Emilio F. Aguinaldo (1898-1901)
(Born- March 22, 1869, died-
February 6, 1964)
President of the First
Philippine Republic
(Term: 1898- 1901)
(Term: 1898- 1901)
Born of Chinese and Filipino
parentage, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, whom providence had
placed as the supreme leader of his people at the
critical period in their history. He was born in Kawit,
Cavite, on March 22, 1869. He was the seventh among eight
children of the spouses Carlos Aguinaldo and Trinidad
Famy.
He took up his secondary course
at the Letran de Manila where he finished only three
years of high school. His favorite subject was geography.
He did not finish the secondary course education.
At the age of 17, Emilio was
elected as cabeza de barangay of Binakayan, the most
progressive barrio of Kawit, Cavite. He served for his
town-mates for eight years. He also engaged in
inter-island shipping, travelling as far as Visayas and
even Jolo, Philippines. On January 1, 1895, he was
elected capitan municipal of Kawit the first to bear that
title in accordance with the Mauro Law. At that time a
capitan municipal received no salary except 3% of taxes
he could collect. In August 1896 he was the local leader
of the Katipunan, a revolutionary society that fought
bitterly and successfully against Spanish. In December
1897 he signed an agreement called the Pact of
Biac-na-Bato with the Spanish governor-general. He agreed
to leave the Philippines and to remain permanently in
exile on condition of a substantial financial award from
Spain coupled with the promise of liberal reforms. While
in Hong Kong and Singapore he made arrangement with
representative 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 return to
the Philippines on May 19, 1898 and announced renewal of
the struggle with Spain. Upon the advice of Apolinario
Mabini to Aguinaldo he should change the form of
dictatorship to president of revolutionary government. The
Filipinos, who declared their independence of Spain on
June 12, 1898, proclaimed a provisional republic, of
which Aguinaldo was to became 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, December 10, 1898.
Relation 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 a republic and which he had
been approved by the assembly and by Aguinaldo was
proclaimed. Aguinaldo, who had been president of the
provisional government, was elected president.
Aguinaldo formally established
the first Philippine republic. He also designated
diplomats who were assigned in the major world capitals
to seek recognition of Philippine independence.
In 1935 when the commonwealth
government of the Philippines was established in
preparation for independence, Aguinaldo ran for president
but was decisively beaten. He returned to private life
until the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1941. The
Japanese used Aguinaldo as an anti-American tool. They
caused him to make speeches, to sign articles, and to
address a radio appeal to General Douglas McArthur on
Corregidor to surrender in order to spare the flower of
Filipino youth.
When the Americans returned,
Aguinaldo was arrested and together with the others
accused of collaboration with the Japanese was held for
several months in Bilibid Prison until released by
presidential amnesty. As a token vindication of his
honor, he was appointed by president Elpidio Quirino as
a member of the Council of State in 1950. In the latter
years of his life, he devoted his major attention to
veterans affairs, the promotion of nationalism and
democracy in the Philippines, and the improvement of
relation between the Philippines and the United States.
Aguinaldo resumed his life of
retirement. In June 12, 1963, on the occasion of the
celebration of Philippine independence, Aguinaldo veiled
his historic mansion in Kawit, together with all the
relics contained therein, to the Philippine government.
On February 6, 1964, he died at
the age of 95 years old.
Manuel L. Quezon (1935-1944)
(Born- August 19, 1878, died-
August 1, 1944)
First President of the
Commonwealth
(Term: November 15, 1935- August 1, 1944)
(Term: November 15, 1935- August 1, 1944)
Born in the small town of Baler
province of Tayabas on August 19, 1878. His parents are
Lucio Quezon and Maria Dolores Molina, school teacher and
small landholder of Tagalog descent on the part of
southern Luzon. Manuel spent the early years of his
childhood in his hometown among the common people. His
first teacher was his mother. He enrolled at the San Juan
de Letran college, one of the leading institutions of
learning in the capital city. Quezon years at San Juan de
Letran as a self-supporting student brought out of his
latent potentialities. He finished Bachelor of Arts
degree at the age of sixteen.
He cut short his law studies at
the University of Santo Tomas 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), landed fourth
place in the 1903 Bar examinations, and practiced law for
a year. 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 as
representatives 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
Representative; during his years in Washington D.C., he
fought vigorously for a speedy grant of independence by
the Unites 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 a
commissioner and returned to Manila to be elected to the
newly formed Philippines 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 ten years after the creation of a
constitution and the establishment of a commonwealth
government that would be the forerunner of an
independence republic. Quezon was elected president of
the newly formulated commonwealth on November 15, 1935.
As president he reorganized the island military defense
(aided by General Douglas McArthur as his special
adviser). Tackled the huge problem of landless peasants
in the countryside who still worked as tenants on large
estates, promote 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 build in the 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 nation, and wrote his autobiography,
"The Good Fight" (1946). Quezon died of
tuberculosis before full Philippine independence was
established.
