Short answers, pulled from the story.
Malacañang Palace was originally built in 1750 by Don Luis José de la Rocha Camiña, a Spanish physician in the galleon trade, as a summer house. The Philippine government purchased the property in 1825 following the death of Colonel José Miguel Formento, who had bought it from the Rocha family in 1802 for a thousand pesos.
An earthquake on the 3rd of June 1863 destroyed the Palacio del Gobernador in the walled city of Intramuros, which had been the official residence of Spanish governors-general. After that disaster, Malacañan became the permanent official seat of Spanish colonial rule, and its role as the seat of government continued after the United States took sovereignty over the Philippines in 1898.
Malacañang Palace is the only major government building in Manila to have survived the heavy artillery bombing of the Second World War. Only the southwest corner, which held the State Dining Room and its service area, was damaged by shelling. In 1942, the Japanese used the palace as the official residence of Jose P. Laurel, the president of the Japanese-installed Second Philippine Republic.
Between 1978 and 1979, Imelda Marcos oversaw a near-total reconstruction of the palace under architect Jorge Ramos. The old structure was gutted and replaced with poured concrete, steel girders, and trusses concealed under ornate hardwood finishes. The palace was expanded with facades moved forward on all four sides, a new Ceremonial Hall built on the river side, a discotheque added at roof level, and the entire building made bulletproof with central air-conditioning and an independent power supply. The refurbished palace was inaugurated on the 1st of May 1979.
Manuel L. Quezon was the first Filipino president to reside in Malacañang Palace, when the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established on the 15th of November 1935. Emilio Aguinaldo, recognized as the first president of the revolutionary First Philippine Republic, never lived there as president; he resided in Kawit, Cavite.
Among the presidents of the present Fifth Republic, only Gloria Macapagal Arroyo actually lived in the main palace as both her office and her residence. All other Fifth Republic presidents have resided in nearby properties within the larger palace complex, including Bahay Pangulo across the Pasig River.