Malacañang Palace gave a sneak peek of Laperal Mansion, dedicated to house world leaders who are visiting the country for work. Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Malacañang on Wednesday gave a sneak peek of the newly-renovated Laperal Mansion, which would house world leaders who are visiting the Philippines for work.

Almost a century since it was first built, the Laperal Mansion now has 14 rooms, 2 kitchens, a spa and several spaces for dining and tea — each named and designed after a former Philippine president.

READ: Malacañang reopens Laperal Mansion as guest house for world leaders visiting PH

“It’s something that we’re proud of and it’s something that we want to show and to share with everyone,” said Social Secretary Bianca Zobel.

“We feel what better way to show the different presidents and the different artists and the designers of the Philippines and to showcase it in a place like this,” she said.

The 95-year-old mansion along Arlegui Street was originally built as a wedding gift for the daughter of Sabina Sioco, before it was sold to Roberto Laperal in 1932.

The neoclassical house with a sprawling lawn also used to be the official residence of former President Corazon Aquino, and her successor former President Fidel V. Ramos during their respective administrations.

ROOMS INSPIRED BY FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENTS

Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN NewsSeveral Filipino designers that were tapped had to draw lots to determine which room they would work on, she said, noting that each team was given 3 to 4 months to complete their project.

Anton Barretto and his team were in charge of designing the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo suite.

They sourced the furniture and some decor from Pampanga, the hometown of the 14th Philippine President.

“It worked out perfectly because we know her well and we’ve done a couple of rooms in her house in the past so this was easy for us,” Barretto told ABS-CBN News.

“Ma’am is an environmentalist, that's why we incorporated touches of nature… Ma’am is also known to be hospitable and the pineapple is the international symbol of hospitality,” he said, when asked about the tropical accent walls and the pineapple lamps.

It was also Arroyo who picked her two photos displayed inside the suite named after her, said Arthur Tselishchev, who worked with Barretto in designing the blue and black room.

“She’s well-known as an environmentalist, she was so much into diving so we wanted to use this color as a representation,” he said.

Lifestyle consultant Tanya Fricke Lichauco, who was in charge of designing the Manuel L. Quezon room, played with various Philippine fabrics to deliver an elegant tropical vibe.

“We’re putting in Philippine hospitality there as well, little touches to showcase the Filipino as well,” she told ABS-CBN News.

“Being part of a project like this, bringing culture and heritage to life, being proud of who we are as a people is something that me personally as a decorator feel so privileged to be a part of,” she said.

Other rooms also showcased the hobbies of past presidents, such as Carlos P. Garcia’s love for chess, and Benigno Aquino III’s penchant for recreational firing.

While current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not want a bedroom designed after him while he is still in power, the largest suite in the mansion was named after his father Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

Unlike other bedrooms in the mansion, the Marcos Sr. suite boasted of a sitting room, a walk-in closet, a bathtub, and the largest balcony in the property.

OTHER AMENITIES

The Laperal Mansion also has a pool, and an in-house spa, which will be run by The Farm San Benito.

“We’re known for hospitality and having a really relaxing and pleasant stay, I know that everyone that will be here will be very stressed and have a lot of work,” Zobel said, when asked why they upgraded the mansion with a spa.

“We thought that we would extend a little bit of this home feeling. We wanted this to be a place where they can relax and feel at home when they’re not in their own country,” she said.

Meals will be prepared by the Internal House Affairs Office, Malacañang’s internal kitchen and food service.

INVESTING IN CENTURY-OLD MANSIONS

Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

The Office of the Social Secretary underscores that the rehabilitation of the Laperal Mansion is like an investment as it would eventually help the government save taxpayers' money when hosting heads of states in Manila.

The Philippine government usually shoulders the expenses for state visits, including the head of state’s stay in a 5-star hotel that ranges between P300,000 and P600,000 per night.

“It was important for us to open this to heads of states not just for what you think but also because it saves us money,” Zobel said.

“It also costs us a lot to rent rooms in hotels and presidential suites so this actually, in the end, saves us money. There’s no shell out anymore,” she said. 

The Laperal Mansion is “only for heads of state and heads of government,” and is neither open to the public nor for rent, Zobel said.

“We are also opening this up for the national days of the different embassies and diplomatic relations,” she said.

“People will be staying here so it’s a security concern actually,” she said, when asked why Filipinos cannot rent the property for a staycation.

The Laperal Mansion is the latest addition to the collection of centuries-old properties within the Malacañang Complex that the Marcos Jr. administration has been rehabilitating for public and private use.

The Goldenberg Mansion was opened as an arts exhibition hall, the Teus Mansion serves as a museum showcasing the past 16 administrations in the Philippines, while the Bahay Ugnayan was transformed into a museum about the sitting president.

The Malacañang is now in the process of giving the Mansion House in Baguio a facelift before opening the century-old presidential summer residence to tourists in the City of Pines.