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Manuel Quezon

PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES
Manuel Quezon, in full Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, (born Aug. 19, 1878,
Baler, Phil.—died Aug. 1, 1944, Saranac Lake, N.Y., U.S.), Filipino statesman,
leader of the independence movement, and first president of the Philippine
Commonwealth established under U.S. tutelage in 1935.
Quezon was the son of a schoolteacher and small landholder
of Tagalog descent on the island of Luzon. He cut short his law studies at the
University of Santo Tomás in Manila in 1899 to participate in the struggle for
independence against the United States, led by Emilio Aguinaldo. After
Aguinaldo surrendered in 1901, however, Quezon returned to the university,
obtained his degree (1903), and practiced law for a few years. Convinced that
the only way to independence was through cooperation with the United
States, he ran for governor of Tayabas province in 1905. Once elected, he
served for two years before being elected a representative in 1907 to the
newly established Philippine Assembly.
In 1909 Quezon was appointed resident commissioner for the Philippines,
entitled to speak, but not vote, in the U.S. House of Representatives; during
his years in Washington, D.C., he fought vigorously for a speedy grant of
independence by the United States. Quezon played a major role in obtaining
Congress’ passage in 1916 of the Jones Act, which pledged independence for
the Philippines without giving a specific date when it would take effect. The act
gave the Philippines greater autonomy and provided for the creation of a
bicameral national legislature modeled after the U.S. Congress. Quezon
resigned as commissioner and returned to Manila to be elected to the newly
formed Philippine Senate in 1916; he subsequently served as its president
until 1935. In 1922 he gained control of the Nacionalista Party, which had
previously been led by his rival Sergio Osmeña.
Quezon fought for passage of the Tydings–McDuffie Act (1934), which
provided for full independence for the Philippines 10 years after the creation of
a constitution and the establishment of a Commonwealth government that
would be the forerunner of an independent republic. Quezon was elected
president of the newly formulated Commonwealth on Sept. 17, 1935. As
president he reorganized the islands’ military defense (aided by Gen. Douglas
MacArthur as his special adviser), tackled the huge problem of landless
peasants in the countryside who still worked as tenants on large estates,
promoted the settlement and development of the large southern island
of Mindanao, and fought graft and corruption in the government. A new
national capital, later known as Quezon City, was built in a suburb of Manila.
Quezon was reelected president in 1941. After Japan invaded and occupied
the Philippines in 1942, he went to the United States, where he formed a
government in exile, served as a member of the Pacific War Council, signed
the declaration of the United Nations against the Fascist nations, and wrote
his autobiography, The Good Fight (1946). Quezon died of tuberculosis before
full Philippine independence was established.
Quezon, ManuelManuel Quezon, 1942.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: fsa 8e00852)

CONTRIBUTIONS

After 34 years of Insular Government under American rule, Philippine voters elected Manuel Luis
Quezon first president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. He is known as the “Father of
National Language” (Ama ng Wikang Pambansa). He died of tuberculosis in Saranac Lake, New
York.
Contributions and Achievements:

 first Senate president elected as President of the Philippines


 first president elected through a national election
 first president under the Commonwealth
 created National Council of Education
 initiated women’s suffrage in the Philippines during the Commonwealth
 approved Tagalog/Filipino as the national language of the Philippines
 appears on the twenty-peso bill
 a province, a city, a bridge and a university in Manila are named after him
 his body lies within the special monument on Quezon Memorial Circle

 José P. Laurel
 PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES


José P. Laurel, in full José Paciano Laurel, (born March 9, 1891, Tanauan,
Luzon, Philippines—died November 6, 1959, Manila), Filipino lawyer,
politician, and jurist, who served as president of the Philippines (1943–45)
during the Japanese occupation during World War II.
Laurel was born and raised in a town south of Manila. His father served in the
cabinet of Emilio Aguinaldo in the late 1890s. The younger Laurel received a
law degree from the University of the Philippines in 1915 and an advanced
jurisprudence degree in 1919 before earning a doctorate in civil law from Yale
University in the United States in 1920. He entered politics and was elected to
the Philippine Senate in 1925, serving there until he was appointed an
associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1936.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (December 1941), and
the subsequent Japanese assault on the Philippines, Laurel stayed in Manila;
President Manuel Quezon had escaped, first to the Bataan Peninsula and
then to the United States. Laurel offered his services to the Japanese, and,
because of his criticism of U.S. rule of the Philippines, he held a series of high
posts in 1942–43, climaxing in his selection as president in 1943. Twice in that
year he was shot by Philippine guerrillas, but each time he recovered. In July
1946 he was charged with dozens of counts of treason, but he never stood
trial; he shared in a general amnesty declared by President Manuel Roxas in
April 1948.
Laurel was the Nationalist Party’s nominee for the presidency of the Republic
of the Philippines in 1949, but he was narrowly defeated by the incumbent
president, Elpidio Quirino, the nominee of the Liberal Party. Elected to the
Senate in 1951, Laurel helped to persuade Ramon Magsaysay, then secretary
of defense, to desert the Liberals and join the Nationalists. When Magsaysay
became president, Laurel headed an economic mission that in 1955
negotiated an agreement to improve economic relations with the United
States. He retired from public life in 1957.
CONTRIBUTIONS

José P. Laurel's presidency is controversial. He was officially the government's caretaker during the
Japanese occupation of World War II. Criticized as a traitor by some, his indictment for treason was
superseded later by an amnesty proclamation in 1948.
Contributions and Achievements:

 since the early 1960s, Laurel considered a legitimate president of the Philippines
 organized KALIBAPI (Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas, or Association for
Service to the New Philippines), a provisional government during Japanese occupation
 declared Martial Law and war between the Philippines and the U.S./United Kingdom in 1944
 with his family, established the Lyceum of the Philippines

Sergio Osmeña
PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES
Sergio Osmeña, (born Sept. 9, 1878, Cebu City, Phil.—died Oct. 19, 1961,
Manila), Filipino statesman, founder of the Nationalist Party (Partido
Nacionalista) and president of the Philippines from 1944 to 1946.
Osmeña received a law degree from the University of Santo Tomás, Manila, in
1903. He was also editor of a Spanish newspaper, El Nuevo Día, in Cebu
City. In 1904 the U.S. colonial administration appointed him governor of the
province of Cebu and fiscal (district attorney) for the provinces of Cebu and
Negros Oriental. Two years later he was elected governor of Cebu. In 1907 he
was elected delegate to the Philippine National Assembly and founded the
Nationalist Party, which came to dominate Philippine political life.

Sergio Osmeña.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Osmeña remained leader of the Nationalists until 1921, when he was


succeeded by Manuel Quezon, who had joined him in a coalition. Made
speaker of the House of Representatives in 1916, he served until his election
to the Senate in 1923. In 1933 he went to Washington, D.C., to secure
passage of the Hare–Hawes–Cutting independence bill, but Quezon differed
with Osmeña over the bill’s provision to retain U.S. military bases after
independence. The bill, vetoed by the Philippine Assembly, was superseded
by the Tydings–McDuffie Act of March 1934, making the Philippines a
commonwealth with a large measure of independence. The following year
Osmeña became vice president, with Quezon as president. He remained vice
president during the Japanese occupation, when the government was in exile
in Washington, D.C. On the death of Quezon in August 1944, Osmeña
became president. He served as president until the elections of April 1946,
when he was defeated by Manuel Roxas, who became the first president of
the independent Republic of the Philippines.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Sergio Osmeña was the second president of the Commonwealth. During his presidency, the
Philippines joined the International Monetary Fund.

Contributions and Achievements:

 became president at 65, making him the oldest person to hold office
 first Visayan to become president
 joined with U.S. Gen. Douglas McArthur in Leyte on October 20, 1944 to begin restoration of
Philippine freedom after Japanese occupation
 Philippine National Bank was rehabilitated and the country joined the International Monetary
Fund during his presidency
 Bell Trade Act was approved by the U.S. Congress during his presidency
 appears on the 50-peso bill

Manuel Roxas
PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES
Manuel Roxas, (born Jan. 1, 1892, Capiz, Phil.—died April 15, 1948, Clark
Field, Pampanga), political leader and first president (1946–48) of the
independent Republic of the Philippines.
After studying law at the University of the Philippines, near Manila, Roxas
began his political career in 1917 as a member of the municipal council of
Capiz (renamed Roxas in 1949). He was governor of the province of Capiz in
1919–21 and was then elected to the Philippine House of Representatives,
subsequently serving as Speaker of the House and a member of the Council
of State. In 1923 he and Manuel Quezon, the president of the Senate,
resigned in protest from the Council of State when the U.S. governor-general
(Leonard Wood) began vetoing bills passed by the Philippine legislature. In
1932 Roxas and Sergio Osmeña, the Nacionalista Party leader, led the
Philippine Independence Mission to Washington, D.C., where they influenced
the passage of the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act. Roxas was later opposed
by Quezon, who held that the act compromised future Philippine
independence; the Nacionalista Party was split between them on this issue. In
1934, however, Roxas was a member of the convention that drew up a
constitution under the revised Philippine Independence and Commonwealth
Act (Tydings-McDuffie Act). Roxas also served as secretary of finance in the
Commonwealth government (1938–40).
During World War II Roxas served in the pro-Japanese government of José
Laurel by acquiring supplies of rice for the Japanese army. Although a court
was established after the war to try collaborators, Roxas was defended by his
friend General Douglas MacArthur. Roxas was elected president of the
Commonwealth in 1946 as the nominee of the liberal wing of the Nacionalista
Party (which became the Liberal Party), and, when independence was
declared on July 4, he became the first president of the new republic.
Although Roxas was successful in getting rehabilitation funds from the United
States after independence, he was forced to concede military bases (23 of
which were leased for 99 years), trade restrictions for Philippine citizens, and
special privileges for U.S. property owners and investors. His administration
was marred by graft and corruption; moreover, the abuses of the
provincial military police contributed to the rise of the left-
wing Hukbalahap (Huk) movement in the countryside. His heavy-handed
attempts to crush the Huks led to widespread peasant disaffection. Roxas
died in office in 1948 and was succeeded by his vice president, Elpidio
Quirino.
Contributions

Manuel Roxas was the fifth president of the Philippines: the third (and last) president under the
Commonwealth, and the first president of the Third Republic of the Philippines. He held office for
only one year, 10 months, and 18 days.
Contributions and Achievements:

 inaugurated as the first president of the new Republic after World War II
 reconstruction from war damage and life without foreign rule began during his presidency
 under his term, the Philippine Rehabilitation Act and Philippine Trade Act laws were accepted
by Congress
 appears on the 100-peso bill

Elpidio Quirino
PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES
Elpidio Quirino, (born Nov. 16, 1890, Vigan, Phil.—died Feb. 28, 1956,
Novaliches), political leader and second president of the independent
Republic of the Philippines.
After obtaining a law degree from the University of the Philippines,
near Manila, in 1915, Quirino practiced law until he was elected a member of
the Philippine House of Representatives in 1919–25 and a senator in 1925–
31. In 1934 he was a member of the Philippine independence mission to
Washington, D.C., headed by Manuel Quezon, which secured the passage in
Congress of the Tydings–McDuffie Act, setting the date for Philippine
independence as July 4, 1946. He was also elected to the convention that
drafted a constitution for the new Philippine Commonwealth. Subsequently he
served as secretary of finance and secretary of the interior in the
Commonwealth government.

