The People's Park in the Sky, often simply called People's Park and originally named Palace in the Sky, is a historic

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

in Tagaytay,

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The park was converted from an unfinished mansion, known as the Palace in the Sky, built during the Marcos regime to host the

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...

of then-

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

, but discontinued when the latter canceled his visit. The complex’s conversion came in 1986 after Marcos was deposed and replaced by

Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...

. The incomplete scaffolding of the mansion remained intact. The Shrine of Our Lady, Mother of Fair Love and a

Doppler weather radar A weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pu ...

station maintained by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) are also within the park.

History

During the

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

of President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr, First Lady

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitación Trinidad Romuáldez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who was First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power after her husband Ferdinand ...

decided to build a mansion on government land atop Mount Sungay (also known as Mount Gonzales), the highest point in the province of

. The summit had been previously used by the Bureau of Air Transport as a radar station. Construction on the mansion began in 1981. The height of the summit, originally , made the work difficult, and roads were specially built to enable supplies to reach the summit, which was levelled to a height to . Farmers living on the mountain slopes were also made to relocate. Construction of the mansion was hastened when U.S. President

announced his intention to visit the Philippines in November of 1983. It was reported that the Marcos administration planned to accommodate Reagan at the mansion, but construction halted after the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

canceled the trip. Following Marcos’ ouster in the People Power Revolution in February 1986, critics described the unfinished mansion as a symbol of his regime’s excess.

Marian chapel

The Shrine of Our Lady, Mother of Fair Love is located within the park. The shrine was blessed on December 15, 1974, with the installation of the image of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

and the

Child Jesus The Christ Child—also known as Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, Child Jesus, Divine Child, Divine Infant and the Holy Child—refers to Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ during his early years. The term refers to a period of life of Jesus, Jesus' l ...

by Hernan D. Reyes, aided by four high school students and two workers. During construction of the complex in 1981, workers were unable to blast a huge rock that containing the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary with several

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

blasts. The rock was thus left intact after the discovery of the image.

References

{{Calabarzon attractions Parks in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Tagaytay Tourist attractions in Cavite