah, one of the more beloved past Presidents of the Philippines was a simple dad who enjoyed pushing the swing where his little girl sat on, when he was not taking care of affairs of the state.
And also, once, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was just a little girl with her own playhouse, and who spent a lot of time playing on a swing with her dad.
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