CRUDA

Download as docx, pdf, or txt
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 37

FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN

Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin


Region X

OUTLINE REPORT #1 :
PRESIDENTS OF THE PHILIPPINES WITH THEIR
TERMS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Since independence in 1898 and the ratification of the Philippine Constitution in the First
Republic, there have been 15 presidents. Starting with General Emilio Aguinaldo all the
way to current president Rodrigo Roa Duterte, this article details each president's
particular contributions and achievements while in office.

Emilio Aguinaldo
1899-1901

One way to remember the first president of the Philippines First Republic is to look
at the five peso coin. Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo's face used to grace the five peso bill (which
is not used anymore). The back of the bill shows him holding the Philippine flag at the
celebration of the Philippine Independence Day.
Contributions and Achievements:
 first (and only) president of the First Republic (Malolos Republic)
 signed the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, creating a truce between the Spanish and Philippine
revolutionaries
 known as the President of the Revolutionary Government led the Philippines in the
Spanish-Philippine War and the American-Philippine War
 youngest president, taking office at age 28
 longest-lived president, passing away at 94
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
Emilio Aguinaldo, (born March 22/23, 1869, near Cavite, Luzon, Philippines—died
February 6, 1964, Quezon City), Filipino leader and politician who fought first
against Spain and later against the United States for the independence of the Philippines.

Early life, Spanish-American War, and the struggle for the independence of the
Philippines

Aguinaldo was of Chinese and Tagalog parentage. He attended San Juan de Letrán


College in Manila but left school early to help his mother run the family farm.
In August 1896 he was mayor of Cavite Viejo (present-day
Kawit; adjacent to Cavite city) and was the local leader of the Katipunan, a revolutionary
society that fought bitterly and successfully against the Spanish. In December 1897 he
signed an agreement called the Pact of Biac-na-Bató with the Spanish governor general.
Aguinaldo agreed to leave the Philippines and to remain permanently in exile on
condition of a substantial financial reward from Spain coupled with the promise of liberal
reforms. While first in Hong Kong and then in Singapore, he made arrangements with
representatives of the American consulates and of Commodore George Dewey to return
to the Philippines to assist the United States in the war against Spain.

Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines on May 19, 1898, and announced renewal of
the struggle with Spain. The Filipinos, who declared their independence from Spain on
June 12, 1898, proclaimed a provisional republic, of which Aguinaldo was to
become president, and in September a revolutionary assembly met and ratified Filipino
independence. However, the Philippines, along with Puerto Rico and Guam, were ceded
by Spain to the United States by the Treaty of Paris, which was signed on December 10,
1898

Relations between the Americans and the Filipinos were unfriendly and grew
steadily worse. On January 23, 1899, the Malolos Constitution—by virtue of which the
Philippines was declared a republic and which had been approved by the assembly and
by Aguinaldo—was proclaimed. Aguinaldo, who had been president of the provisional
government, was elected president.

Philippine-American War and Aguinaldo’s role in World War II

On the night of February 4 the inevitable conflict between the Americans and
Filipinos surrounding Manila was precipitated. By the morning of February 5 the
Filipinos, who had fought bravely, had been defeated at all points. While the fighting was
in progress, Aguinaldo issued a proclamation of war against the United States, which
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
immediately sent reinforcements to the Philippines. The Filipino government fled
northward. In November 1899 the Filipinos resorted to guerrilla warfare.

Philippine-American War: burning of the Malolos headquarters of Emilio


Aguinaldo
Burning of the Malolos cathedral covent, headquarters of Emilio Aguinaldo during the
Philippine-American War, March 1899.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

After three years of costly fighting, the insurrection was finally brought to an end
when, in a daring operation on March 23, 1901, led by Gen. Frederick Funston,
Aguinaldo was captured in his secret headquarters at Palanan in northern Luzon.
Aguinaldo took an oath of allegiance to the United States, was granted a pension from the
U.S. government, and retired to private life.
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X

Philippine-American War
Filipino insurgents surrendering during the Philippine-American War, c. 1900.
National Archives and Records Administration (ARC Indentifier: 542454)

In 1935 the commonwealth government of the Philippines was established in


preparation for independence. Aguinaldo ran for president, but he was decisively beaten.
He returned to private life until the Japanese invaded the Philippines in December 1941.
The Japanese used Aguinaldo as an anti-American tool. He made speeches and signed
articles. In early 1942 he addressed a radio appeal to U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur—
who at that time was with the U.S. garrison holding out against the Japanese
on Corregidor Island—to surrender (the troops there did surrender in May 1942, but
MacArthur had already been evacuated).

