Another Man's Castle Written by Sandy Miguel    The anthem of the Czech Republic starts“Where is my home? Where is my home?” On Czech President Vaclav Havel's visit to the Philippines, the answer was the Manila Hotel For a leader whose seat of power lies within castle walls, former Czech Republic president Vaclav Havel's residence at the Manila Hotel couldn't have been any more palatial. After all, the Grand Dame has an air of magnificence that cannot be topped by other hotels in the Philippines. Though it is easy to underestimate the hotel's appearance— the facade's palette is limited to green and white, and the hotel's name in large, pointed graphics on the roof stick out like a sore thumb— the hotel's interiors are a different story. Built in the tradition of the California missions, the hotel's solid, massive walls and long corridors may have been inspired by the simplicity of Spanish churches, but evoke feelings of power and security instead. And the Manila Hotel has to be sturdy indeed, not only to bear the passage of time, but also the weight of history. Like the Gothic Prague Castle that Havel considered home for 13 years (he served as the country's first president from 1989-2003), the Manila Hotel has undergone renovation as well. The first was in 1976, during the wave of hotel expansions in Manila, and the second one is still in progress. No matter how many changes the Grand Dame undergoes, however, she always emerges radiant and regal as ever. The Prague castle bore witness to enough history to fill tomes, surviving fires and world wars, and making it a personified symbol for the country and the rest of the Bohemian territories. Similarly, parts of the Manila Hotel faced destruction during the Japanese occupation. Its penthouse was even set on fire once. The custom of being home to people of government rank and royalty has been carried on since the hotel's construction. Catering to the likes of General Douglas MacArthur and the Prince of Wales, the hotel has served as a haven fit for   leaders and princes. A firm believer in economic diplomacy, Havel was on a four-nation tour to strengthen political and trade ties in the Asia-Pacific when he landed in the Philippines. Havel booked the famed MacArthur suite, named after its longest-staying guest, during his four-day Philippine visit. Havel, who was a dissident writer at the time of RP President Corazon Aquino's term, said that the country's People Power or Edsa revolution that ousted Ferdinand Marcos, inspired his own people's revolt in December 10, 1989. Called the Velvet Revolution, the collapse of the communist regime started three weeks prior with negotiations between Havel's opposition group Charter 77 and the ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. “It was a great encouragement for us because it showed that in our vast changing world, dictatorships, despotic leaders, and oligarchs are not here forever,” Havel said of People Power in an interview with the local press. After enjoying a state dinner hosted by Aquino, Havel attended a staging of his play Memorandum at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Just a few kilometers away, the hotel was a convenient location for the Czech president. For a guest who has slept under luxurious sheets and ambled his way through a castle's majestic halls, Manila Hotel was a welcome relief to prevent homesickness from seeping in.

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