PRESIDENT-ELECT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will take his oath as the country’s 17th president on June 30 at the National Museum of the Philippines in Manila, according to Zenaida Angping, incoming head of the Presidential Management Staff.
She said members of the inaugural committee recently conducted an ocular inspection and found the National Museum to be a “suitable venue.”
“The National Museum of Philippines 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 on Padre Burgos avenue in Ermita, Manila used to be known as the Old Legislative Building. It served as venue also for the inauguration of Presidents Manuel L. Quezon in 1935, Jose P. Laurel in 1943, and Manuel Roxas in 1946. It was the home of the Senate from 1987 up to 1997.
Marcos has said he preferred to hold his inauguration at the Quirino Grandstand which is at the nearby Rizal Park, because it was also the site of presidential oath-takings, including that of his late father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the 10th president, in 1965, but the area is being used for COVID-19 testing and vaccination activities.
Angping said the inaugural committee still considered the Quirino Grandstand a potential venue for the inauguration, but found that several COVID-19 field hospitals are in the area.
“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,” she said.
The National Museum building was designed by the Bureau of Public Works (now known as the Department of Public Works and Highways) in 1918 originally to be the home of the National Library of the Philippines.
Apart from the Quirino Grandstand, another area reportedly considered for the inauguration was Fort Santiago in Intramuros, Manila.
Marcos was proclaimed by Congress on May 25 as the winner of the May 9 presidential election after getting at least 31 million votes.
Marcos’ running mate, Vice President-elect Sara Duterte-Carpio who got about 32 million votes, will take her oath on June 19 in Davao City instead of June 30 to enable her to attend Marcos’ oath-taking.
Meanwhile, members of a labor transition team are set to meet today with the incoming head of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), Susan Ople.
Aside from Ople, the panel is also composed of the undersecretary for the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the directors of the International Labor Affairs Bureau, the National Reintegration Center For OFWs, the National Maritime Polytechnic, and the Office of the Social Welfare Attaché of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
POEA administrator Bernard Olalia said the transition team is in the process of creating the organizational structure and staffing pattern of the DMW, and mapping of its regional and provincial offices.
“We want to be able to bring our services closer to the OFWs so that it will be easier for them and, at the same time, prevent the likelihood of them becoming victims of illegal recruitment,” said Olalia.
Under Republic Act No. 11641, the POEA will be merged with other agencies mandated to serve OFWs, and will be reorganized into the DMW. — With Gerard Naval
