THE Presidential Palace on Sunday opened a museum in a mansion built to be the seat of power of American governors during the Commonwealth era, in a bid to boost tourism in the country’s north.
The Mansion House in Baguio City is open for free from Tuesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Palace Social Secretary Bianza Cristina C. Zobel told reporters, based on a transcript from the presidential palace.
“Now it’s a tourist attraction. It always was, but it was behind closed gates. So, we’re opening it up,” she said.
Ms. Zobel said the Palace opened the mansion to the public because there are about 500 tourists taking pictures outside the establishment on weekends.
“It reaches up to 2,000, so we would like to open the doors so that people can come inside and take pictures inside,” she added.
First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, who is leading efforts for the mansion’s rehabilitation, earlier said she wanted to duplicate the Malacañang Palace’s Teus Mansion, which houses the presidential museum, “since it turned out to be a hit.” The museum features presidential memorabilia. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza