People's Park in the Sky

The People's Park in the Sky, often simply called People's Park and originally named Palace in the Sky, is a historical urban park in Tagaytay, Cavite, Philippines.

People's Park in the Sky
TypeUrban park
LocationMount Sungay in Tagaytay, Cavite, Philippines
Coordinates14°8′29″N 121°1′19″E
StatusOpen to public

The park was converted from an incomplete mansion, known as the palace in the sky. It was built during the Marcos era to host the visit of US President Ronald Reagan. Work stopped when Reagan canceled his visit.[1] The incomplete scaffolding of the mansion remained intact.[1]

The Shrine of Our Lady, Mother of Fair Love and a Doppler weather radar station maintained by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) is also within the park.[2]

History

Imelda Marcos decided to build a mansion on top of Mount Sungay, which was at that time land owned by the government. The summit before was used by the Bureau of Air Transport as a radar station. Construction in the mansion began in 1981, and the work was a difficult due to the height of the summit. Roads were built specially for this purpose enabling supplies to reach the summit of the 2,500 ft Mount Gonzales. The mountain was leveled by bulldozers, and farmers living on the mountainside were asked to relocate. Construction of the mansion was hastened when US President Ronald Reagan announced his intention to visit the Philippines in November, 1983. It was reported that the Marcos administration planned to accommodate Reagan at the then-completed mansion.

Post-People Power Revolution critics of the Marcos administration described the unfinished mansion as a symbol of the Marcos administration's excess.[3][4]

Marian chapel
The chapel at the park

The Shrine of Our Lady, Mother of Fair Love is located within the People's Park in the Sky. The shrine was installed on December 15, 1974, with the installation of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the child Jesus by Hernan D. Reyes, aided by four high school students and two workers. During the construction of the Palace in the Sky in 1981, workers were unable to blast a huge rock containing the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary with several dynamite blasts. The rock was left intact, after the discovery of the image.[5]

References
  1. "Marcos` Mountain Palace Is The House That Arrogance Built". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  2. Pagasa - Dost - Dost Service Institutes Archived 2014-01-03 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Cawley, Janet (31 March 1986). "Unfinished "palace in the sky" is tribute to excess". The Lewiston Journal. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  4. Afinidad-Bernardo, By Deni Rose M. "Edifice complex | 31 years of amnesia". newslab.philstar.com. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  5. Our Lady, Mother of Fair Love (Plaque). Plaque at the Shrine of Our Lady, Mother of Fair Love, People's Park in the Sky, Tagaytay.
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