Tydings-McDuffie Act, signing ofPres. Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Philippine Commonwealth and
Independence Act on March 24, 1934. Standing behind him (left to right) are Wyoming Democratic Sen.
Joseph O'Mahoney, Secretary of War George H. Dern, Filipino Sen. Elpidio Quirino, Filipino leader and
future president Manuel Quezon, Maryland Democratic Sen. Millard E. Tydings, and Chief of the Bureau
of Insular Affairs C.F. Cox.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

After World War II, Quirino served as secretary of state and vice president
under the first president of the independent Philippines, Manuel Roxas. When
Roxas died on April 15, 1948, Quirino succeeded to the presidency. The
following year, he was elected president for a four-year term on the Liberal
Party ticket, defeating the Nacionalista candidate.
QuirinoEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

President Quirino’s administration faced a serious threat in the form of the


Communist-led Hukbalahap (Huk) movement. Though the Huks originally had
been an anti-Japanese guerrilla army in Luzon, the Communists steadily
gained control over the leadership, and, when Quirino’s negotiations with Huk
commander Luis Taruc broke down in 1948, Taruc openly declared himself a
Communist and called for the overthrow of the government. By 1950 the Huks
had gained control over a considerable portion of Luzon, and Quirino
appointed the able Ramon Magsaysay as secretary of national defense to
suppress the insurrection.
Quirino’s six years as president were marked by notable postwar
reconstruction, general economic gains, and increased economic aid from the
United States. Basic social problems, however, particularly in the rural areas,
remained unsolved; Quirino’s administration was tainted by widespread graft
and corruption. The 1949 elections, which he had won, were among the most
dishonest in the country’s history. Magsaysay, who had been largely
successful in eliminating the threat of the Huk insurgents, broke with Quirino
on the issue of corruption, campaigning for clean elections and defeating
Quirino as the Nacionalista candidate in the presidential election of 1953.
Subsequently, Quirino retired to private life.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Elpidio Quirino served as vice president under Manuel Roxas. When Roxas died in 1948, Quirino
became president.
Contributions and Achievements:

 Hukbalahap guerrilla movement active during his presidency


 created Social Security Commission
 created Integrity Board to monitor graft and corruption
 Quezon City became capital of the Philippines in 1948

Ramon Magsaysay
PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES
Ramon Magsaysay, (born Aug. 31, 1907, Iba, Phil.—died March 17, 1957,
near Cebu), president of the Philippines (1953–57), best known for
successfully defeating the communist-led Hukbalahap (Huk) movement.
The son of an artisan, Magsaysay was a schoolteacher in the provincial town
of Iba on the island of Luzon. Though most Philippine political leaders were of
Spanish descent, Magsaysay was of Malay stock, like most of the common
people. Working his way through José Rizal College near Manila, he obtained
a commercial degree in 1933 and became general manager of a Manila
transportation company. After serving as a guerrilla leader on Luzon
during World War II, he was appointed military governor of his home province,
Zambales, when the United States recaptured the Philippines. He served two
terms (1946–50) as a Liberal Party congressman for Zambales, his first
experience in politics.
President Elpidio Quirino appointed Magsaysay secretary of defense to deal
with the threat of the Huks, whose leader, Luis Taruc, in February 1950
established a People’s Liberation Army and called for the overthrow of the
government. Magsaysay then carried out until 1953 one of the most
successful antiguerrilla campaigns in modern history. Realizing that the Huks
could not survive without popular support, he strove to win the trust of the
peasants by offering land and tools to those who came over to the
government side and by insisting that army units treat the people with respect.
Reforming the army, he dismissed corrupt and incompetent officers and
emphasized mobility and flexibility in combat operations against the guerrillas.
By 1953 the Huks were no longer a serious threat, but Magsaysay’s radical
measures had made many enemies for him within the government, compelling
him to resign on February 28, when he charged the Quirino administration
with corruption and incompetence.
Although Magsaysay was a Liberal, the Nacionalista Party successfully
backed him for the presidency against Quirino in the 1953 elections, winning
the support of Carlos P. Romulo, who had organized a third party. Magsaysay
promised reform in every segment of Philippine life, but he was frustrated in
his efforts by a conservative congress that represented the interests of the
wealthy. Despite initial support of Congress in July 1955, Magsaysay was
unable to pass effective land-reform legislation; government indifference to
the plight of the peasants then undid most of his good work in gaining the
support of the people against the Huks. Nevertheless, he remained extremely
popular and had a well-deserved reputation for incorruptibility.
In foreign policy, Magsaysay remained a close friend and supporter of the
United States and a vocal spokesman against communism during the Cold
War. He made the Philippines a member of the Southeast Asia Treaty
Organization, which was established in Manila on Sept. 8, 1954. Before the
expiration of his term as president, Magsaysay was killed in an airplane crash;
he was succeeded by the vice president, Carlos P. Garcia.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Ramon Magsaysay was born in Iba, Zambales. He was a military governor and an engineer. He died
in an aircraft disaster while boarding the presidential plane.

Contributions and Achievements:

 Hukbalahap movement quelled during his presidency


 chairman of the Committee on Guerrilla Affairs
 first president sworn into office wearing Barong Tagalog during inauguration
 presidency referred to as the Philippines' "Golden Years" for its lack of corruption
 Philippines was ranked second in Asia’s clean and well-governed countries during his
presidency
 established National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) among other
agrarian reforms
Carlos P. Garcia
PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES

Carlos P. Garcia, in full Carlos Polestico Garcia, (born November 4, 1896,


Talibon, Philippines—died June 14, 1971, Quezon City), fourth president of
the Republic of the Philippines. After graduating from law school in 1923, he
became, successively, a schoolteacher, representative in the Philippine
Congress, governor of his province (Bohol), and then (1941–53) senator.
During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II, Garcia
was active in the resistance movement. He was elected vice president on the
ticket of the Nacionalista Party in 1953 and was also minister of foreign affairs
(1953–57). He became president of the Philippines in March 1957, upon the
death of Pres. Ramon Magsaysay, and was elected to a full four-year term the
same year. He maintained the strong traditional ties with the United States
and sought closer relations with noncommunist Asian countries. In the
election of November 1961 he was defeated by Vice Pres. Diosdado
Macapagal.

CONTRIBUTIONS

A lawyer, poet, and teacher, Carlos P. Garcia also served as a guerrilla leader during the Pacific
War. Born in Bohol, Garcia serviced as vice president under Ramon Magsaysay and as secretary of
Foreign Affairs for four years. He became president when Magsaysay died in 1957.
Contributions and Achievements:

 known for “Filipino First Policy,” which favored Filipino businesses over foreign investors
 established the Austerity Program focusing on Filipino trade and commerce
 known as the “Prince of Visayan Poets” and the “Bard from Bohol”
 cultural arts was revived during his term
 was the first president to have his remains buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani

Diosdado Macapagal
PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES
Diosdado Macapagal, (born Sept. 28, 1910, Lubao, Phil.—died April 21,
1997, Makati, Phil.), reformist president of the Philippines from 1961 to 1965.
After receiving his law degree, Macapagal was admitted to the bar in 1936.
During World War II he practiced law in Manila and aided the anti-Japanese
resistance. After the war he worked in a law firm and in 1948 served as
second secretary to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. The
following year he was elected to a seat in the Philippine House of
Representatives, serving until 1956. During this time he was Philippine
representative to the United Nations General Assembly three times. From
1957 to 1961 Macapagal was a member of the Liberal Party and vice
president under Nacionalista president Carlos Garcia. In the 1961 elections,
however, he ran against Garcia, forging a coalition of the Liberal and
Progressive parties and making a crusade against political corruption a
principal element of his platform. He was elected by a wide margin.
While president, Macapagal worked to suppress graft and corruption and to
stimulate the Philippine economy. He placed the peso on the free currency-
exchange market, encouraged exports, passed the country’s first land-reform
legislation, and sought to curb income tax evasion, particularly by the
wealthiest families, which cost the treasury millions of pesos yearly. His
reforms, however, were crippled by a House of Representatives and Senate
dominated by the Nacionalistas, and he was defeated in the 1965 presidential
elections by Ferdinand Marcos.
In 1972 he chaired the convention that drafted the 1973 constitution, but in
1981 he questioned the validity of its ratification. In 1979 he organized the
National Union for Liberation as an opposition party to the Marcos regime.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Born in Lubao, Pampanga, Diosdado Macapagal was a lawyer and professor. His daughter Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo was the 14th, and second female, president of the Philippines.
Contributions and Achievements:

 established the first Land Reform Law, allowing for the purchase of private farmland to be
distributed in inexpensive, small lots to the landless
 placed the Philippine peso on the currency exchange market
 declared June 12, 1898 to be Philippines’ Independence Day
 signed the Minimum Wage Law
 created the Philippine Veteran’s Bank

Ferdinand Marcos
RULER OF PHILIPPINES
Ferdinand Marcos, in full Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, (born September 11,
1917, Sarrat, Philippines—died September 28, 1989, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.),
Philippine lawyer and politician who, as head of state from 1966 to 1986,
established an authoritarian regime in the Philippines that came
under criticismfor corruption and for its suppression of democratic processes.

Marcos attended school in Manila and studied law in the late 1930s at the
University of the Philippines, near that city. Tried for the assassination in 1933
of a political opponent of his politician father, Marcos was found guilty in
November 1939. But he argued his case on appeal to the Philippine Supreme
Court and won acquittal a year later. He became a trial lawyer in Manila.
During World War IIhe was an officer with the Philippine armed forces.
Marcos’s later claims of having been a leader in the Filipino guerrilla
resistance movement were a central factor in his political success, but U.S.
government archives revealed that he actually played little or no part in anti-
Japanese activities during 1942–45.
From 1946 to 1947 Marcos was a technical assistant to Manuel Roxas, the
first president of the independent Philippine republic. He was a member of the
House of Representatives (1949–59) and of the Senate (1959–65), serving as
Senate president (1963–65). In 1965 Marcos, who was a prominent member
of the Liberal Party founded by Roxas, broke with it after failing to get his
party’s nomination for president. He then ran as the Nationalist
Party candidate for president against the Liberal president, Diosdado
Macapagal. The campaign was expensive and bitter. Marcos won and was
inaugurated as president on December 30, 1965. In 1969 he was reelected,
becoming the first Philippine president to serve a second term. During his first
term he had made progress in agriculture, industry, and education. Yet his
administration was troubled by increasing student demonstrations and violent
urban guerrilla activities.
On September 21, 1972, Marcos imposed martial law on the Philippines.
Holding that communist and subversive forces had precipitated the crisis, he
acted swiftly; opposition politicians were jailed, and the armed forces became
an arm of the regime. Opposed by political leaders—notably Benigno Aquino,
Jr., who was jailed and held in detention for almost eight years—Marcos was
also criticized by church leaders and others. In the provinces Maoist
communists (New People’s Army) and Muslim separatists (notably of
the Moro National Liberation Front) undertook guerrilla activities intended to
bring down the central government. Under martial law the president assumed
extraordinary powers, including the ability to suspend the writ of habeas
corpus. Marcos announced the end of martial law in January 1981, but he
continued to rule in an authoritarian fashion under
various constitutionalformats. He won election to the newly created post of
president against token opposition in June 1981.
Marcos’s wife from 1954 was Imelda Romuáldez Marcos, a former beauty queen.
Imelda became a powerful figure after the institution of martial law in 1972. She was
often criticized for her appointments of relatives to lucrative governmental and
industrial positions while she held the posts of governor of Metropolitan Manila
(1975–86) and minister of human settlements and ecology (1979–86).
Marcos’s later years in power were marred by rampant government corruption,
economic stagnation, the steady widening of economic inequalities between the rich
and the poor, and the steady growth of a communist guerrilla insurgency active in the
rural areas of the Philippines’ innumerable islands.

By 1983 Marcos’s health was beginning to fail, and opposition to his rule was
growing. Hoping to present an alternative to both Marcos and the increasingly
powerful New People’s Army, Benigno Aquino, Jr., returned to Manila on August 21,
1983, only to be shot dead as he stepped off the airplane. The assassination was seen
as the work of the government and touched off massive antigovernment protests. An
independent commission appointed by Marcos concluded in 1984 that high military
officers were responsible for Aquino’s assassination. To reassert his mandate, Marcos
called for presidential elections to be held in 1986. But a formidable political
opponent soon emerged in Aquino’s widow, Corazon Aquino, who became the
presidential candidate of the opposition. It was widely asserted that Marcos managed
to defeat Aquino and retain the presidency in the election of February 7, 1986, only
through massive voting fraud on the part of his supporters. Deeply discredited at home
and abroad by his dubious electoral victory, Marcos held fast to his presidency as the
Philippine military split between supporters of his and of Aquino’s legitimate right to
the presidency. A tense standoff that ensued between the two sides ended only when
Marcos fled the country on February 25, 1986, at U.S. urging. He went into exile
in Hawaii, where he remained until his death.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Born in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was a lawyer and Senate President for three
years. He was president for 21 years. He ruled under martial law and his dictatorship was known for
its corruption and brutality. Marcos was removed from office after the People Power Revolution.

Contributions and Achievements:

 first president to win a second term


 declared Martial Law on Sept. 22, 1972
 increased the size of Philippine military and armed forces
 by 1980 the Philippine GNP was four times greater than 1972
 by 1986 the Philippines was one of the most indebted countries in Asia
 built more schools, roads, bridges, hospitals, and other infrastructure than all former presidents
combined
 the only president whose remains are interred inside a refrigerated crypt

Corazon Aquino
PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES
Corazon Aquino, in full Maria Corazon Aquino, née Maria Corazon
Cojuangco , (born January 25, 1933, Tarlac province, Philippines—
died August 1, 2009, Makati), Philippine political leader who served
as president (1986–92) of the Philippines, restoring democratic rule in that
country after the long dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
Corazon Cojuangco was born into a wealthy, politically prominent family
based in Tarlac province, north of Manila. She graduated from Mount St.
Vincent College in New York City in 1954 but abandoned further studies in
1955 to marry Benigno Simeon Aquino, Jr., who was then a promising young
politician. Corazon remained in the background during her husband’s
subsequent career, rearing their five children at home. Her husband, who had
become a prominent opposition politician, was jailed by Marcos for eight years
(1972–80), and Corazon accompanied him into exile in the United States in
1980. Benigno was assassinated upon his return to the Philippines in August
1983. This event galvanized opposition to the Marcos government.
When Ferdinand E. Marcos unexpectedly called for presidential elections in
February 1986, Corazon Aquino became the unified opposition’s presidential
candidate. Though she was officially reported to have lost the election to
Marcos, Aquino and her supporters challenged the results, charging
widespread voting fraud. High officials in the Philippine military soon publicly
renounced Marcos’s continued rule and proclaimed Aquino the Philippines’
rightful president. On February 25, 1986, both Aquino and Marcos were
inaugurated as president by their respective supporters, but that same day
Marcos fled the country.
In March 1986 Aquino proclaimed a provisional constitution and soon
thereafter appointed a commission to write a new constitution. The resulting
document, which restored the bicameral Congress abolished by Marcos in
1973, was ratified by a landslide popular vote in February 1987. Aquino held
elections to the new Congress and broke up the monopolies held by Marcos’s
allies over the economy, which experienced steady growth for several years.
But she failed to undertake fundamental economic or social reforms, and her
popularity steadily declined as she faced continual outcries over economic
injustice and political corruption. These problems were exacerbated by
persistent warfare between the communist insurgency and a military whose
loyalties to Aquino were uncertain. In general, her economic policies were
criticized for being mixed or faltering in the face of mass poverty. Aquino was
succeeded in office by her former defense secretary, Fidel Ramos.

CONTRIBUTIONS

The first woman president of the Philippines and the first woman to become president of an Asian
country, Corazon Aquino was born in Paniqui, Tarlac. She was a prominent figure in the People
Power Revolution that brought down Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship. Her husband, Benigno Aquino
Jr., was a senator during the Marcos regime and its strongest critic. He was assassinated while
Marcos was still in power.

Contributions and Achievements:

 first woman to be president of the Philippines or any Asian country


 restored democracy
 abolished the 1973 Marcos Constitution and ushered in the new Constitution of the Philippines
 reorganized the structure of the executive branch of government
 signed the Family Code of 1987, a major civil law reform, and 1191 Local Government Code,
which reorganized the structure of the executive branch of government
 initiated charitable and social activities helping the poor and the needy
 named “Woman of the Year” in 1986 by Time magazine
 on the new 500-peso bill together with her husband Benigno Aquino
Received honors and awards including:

 100 Women Who Shaped World History


 20 Most Influential Asians of the 20th Century
 65 Great Asian Heroes
 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding
Fidel Ramos
PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES
Fidel Ramos, in full Fidel Valdez Ramos, byname Eddie Ramos, (born March 18,
1928, Lingayen, Phil.), military leader and politician who was president of
the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was generally regarded as one of the most
effective presidents in that nation’s history.
Ramos was educated at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and at
the University of Illinois, U.S. He then entered the Philippine army, serving in Korea
and Vietnam. In 1972 President Ferdinand Marcos (who was Ramos’ second cousin)
appointed him chief of the Philippine Constabulary, and when Marcos
imposed martial law later that year Ramos was responsible for enforcing it; the
Constabulary arrested thousands of political dissidents. In 1981 Ramos became
deputy chief of staff of the armed forces.
After the presidential elections of 1986, in which Marcos claimed victory despite
allegations of large-scale electoral fraud, Ramos and defense minister Juan Ponce
Enrile supported Marcos’ opponent, Corazon Aquino. Their defection sparked the
civilian “People Power” movement that forced Marcos into exile. During Aquino’s
presidency Ramos served as military chief of staff (1986–88) and secretary of national
defense (1988–91), and he suppressed several military coup attempts against her
government.
Ramos was elected to succeed Aquino in May 1992. As president he purged the
national police force of corrupt officers; encouraged family-planning practices to curb
the growth of the country’s population; and liberalized the Philippines’ heavily
protected economy in order to spur economic growth. Ramos’ governing coalition
won a decisive victory in congressional elections held in 1995, midway through his
six-year term as president. His administration reached peace agreements with two
long-active guerrilla insurgencies, the communist New People’s Army and the
Muslim separatists of the Moro National Liberation Front. He meanwhile continued
his efforts to deregulate major industries that were dominated by a handful of large
companies and to improve the government’s inefficient tax-collection system. These
reforms helped revitalize the Philippines’ economy, which emerged from years of
stagnation to grow at a rapid rate in 1994–97. The country was thus able to weather a
severe business downturn that crippled national economies across Southeast Asia in
1998. Ramos was constitutionally restricted to one term as president, which ended in
June 1998.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Fidel V. Ramos was the chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines before he became
president. He was also a civil engineer. As president, he restored economic growth and stability in
the country, even during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. He is the first, and so far the only, non-
Catholic president of the Philippines.

Contributions and Achievements:

 oversaw Philippine economic growth


 presided over celebrations of Philippine Independence Centennial in 1998
 received British Knighthood from the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II (Knight Grand
Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George)
 hosted the fourth Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leader's Summit in the Philippines in
1996
 Philippine Stock Exchange became an international favorite during his presidency
 death penalty reinstated while he was in office
 signed peace agreement with the rebel Moro National Liberation Front

Joseph Estrada
PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES
Joseph Estrada, original name Joseph Ejercito, (born April 19,
1937, Manila, Philippines), Filipino actor and politician who served
as president of the Philippines (1998–2001) and later mayor of Manila (2013–
).
The son of a government engineer, Estrada entered the Mapua Institute of
Technology with the intention of following in his father’s footsteps, but he
eventually dropped out to become a film actor. Forbidden by his parents to
use the family name, he adopted the screen name Erap Estrada. He played
the lead in more than 100 movies, usually portraying a swashbuckling tough
guy who defends the poor against the corrupt establishment. He also
produced some 75 films.
In 1968 Estrada entered politics, successfully running for the mayorship of the
Manila suburb of San Juan, a post he retained until 1986. In 1969 he was
elected to the Senate. In 1992 he ran for vice president on the National
People’s Coalition ticket. Although the party’s presidential candidate, Eduardo
Cojuangco, Jr., lost the election to Fidel Ramos, Estrada won the vice
presidential contest.
In 1998 Estrada ran for president, though his candidacy faced significant
opposition. Ramos, who was constitutionally barred from running for a second
term, endorsed House Speaker José de Venecia, and many of the country’s
powerful businessmen opposed Estrada’s populist proposals. The Roman
Catholic Church denied Estrada its support because he had admitted to
having fathered four children by women other than his wife. However, he did
have the support of Imelda Marcos, the widow of former president Ferdinand
Marcos and then a member of Congress, and he enjoyed a devoted following
among the country’s poor. Estrada managed to capture nearly 40 percent of
the vote, handily defeating his nearest rival, de Venecia, who garnered only
15.9 percent. The margin of victory was the largest in a free election in the
history of the Philippines, and Estrada was officially declared president by
Congress on May 29, 1998.
Estrada’s tenure as president was short-lived, however, as a corruption
scandal erupted in October 2000 when a fellow politician claimed that Estrada
had accepted millions of dollars worth of bribes. In November the Philippine
Senate began an impeachment trial, but it was abandoned after some
senators blocked the admission of evidence. On Jan. 20, 2001, Estrada was
ousted amid mass protests, and his vice president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,
ascended to the presidency. Later that year Estrada was brought to trial on
charges of plunder (large-scale corruption) and accused of having procured
more than $80 million through bribes and corrupt dealings. Estrada denied the
accusations, calling them politically motivated, and he remained relatively
popular in the Philippines despite the charges. In September 2007 he was
convicted of plundering and sentenced to a maximum of 40 years in prison.
The following month, however, Estrada was pardoned by Arroyo. In October
2009 he announced his candidacy for president, but he was defeated in the
May 2010 elections by Benigno S. Aquino III (son of Benigno Aquino, Jr.,
and Corazon Aquino).
In 2013 Estrada ran for mayor of Manila and defeated the incumbent, Alfredo
Lim. After taking office later that year, he faced a number of issues, notably
the city’s debt and inability to pay for basic services. In order to raise revenue,
he sharply raised property taxes. Estrada faced a serious challenge from Lim
in the 2016 elections but narrowly won a second term.
CONTRIBUTIONS

Known as Erap, Joseph Estrada was the first president who had been a famous film actor. His
presidency was controversial. During his years in office economic growth was slow and he faced
impeachment proceedings. He was ousted from the presidency in 2001. He was later convicted of
stealing from the government but was pardoned. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2010.
Contributions and Achievements:

 during his presidency Moro Islamic Liberation Front headquarters and camps were captured
 joined other leaders and politicians to try to amend the 1987 Constitution
 cited as one of the Three Outstanding Senators in 1989
 among the “Magnificent 12” who voted to terminate the agreement that allows for U.S. control
of Clark Airbase and Subic Naval Base

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo


PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, (born April 5, 1947, San Juan, Philippines),
Filipino politician who was president of the Philippines (2001–10).
Arroyo’s father, Diosdado P. Macapagal, was president of the Philippines from
1961 to 1965. Arroyo studied economics at Georgetown University in
Washington, D.C., where she began a lasting friendship with classmate and
future U.S. president Bill Clinton. After returning to the Philippines and
graduating magna cum laude from Assumption College in Manila in 1968,
Arroyo earned a master’s degree in economics (1978) from Ateneo de Manila
University and a doctorate in economics (1986) from the University of the
Philippines in Quezon City.
Arroyo was a university professor when Pres. Corazon Aquino appointed her
undersecretary of trade and industry in 1986. She won a seat in the Senate in
1992 and was reelected in 1995 by a record 16 million votes. She was elected
vice president in 1998, garnering more votes than the winner of the
presidency, Joseph Estrada, who named Arroyo secretary of social welfare
and development. In 2000, however, a corruption scandal enveloped Estrada,
and on October 12 Arroyo resigned from the cabinet post to rally opposition
against him. Angry protesters drove Estrada from the presidential residence
on January 20, 2001, and Arroyo assumed power.
Arroyo brought an unprecedented academic and administrative background to
the Philippines presidency, but her tenure was plagued by political unrest.
Just months after she took office, some 20,000 supporters of Estrada stormed
the gates of the presidential palace. Several people were killed, and Arroyo
declared a “state of rebellion” that lasted five days. In 2003 disaffected
soldiers seized a Manila apartment building and demanded Arroyo’s
resignation; the attempted coup was suppressed peacefully. Promising to
reduce corruption and improve the economy, Arroyo was reelected president
in 2004. However, accusations that she rigged the election emerged the
following year and resulted in a failed attempt at impeachment. In 2006 Arroyo
declared a countrywide state of emergency after a military coup was blocked;
the state of emergency was lifted after about one week. Terrorism was also a
concern for Arroyo’s administration. Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist group that sought
a separate Islamic state in the southern Philippines, was responsible for a
number of attacks, including the 2004 bombing of a ferry that killed more than
100 people.
In late 2009, after members of a politically powerful clan in Mindanao were
implicated in the massacre of a political opponent and his entourage there,
Arroyo briefly declared martial law in the region. She also renounced ties with
the clan, which until then had been a political ally. Constitutionally barred from
seeking another six-year presidential term, she ran for and won a seat in the
House of Representatives in the May 2010 presidential and parliamentary
elections.
Arroyo subsequently was investigated for various alleged crimes, and in 2011
the government barred her from leaving the country to seek medical
treatment. In November she was arrested on charges of having committed
electoral fraud during the 2007 Senate election. She pleaded not guilty in
February 2012. The following month, however, new allegations were brought
which stated that she and her husband had accepted bribes from a Chinese
telecommunications company in 2007. She was released from custody on bail
in July 2012. Later that year Arroyo was arrested for allegedlyhaving misused
state lottery funds while president. At the time she was in a Manila hospital,
and she remained there until the country’s Supreme Court dismissed the
charges in July 2016. Arroyo, who had been reelected to Congress in May,
resumed her political career. An important ally of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, she
was elected speaker of the House of Representatives in 2018.
CONTRIBUTIONS

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was the 14th, president of the Philippines (and the second female
president). The Oakwood Mutiny occurred during her term. Arroyo oversaw road and infrastructure
improvements and higher economic growth that presidents before her, but there was also
controversy. The so-called "Hello Garci" controversy involved recordings that allegedly captured
Arroyo ordering the rigging of the election that put her in office. In 2005 Arroyo faced impeachment
proceedings related to the recordings but the impeachment failed. After she had left office Arroyo
faced additional charges of election fraud and misuse of state funds.
Contributions and Achievements:

 second female president of the country


 first and only female vice-president of the Philippines so far
 first president to take oath outside Luzon
 former Economics professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, where current president
Benigno Aquino III was one of her students
 ex-classmate of former U.S. President Bill Clinton at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of
Foreign Service, where she maintained Dean’s list status
 oversaw higher economic growth than the past three presidents before her
 peso became the best-performing currency of the year in Asia in 2007
 eVAT Law was implemented under her term
 currently on the 200-peso bill

Benigno Aquino III


PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES
Benigno Aquino III, in full Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, also
called Noynoy, (born February 8, 1960, Manila, Philippines), Filipino politician who
served as president of the Philippines(2010–16) and was the scion of a famed political
family.
He was the son of Corazon Aquino, who served as president of the Philippines (1986–
92), and political leader Benigno Simeon Aquino, Jr.—themselves the children of
politically connected families. The elder Benigno, an opposition figure to
Pres. Ferdinand Marcos who was imprisoned when the younger Benigno was a child,
was released and allowed to go to the United States in 1980. The following year the
younger Benigno, after graduating from Ateneo de Manila University with a
bachelor’s degree in economics, followed his family to Boston. His father returned to
the Philippines in 1983 intending to challenge Marcos for the presidency but was
assassinated immediately on arrival. The family nevertheless returned to the country
soon afterward, and there the young Aquino worked for companies including
Philippine Business for Social Progress and Nike Philippines.
He became vice president of his family’s Best Security Agency Corporation in 1986,
the same year that his mother was named president of the Philippines after her
opposition party successfully charged incumbent President Marcos with voting fraud.
Aquino left the company in 1993 to work for another family-owned business, a sugar
refinery. Finally, in 1998, he made the move to politics as a member of the Liberal
Party, serving the constitutional maximum of three consecutive terms as a
representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province. During this time he also served as
deputy speaker of the House of Representatives (2004–06), but he resigned from the
post in advance of joining other Liberal Party leaders in making a call for the
resignation of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001–10), who was accused of corrupt
dealings including the rigging of the 2004 presidential election. From 2006 Aquino
served as vice-chairman of the Liberal Party, and in 2007, at the end of his final term
in the House of Representatives, he made a successful bid for a Senate seat.
In September 2009 Aquino announced his candidacy in the 2010 presidential race. His
mother, to many a symbol of democratic rule in the Philippines, had died the previous
month, an event that heightened Aquino’s profile and served as a catalyst for his
seeking higher office. Though his opponents for the presidency included such
seasoned politicians as Joseph Estrada, who had previously served as president of the
Philippines (1998–2001), Aquino was considered the front-runner from the time that
he entered the race. In the elections held on May 10, Aquino won the presidency by a
wide margin.
Aquino’s chief domestic accomplishment was the conclusion of a peace agreement
with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in October 2012. The deal promised a
significant amount of autonomyto a Muslim-majority region of southern Mindinao
and seemingly concluded four decades of deadly conflict. Economic growth in the
Philippines was strong during Aquino’s administration, but unemployment remained
high, and opposition politicians argued that the benefits chiefly accrued to the
country’s elite. Aquino also faced criticism over his government’s slow response
to Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed some 8,000 people and displaced more than
800,000 when it hit the Philippines in November 2013. The most significant foreign
policy issue of Aquino’s term in office was China’s increasingly assertive posture in
the South China Sea. The Philippines sought a judgment from the Permanent Court of
Arbitration at The Hague to clarify the ownership of a reef that was claimed by China
despite the fact that it lay within Philippine territorial waters. Although the court later
ruled that China had no claim to the reef and that China’s actions had constituted a
violation of the Philippines’ sovereignty, China dismissed the decision. Limited to a
single six-year term, Aquino supported Manuel (“Mar”) Roxas to succeed him in
2016. Roxas, the grandson of Pres. Manuel Roxas, represented the mainstream
political establishment at a time when voters were clearly frustrated with the status
quo, and he finished a distant second to inflammatory populist Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte succeeded Aquino as president on June 30, 2016.
CONTRIBUTIONS

Benigno Aquino III joined the House of Representatives and the Senate before his presidency. He is
the first president who is a bachelor; he is unmarried and has no children.
Contributions and Achievements:

 created the no "wang-wang" (street siren) policy


 appointed statesman Jesse Robredo to serve as secretary of Interior and Local Government in
2010, where Robredo served until his death in 2012
 initiated K-12 education in the Philippines
 renamed the Office of the Press Secretary to Presidential Communications Operations Office
and appointed new officers
 suspended allowances and bonuses to Government Owed and Controlled Corporation and
Government Financial Institution board members
 oversaw 7.1% growth of the Philippine economy in 2012

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