The Americans returned to the Philippines in late 1944, and, after they had retaken
Manila in 1945, Aguinaldo was arrested. He and others accused of collaboration with the
Japanese were imprisoned for some months before they were released by presidential
amnesty. In 1950 Aguinaldo was appointed by Pres. Elpidio Quirino as a member of the
Council of State. In his later years he devoted much attention to veterans’ affairs, the
promotion of nationalism and democracy in the Philippines, and the improvement of
relations between the Philippines and the United States.

Manuel L. Quezon (1935-1944)

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
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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

Manuel Luis Quezon (19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also referred to by his
initials MLQ, was a Filipino statesman, soldier and politician who served as president of
the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. He was the first Filipino to
head a government of the entire Philippines (as opposed to the government of previous
Philippine states), and is considered to have been the second president of the Philippines,
after Emilio Aguinaldo (1899–1901).

During his presidency, Quezon tackled the problem of landless peasants in the
countryside. His other major decisions include the reorganization of the islands' military
defense, approval of a recommendation for government reorganization, the promotion of
settlement and development in Mindanao, dealing with the foreign stranglehold on
Philippine trade and commerce, proposals for land reform, and opposing graft and
corruption within the government. He established a government-in-exile in the U.S. with
the outbreak of World War II and the threat of Japanese invasion.

It was during his exile in the U.S. that he died of tuberculosis at Saranac Lake, New
York. He was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery until the end of World War II,
when his remains were moved to Manila. His final resting place is the Quezon Memorial
Circle.

In 2015, the Board of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation approved a


posthumous bestowal of the Wallenberg Medal upon President Quezon and to the people
of the Philippines for having reached out, between 1937 and 1941, to the victims of the
Holocaust. President Benigno Aquino III and then-94-year-old Maria Zenaida Quezon
Avanceña, the daughter of the former president, were informed of this recognition.

Scholars have also described Quezon's leadership as a 'de facto dictatorship' (Pante,
2017) and that he was "the first Filipino politician to integrate all levels of politics into a
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
synergy of power", having removed his term limits as president and turning the Senate
into an extension of the executive through constitutional amendments

José P. Laurel
1943-1945

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

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
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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.

Sergio Osmeña (1944-1946)

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
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
 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

Sergio Osmeña ( 9 September 1878 – 19 October 1961) was a Filipino politician


who served as the fourth president of the Philippines from 1944 to 1946. He was Vice
President under Manuel L. Quezon. Upon Quezon's sudden death in 1944, Osmeña
succeeded him at age 65, becoming the oldest person to assume the Philippine presidency
until Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016 at age 71. A founder of the Nacionalista Party,
Osmeña was also the first Visayan to become president.

Prior to his accession in 1944, Osmeña served as Governor of Cebu from 1906 to


1907, Member and first Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives from 1907 to
1922, and Senator from the 10th Senatorial District for thirteen years, in which capacity
he served as Senate President pro tempore. In 1935, he was nominated to be the running-
mate of Senate President Manuel L. Quezon for the presidential election that year. The
duo were overwhelmingly re-elected in 1941.

He was the patriarch of the prominent Osmeña family, which includes his son,
former Senator Sergio Osmeña Jr., and his grandsons, former Senators Sergio Osmeña
III and John Henry Osmeña, ex-governor Lito Osmeña and former Cebu
City mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Manuel Roxas (1946-1948)


FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X

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

Manuel Acuña Roxas  (January 1, 1892 – April 15, 1948) was the fifth President of
the Philippines who served from 1946 until his death in 1948. He briefly served as the
third and last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from May 28, 1946 to
July 4, 1946 and then became the first President of the independent Third Philippine
Republic after the United States ceded its sovereignty over the Philippines.

