Casa Real of Boac

The old Casa Real used to be the official residence of the Gobernadorcillo and Gobernador, that, is, the Spanish Governor who made annual visits when Marinduque was under the 18th to the 19th century administration of Mindoro province.

Town officials led by the Gobernadorcillo (Boac had its first Gobernadorcillo, town head, in 1735, in the person of Matias de Belen), would gather at the Port of Laylay to await his arrival, with people lining up the streets from Santol to the Casa Real for this day of celebration. Houses would display Spanish flags made of sinamay to greet some 50 horseback-riding uniformed men cuadrilleros, policemen, in gala, as paso-doble is played by a brass band.

The Casa Real was a two-storey building made of the best available local materials from hardwood as floorings and walls to sillar, adobe stones, as walls particularly on the ground floor level. It was entirely roofed with tisa, roof tiles, produced at the 'magapog' plant that the Jesuits set up in Mogpog originally for the construction of the Boac Church.

The new Casa Real building that now stands at the original site officially adopted as a park, “Liwasan ng Kalayaan”, was constructed seven years ago by the municipal administration of Mayor Roberto J. Madla, its design inspired by the original building.

An old marker formerly installed at the base of the Rizal Monument that used to stand at this site now marks this new building. The marker, originally installed by the National Historical Institute, recalls the killing here of revolutionary leaders Hermenegildo Flores and Remigio Medina in 1897. Read - by Eli J. Obligacion