MANILA - President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will take his oath as the Philippines' 17th chief executive at the National Museum, his camp said on Thursday.

Marcos' inaugural committee has "recently conducted an ocular inspection of the area and found it to be a suitable venue," said Zenaida Angping, incoming chief of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).

"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.

Marcos earlier said he hopes to be inaugurated at the Quirino Grandstand - where most previous presidents took their oath of office - but the venue is still being used for the government's COVID=19 efforts.

"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," Angping said.

"That's why we opted for the National Museum as the venue."

The National Museum was designed in 1918 and was fully constructed in 1926 to serve as the "new home of the National Library of the Philippines."

It was later on used for the proclamation of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935, before it housed the National Assembly.

It was destroyed during World War II and underwent a massive reconstruction from 1949 to 1950.

The National Museum also had to close in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.It was reopened in March 2021 after health restrictions eased.

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Aside from Marcos, other Philippine Presidents who took their oath at the National Museum include Manuel L. Quezon (1935), Jose P. Laurel (1943), and Manuel Roxas (1946).