Bongbong Marcos taking oath as 17th president at Nat’l Museum

The National Museum of Fine Arts. Photo from www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph

President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will have his inauguration at the National Museum in Manila on June 30, President Rodrigo Duterte’s last day in office, according to Marcos Jr.’s incoming secretary of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).

On the other hand, Vice President-elect Sara Duterte, Marcos Jr.’s running mate, will take her oath of office in her hometown Davao City on June 19, said her spokesperson Christina Frasco.

“In holding the inauguration on June 19, VP-elect Sara will be able to attend the subsequent inauguration of President-elect Bongbong Marcos so she may also join him in thanksgiving for the overwhelming support of the Filipino people,” said Frasco, the mayor of Liloan, Cebu, whom Marcos has named tourism secretary.

Zenaida Angping, who will head the PMS, said the Marcos team had formed an inaugural committee, which had already inspected the National Museum and found it “a suitable venue” for his oathtaking.

“(Both the) building and its surrounding areas match our requirements for President-elect Marcos’ inauguration. Preparations are already in full swing to ensure that it will be ready by then,” Angping said in a statement.

The National Museum used to be located in just one floor of the old Congress or Legislative Building, which faces the walls of Intramuros. After the Senate and House of Representatives moved to separate locations, the Legislative Building became the permanent home of the National Museum under a 1998 law.

The former Manila congresswoman said they were avoiding disrupting the medical care for the COVID-19 patients, that was why they opted for the National Museum as the venue.

“The safety and welfare of our people are paramount. As such, we chose to avoid disrupting the medical care being given to the COVID-19 patients housed there. That’s why we opted for the National Museum as the venue,” Angping said.

Historic site

Quirino Grandstand, formerly the Independence Grandstand, is another historic site that has traditionally served as a venue for presidential inaugurations.

This was where Marcos Jr.’s father took his oath of office on Dec. 30, 1965, as well as on Dec. 30, 1969, after his reelection.

Most of the country’s postwar presidents were inaugurated at the Independence Grandstand—Manuel Roxas, Elpidio Quirino (after whom this venue would later be renamed), Ramon Magsaysay, Carlos P. Garcia, Diosdado Macapagal, Marcos, Fidel V. Ramos and Benigno Aquino III.

Roxas was the first to be inaugurated at the grandstand. His inauguration on July 4, 1946, as the first postwar president followed after his inauguration at the Legislative Building on May 28 that year as the country’s last Commonwealth president.

Manuel L. Quezon and Jose P. Laurel were also sworn into office at the Legislative Building, which served as the home of the country’s bicameral legislature from the American colonial era, until the declaration of martial law in 1972.

Under the presidencies of Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos, the Senate occupied the Legislative Building until 1998.

Emilio Aguinaldo, president of the First Philippine Republic, and Joseph Ejercito Estrada were both inaugurated at the Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan.

Sergio Osmeña, a wartime president like Quezon, had his inauguration in Washington, DC.

Corazon Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were inaugurated at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City and Our Lady of Edsa Shrine, Mandaluyong, respectively.

President Duterte had his inauguration in Malacañang, with the audience limited to invited guests. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH