GMA moves Office of Press Secretary out of Kalayaan

The Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) will move out of Kalayaan Building at Malacañang to make way for the Malacañang Palace Museum.

All OPS offices, including that of Press Secretary Noel Cabrera, will all be transferred to the Arlegui Residence, the official residence of former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos during their terms.

Only the newly renovated Press Working Area (PWA), the holding area for reporters assigned to Malacañang, will be kept at Kalayaan Building.

Cabrera told The STAR the transfer of OPS offices will start next month as soon as the ongoing renovations of the second floor of Kalayaan Building are completed.

The two-story Kalayaan Building., an adjunct of the actual Palace building, is itself a historical edifice when it was used as the office of President Manuel Quezon.

The office of the press secretary was the very office of Quezon while the PWA at the opposite end used to be the library of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Cabrera said President Arroyo decided to transfer the Museum to the Kalayaan Building after consulting with the Malacañang Heritage Foundation which operates the museum.

The museum has suspended admitting visitors, mostly students on excursions, until after the relocation and renovation.

The President ordered several renovation works at Malacañang after she decided to live in the Palace, restoring a tradition that was not observed since the term of President Aquino.

Mrs. Aquino turned the Palace into a museum to showcase the excesses of the administration of Marcos, Malacañang’s longest resident.

When Ramos took over in 1992, he transformed the museum into a presidential museum featuring memorabilia of the country’s presidents.

Disgraced President Joseph Estrada lived in what used to be called the Premiere Guest House, which was renamed Presidential Residence during his short term.

Mrs. Arroyo now uses the bedroom she used to occupy when, as a teenager, she lived for four years at the Palace during the term of her father, President Diosdado Macapagal. – Marichu Villanueva