Elpidio Quirino
1948-1953

Elpidio Quirino served as vice president under Manuel Roxas. When Roxas died in
1948, Quirino became president.
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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

Elpidio Quirino (November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Filipino lawyer


and politician who served as the sixth President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953.

A lawyer by profession, Quirino entered politics when he became a representative


of Ilocos Sur from 1919 to 1922. He was then elected as senator from 1925 to 1931. In
1934, he became a member of the Philippine independence commission that was sent to
Washington, D.C., which secured the passage of Tydings–McDuffie Act to American
Congress. In 1935, he was also elected to the convention that drafted the 1935
constitution for the newly established Commonwealth. In the new government, he served
as secretary of the interior and finance under President Manuel Quezon's cabinet.

After World War II, Quirino was elected vice-president in the 1946 election,
consequently the second and last for the Commonwealth and first for the third republic.
After the death of the incumbent president Manuel Roxas in 1948, he succeeded the
presidency. He won the president's office under Liberal Party ticket,
defeating Nacionalista vice president and former president José P. Laurel as well as
fellow Liberalista and former Senate President José Avelino.

The Quirino administration was generally challenged by the Hukbalahaps, who


ransacked towns and barrios. Quirino ran for president again in 1953 but was defeated
by Ramon Magsaysay.

Ramon Magsaysay
1953-1957
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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

Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a
Filipino statesman who served as the seventh president of the Philippines, from
December 30, 1953, until his death in an aircraft disaster. An automobile mechanic by
profession, Magsaysay was appointed military governor of Zambales after his
outstanding service as a guerrilla leader during the Pacific War. He then served two terms
as Liberal Party congressman for Zambales's at-large district before being appointed
Secretary of National Defense by President Elpidio Quirino. He was elected president
under the banner of the Nacionalista Party. He was the first Philippine president born in
the 20th century and the first to be born after the Spanish colonial era.

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
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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.

Carlos P. Garcia
1957-1961
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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

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.

Diosdado Macapagal
1961-1965
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X

Born in Lubao, Pampanga, Diosdado Macapagal was a lawyer and professor. His
daughter Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was the 14 th, 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

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.
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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.

Ferdinand Marcos

1965-1986

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


FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
 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

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr.  (September 11, 1917 – September 28,


1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, and kleptocrat who served as the 10th president
of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. Espousing an ideology of "constitutional
authoritarianism" under the New Society Movement, he ruled as a dictator under martial
law from 1972 until 1981, and kept most of his martial law powers until he was deposed
in 1986. One of the most controversial leaders of the 20th century, Marcos' rule was
infamous for its corruption, extravagance, and brutality.

Throughout his political career, Marcos claimed to have been the "most decorated
war hero in the Philippines." A number of his claims have been found to be
false, with United States Army documents describing his wartime claims as "fraudulent"
and "absurd." After the war, he became a lawyer, then served in the Philippine House of
Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the Philippine Senate from 1959 to 1965. He was
elected the President of the Philippines in 1965, and presided over an economy that grew
during the beginning of his 20-year rule, but would end in the loss of livelihood, extreme
poverty, and a crushing debt crisis. He pursued an aggressive program of infrastructure
development funded by foreign debt, making him popular during his first term, although
it would also trigger an inflationary crisis which would lead to social unrest in his second
term. Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law on September 23, 1972, shortly
before the end of his second term. Martial law was ratified in 1973 through a fraudulent
referendum. The Constitution was revised, media outlets were silenced, and violence and
oppression were used against the political opposition, Muslims, suspected
communists, and ordinary citizens.

After being elected for a third term in the 1981 Philippine presidential election,
Marcos's popularity suffered greatly due to the economic collapse which began in early
1983, and the public outrage over the assassination of opposition leader, Senator Benigno
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
"Ninoy" Aquino Jr., later that year. This discontent, the resulting resurgence of the
opposition in the 1984 Philippine parliamentary election, and the discovery of documents
exposing his financial accounts and false war records, led Marcos to call the snap election
of 1986. Allegations of mass cheating, political turmoil, and human rights abuses led to
the People Power Revolution of February 1986, which removed him from power. To
avoid what could have been a military confrontation in Manila between pro- and anti-
Marcos troops, Marcos was advised by US President Ronald Reagan through
Senator Paul Laxalt to "cut and cut cleanly." Marcos then fled with his family to
Hawaii. He was succeeded as president by Aquino's widow, Corazon "Cory" Aquino.

According to source documents provided by the Presidential Commission on Good


Government (PCGG), the Marcos family stole US$5 billion–$10 billion from the Central
Bank of the Philippines. The PCGG also maintained that the Marcos family enjoyed a
decadent lifestyle, taking away billions of dollars from the Philippines between 1965 and
1986. His wife Imelda Marcos made infamous in her own right by the excesses that
characterized her and her husband's conjugal dictatorship, is the source of the term
"Imeldific". Two of their children, Imee Marcos and Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.,
are still active in Philippine politics. He and his wife currently hold the Guinness World
Record for "Greatest Robbery of a Government"

Corazon Aquino

1986-1992
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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

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 the first female 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.
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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.

Fidel V. Ramos

1992-1998

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
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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

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
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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.

Joseph Estrada
1998-2001

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

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 (2013–19).
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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 January 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).
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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 race but narrowly won
reelection. He ran for a third term in 2019 but was defeated.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

2001-2010
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X

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 currenc of the year in Asia in 2007
 eVAT Law was implemented under her term

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, (born April 5, 1947, San Juan, Philippines), Filipino
politician who was president of the Philippines (2001–10).

Meet extraordinary women who dared to bring gender equality and other issues to
the forefront. From overcoming oppression, to breaking rules, to reimagining the world
or waging a rebellion, these women of history have a story to tell.
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
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
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.

Benigno Aquino III


2010-2016

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
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
 oversaw 7.1% growth of the Philippine economy in 2012

Benigno Aquino III, in full Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, also


called Noynoy, (born February 8, 1960, Manila, Philippines—died June 24, 2021,
Manila), 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
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
(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 autonomy to 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.

Rodrigo Duterte
2016 - present
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X

Contributions and Achievements:


 First President from Mindanao.
 the oldest person to be elected president of the Philippines
 First local chief executive (mayor) to be elected president.
 First septuagenarian president. He turned 70 in March 2015 and was elected in May
2016 at the age of 71.
 First president to visit Israel while in office
 started a nationwide campaign to rid the country of crime, corruption, and illegal
drugs
 prioritized infrastructure spending, initiating the massive Build! Build! Build!
Infrastructure Plan.

Rodrigo Duterte, also called Digong, (born March 28, 1945, Maasin, Philippines),
Filipino politician who was elected president of the Philippines in 2016.

Early life and mayor of Davao City

Duterte’s father served as governor of the province of Davao, and his mother was
a community activist who had a prominent role in the “people power” movement that
deposed the authoritarian president Ferdinand Marcos and restored democratic rule to the
Philippines. Duterte earned a political science degree (1968) from Lyceum of the
Philippines University in Manila and a law degree (1972) from San Beda College. In
1977 he joined the Davao City prosecutor’s office, where he remained until he was
appointed (1986) vice mayor of that city.

Duterte was elected mayor in 1988, and he was reelected to that post twice over the
subsequent decade. Because of term-limit restrictions, he was barred from seeking
reelection in 1998, but he successfully ran for a seat representing Davao in the
Philippines House of Representatives. Upon the completion of that term in 2001, he
returned to Davao City and was once more elected mayor. Because the term-limit
restriction again came into force in 2010, he was elected vice mayor, and his daughter
Sara served as mayor. In 2013 Duterte returned to the mayor’s office, this time with his
son Paolo (“Pulong”) serving as vice mayor.
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
During his more than two decades as mayor of Davao City, the controversial
politician transformed the city from a haven of lawlessness into one of the safest areas
in Southeast Asia. Duterte’s harsh crime-fighting tactics earned him the nicknames “the
Punisher” and “Duterte Harry” (in reference to the film character Dirty Harry, the
ruthlessly effective police inspector portrayed by actor Clint Eastwood), but critics such
as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch claimed that Duterte was responsible
for more than 1,000 extrajudicial killings. Rather than denying such allegations, he
embraced them. The death squads that had carried out the killings operated with
an impunity that implied official sanction, and Duterte openly praised both their methods
and their apparent results. In that way he cultivated the image of a coarse pistol-toting
vigilante in the months leading up to the presidential election. His antiestablishment
message took hold among a Filipino public weary of official corruption, and his brash
over-the-top rhetoric led to comparisons of him to U.S. Republican presidential
hopeful Donald Trump.

