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MANILA, Philippines – It was once dubbed as a “foremost home” by Spanish governor generals. The Americans made it a social hub for the country’s elite while the Japanese transformed it into a garrison.

Yet after all these changes, Malacañan Palace still stands proudly by the Pasig River today. One would wonder what is now inside the cordoned-off areas of the palace.

On March 18, at 9pm catch the premiere of the original documentary Inside Malacañang as National Geographic Channel (NGC) takes you to an exclusive guided tour inside the official residence of the country’s chief executive.

This exclusive feature, which took one and a half years to produce, delves into chambers of the palace that were previously off-limits to the media and the public.

MANILA, Philippines – Creating documentaries isn’t always a walk in the park, especially if it is for an international audience and about a country’s heavily-guarded seat of power.

Such is the case with lady director Marnie Manicad’s latest undertaking, “Inside Malacañang,” which will be aired as part of the National Geographic Channel’s “Inside” series. Producing the hour-long feature took a year and a half, with the main roadblock being acquiring permissions and other clearances from the very strict Presidential Security Group (PSG) to shoot inside the Palace grounds.

With a small flashlight in hand, the man known around the Palace as Caster inspects the array of dishes before him, hoping he won’t find anything sinister lurking in the meat and vegetables to be served to his boss a few hours later.

As President Benigno Aquino III’s personal food tester, Senior Police Officer 3 Jaime Castro relies on his senses to keep the country’s most powerful man safe from something unedible and harmful in his food.

This moment in Caster’s daily routine has been captured in “Inside Malacañang,” the National Geographic Channel documentary on the Philippine presidency.