Originally Posted By barboy Wife and I unexpectedly found ourselves at the gates of the presidential palace of the Philippines in Manila. My sister in-law surprised us this morning by arranging a hard to come by tour of President Gloria Arroyo's digs by one of her high level staff members. (My sister in-law personally disciples the high end staff member so they know each other fairly well) Some of you might well recognize sitting president Gloria Arroyo as she has been on FOX, CNN ect. several times over since her tenure started in '01 and she has met with Bush, Blair and the like over the war on Terror--- remember the US has armed forces here to help the Philippines stamp out Abu Sayaf(terror cells linked to al-Qaida in the southern regions ). But probably she is most recognized because she is so short--- SHE IS TINY--- and one of the very few women( if not the only one) who is head of a sovereign nation. Anyway Wife and I were detained at the main gate for about 30 minutes due to some unexpected formalities and or mix-ups. My sister in-law frantically tried to call her presidential staff member friend because the head of security would not let us pass due to the fact that under Philippine law---so he told us--(excluding dignitaries of course) no foreigners may pass without an international background check and we are both US citizens. Sister in-law finally made contact with the staff member and it just so happened that the staff member was in a meeting with Pres. Arroyo in the main house and when the Pres. heard about our problem at the gate she herself called down to the main gate and said "let them in" in an anxious but polite voice as if the guards should have used common sense since one of her personal staff vouched for us. All of us heard the command because we were waiting with the chief of security and say 5 other AK47 (or were they M16's ---I don't know guns very well) carrying security in the guard house and the phone was on speaker --so it sounded anyway . We did not meet nor see the president. I would have loved to meet her even though she is a huge George Bush Fan/ally. But we did see some totally cool stuff like: some of Imelda Marcos shoes on display pre US President Mc Kinley letters and props Douglas Mc Carther odds and ends I even sat in the same chair and desk that tyrant Ferdinand Marcos used when he declared martial law. Pictures should be available when I get back to the US in about two weeks. Please excuse the typos as it is 12:30 am and my contact lenses are off.
Originally Posted By threeundertwo >some of Imelda Marcos shoes on display pre US President Mc Kinley letters and props Douglas Mc Carthey odds and ends>> I would have loved those! Can't wait to see pictures
Originally Posted By gadzuux I'd heard that the filipino people had made some kind of display out of imelda's shoes. It's an odd bit of history that I'm glad they're retaining. Even if they do sit next to president mckinley's and general macarthur's effects. History makes for odd bedfellows.
