Philippine Presidents and Pila, Laguna

I was informed by Cora Relova that the National Historical Institute will invite President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to officially inaugurate the NHI marker declaring the Town Plaza and surrounding heritage houses a National Historical Landmark.

GMA will be the third Philippine President to visit Pila, Laguna. President Ramon Magsaysay went to Pila on February 24, 1956. President Magsaysay officiated the ground breaking ceremony of the P3,180,000.00 Santa Cruz-Mabacan river irrigation project which irrigated some 6,000 hectares of land. President Fidel V. Ramos went to Pila sometime in June 1993 and launched the Laguna Lake Development Authority’s program for the development and management of Laguna de Bay.

President Ramos was stationed in Pila, Laguna during the Philippine Constabulary’s campaign against the Hukbalahap. He stayed in Camp Nazareth (now Campo, San Antonio, Pila, Laguna).

According to Nick Joaquin, in his book Joseph Estrada and other sketches published in 1977, Joseph Estrada attended the Cursillo in Pila, Laguna.