Duterte’s position on the contested Spratly Islands—arguably the Philippines’ most-


pressing foreign policy issue—caused consternation among the country’s allies. He
wavered unpredictably between a negotiated settlement with China and a claim that he
would ride a jet ski to one of the disputed islands and plant a Filipino flag on it. On May
9 nearly 80 percent of eligible voters turned out for the election, and Duterte captured
nearly as many votes as his two closest competitors combined. Within days of his
landslide victory, Duterte vowed to reintroduce the death penalty—abolished in the
Philippines in 2006—in concert with his promise to “fatten all the fish” in Manila
Bay with the bodies of criminals. In a televised address in June, he endorsed vigilantism
by members of the public, stating that he would personally reward anyone who shot and
killed a drug dealer.

The Duterte presidency

On June 30, 2016, Duterte was inaugurated as president of the Philippines. In his


first six months in office, more than 6,000 people were killed in Duterte’s “war on
drugs.” A fraction of those deaths occurred during police operations. The overwhelming
majority were extrajudicial killings by death squads. Metro Manila’s funeral parlours
were strained beyond capacity, and hundreds of unidentified or unclaimed bodies were
interred in mass burials. Human rights organizations and Roman Catholic officials spoke
out against the bloodshed, but Duterte responded by accusing the church of corruption
and the sexual abuse of children.
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
When Western governments expressed concern over the rampant vigilantism,
Duterte said that the West could offer the Philippines only “double talk,” and he sought
to strengthen ties with Russia and China. The United States had suspended the sale of
26,000 assault rifles to the Philippines as a result of the human rights abuses, and in May
2017 Duterte met with Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin to discuss the prospect of an arms
deal. While Duterte was in Moscow, a series of deadly clashes erupted
in Marawi between Filipino troops and Islamist fighters linked to the Islamic State in Iraq
and the Levant (ISIL; also called ISIS). Duterte cut short his trip and declared a state
of martial law covering the entire island of Mindanao. Although government forces
retook Marawi and quashed the rebellion, the declaration was renewed through the end of
2019, making it the longest period of martial law in the Philippines since the Marcos era.

In February 2018 the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened a preliminary


investigation into the more than 12,000 deaths that had occurred during Duterte’s “war
on drugs.” The following month Duterte responded by announcing his intention to
withdraw the Philippines from the ICC; that withdrawal became official in March 2019.
International and domestic human rights organizations continued to remain sharply
critical of Duterte, but he dismissed them, going so far as to instruct police to shoot
activists if they were “obstructing justice.” Press freedoms were also curtailed, and Maria
Ressa, the cofounder of a news Web site that had documented the worst excesses of
Duterte’s antidrug campaign, was arrested numerous times on questionable charges.

Duterte remained widely popular with the Filipino public, however, and voters in
May 2019 delivered a resounding endorsement of the president’s agenda by backing a
slate of pro-Duterte candidates. Duterte maintained his hold on the House of
Representatives, and, by taking control of the Senate, he removed what was the only
effective check remaining on his administration.

Prepared by:
BERNARD C. CRUDA
MAED Student
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X

Reference:
https://soapboxie.com/world-politics/Presidents-of-the-Philippines-and-their-Achievements-and-Contributions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_L._Quezon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Aguinaldo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_P._Laurel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Roxas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elpidio_Quirino
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Magsaysay
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ramon-Magsaysay
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carlos-P-Garcia
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diosdado-Macapagal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Corazon-Aquino
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fidel-Ramos
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Estrada
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gloria-Macapagal-Arroyo
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benigno-Aquino-III
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rodrigo-Duterte
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X
FATIMA COLLEGE OF CAMIGUIN
Lumad, Mambaja, Camiguin
Region X

You might also like