Home alone in Bahay Pangarap

MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU/Jay Morales

BAHAY Pangarap has not been a dream house so far for President Duterte, who has spent a lonely night there and found the place too big to his liking.

The President had already slept at his official residence in Manila, according to his spokesperson, Ernesto Abella, and “he said it was lonely there.”

Abella recalled the President as saying that “he had nobody there with him” and felt that the house was too big for him alone.

Mr. Duterte’s family is based in his hometown of Davao City and returns to the place every week. But when he needs to govern the country from its capital, he stays at Bahay Pangarap.

It was the same bungalow that his bachelor predecessor, President Benigno Aquino III, used as his official residence during his six-year term.

The place was renovated for Mr. Aquino in 2010, but no major changes were made for its most recent occupant. A source had earlier said only minor repairs were undertaken and new curtains would be installed.

Before he became the Chief Executive, Mr. Duterte said he did not want to sleep in Malacañang and planned to go home to his relatively modest, two-story home in Davao City every day.

He had said that he knew ghosts haunted the Malacañang grounds and that his Davao home was his comfort zone.

House blessing

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Duterte attended the blessing of Bahay Pangarap, photos from Presidential Management Staff Chief Christopher Go showed.

The photos showed the President standing beside two priests and holding a candle. He was in a white polo shirt, jeans and fluffy slippers.

A “Welcome Mr. President” banner greeted him.

Bahay Pangarap was originally a rest house opposite the Palace across from the Pasig River.

It was intended to be the venue for informal activities and social functions of the President and the First Family during then President Manuel Quezon’s term, according to the Malacañang website.

The rest house was renamed Bahay Pangarap in the early 1960s by then President Diosdado Macapagal’s wife, Evangeline. It was restored during the term of President Fidel V. Ramos and became the club house of the Malacañang Golf Club.

In 2008, it was demolished and rebuilt in the contemporary style. A new modern swimming pool was installed to replace the Commonwealth-era facility.

Bedrooms were added when the house was renovated anew during Aquino’s stay.