He died quietly in Saranac Lake,
USA on August 1, 1944 at the age of sixty six.
Married to Doña Aurora Aragon
Quezon, now deceased. Of their three children, two are
alive, they are; Zenaida Quezon Avanceña and Manuel
Quezon Jr.
Manuel L. Quezon best remembered
as the "Father of Philippine Language" (Ama ng
Wikang Filipino).
Jose P. Laurel (1943-1945)
(Born- March 9, 1891, died-
November 6, 1959)
President of the Japanese
Sponsored Republic
(Term: October 14, 1943- August 15, 1945)
(Term: October 14, 1943- August 15, 1945)
Born in Tanawan, Batangas on
March 9, 1891. His parents are Sotero Laurel and Jacoba
Garcia.
After receiving law degrees from
the University of the Philippines (1915) and from Yale
University (1920), he was elected to the Philippines
Senate in 1925 and appointed associate justice of the
Supreme Court in 1936.
After the Pearl Harbor attack.
Laurel remained in Manila after President Manuel Quezon
escaped first to Bataan and then to the United States. He
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 recovered, after the
incident Laurel still held his post to served the
Filipino people. It adds his eagerness and willingness to
be of service to his countrymen.
Laurel administration did not
last long because when the Japanese occupation near to
collapse, Yamashita, a Japanese leader ordered his troops
to bring Laurel out from the Philippines, he was brought
to Japan.
In August 15, 1945, Japanese
surrendered to Americans. General McArthur order Lt. Col.
Turner to arrest Laurel and company for a case of
"Collaboration". They finally arrested in the
City of Nara, Japan and temporary jailed at Sugano Prison
near Tokyo, Japan. In July 1946 he was charged with 132
counts of treason, but was never brought to trial; he
shared in the general amnesty in April 1948.
As the Nationalist Party's
nominee for the presidency of the Philippines in 1949, he
was narrowly defeated by the incumbent president, Elpidio
Quirino, 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 Nationalist. 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.
Married to Mrs. Pacencia
Hidalgo, of their nine children, most of them are alive
and active in politics like, former vice president
Salvador P. Laurel, former senator Sotero Laurel and
ex-speaker Jose Laurel Jr.
Sergio S. Osmeña (1944-1946)
Sergio
S. Osmeña
(Born- September 9, 1878, died-
October 19, 1961)
Second president of the
Commonwealth
(Term: August 1, 1944- May 27, 1946)
(Term: August 1, 1944- May 27, 1946)
He was born in Cebu, on
September 9, 1878. Son of Juana Osmeña Y. Suico. His
birth place was a medium sized house of wood with tin can
roofing. He was brought up in a wholesome atmosphere. He
was enrolled by his mother in a private school of Miguel
Logarta, a local lawyer-educator, not long before the
latter discovered how intellectually gifted his young
pupil was, later he entered the Seminary College of San
Carlos for his secondary course. In 1892, he finished his
studies in San Carlos. To pursue his studies he come to
Manila and studied at Letran, he first met Manuel L.
Quezon, one of his classmates. He took up law at the
University of Santo Tomas, although his studies was
interrupted by the war conflict between Spain and
America, he and the rest of his classmates were allowed
by the Supreme Court to take the examinations in that
year of 1903, he got an average of 95.66% second placer
in the bar examination.
A lawyer, he
espoused the cause of independence through peaceful means
as editor of the Cebu newspaper El Nuevo Dia (New Day),
which he founded in 1900. Upon the return of governor
Climaco from the United States, in 1904 the United States
colonial administration appointed him governor of the
province of Cebu and fiscal (district attorney) for the
province of Cebu and Negros Oriental. Two years later he
was elected delegate to the Philippine National Assembly
and founded the Nationalist Party, which come to dominate
Philippine political life.
Osmeña
remained leader of the Naitonalists until 1921, when he
was succeeded by Manuel L. Quezon, who had joined him in
a coalition. Made speaker of the House of Representative
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 measured of
independence. The following years 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
serve 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.
Osmeña thereafter retired to
his hometown in Cebu, where he spent the remaining of his
life, until he died on October 19, 1961 at the age of 83,
with his death the nation lost a towering Molave of the
race.
First wife Doña Estefania
Veloso. Most of their eight children are now deceased.
One of those alive is Mrs. Paloming Osmeña Charnley,
retired in Cebu City. For his second wife, Doña
Esperanza Limjap, are Rosie Osmeña Valencia is involved
in Manila Society. Ramon and Victor live in Cebu.
Manuel A. Roxas (1946-1948)
(Born- January 1, 1892, died-
April 15, 1948)
Last President of
the Commonwealth
(Term: May 28, 1946- July 4, 1946)
(Term: May 28, 1946- July 4, 1946)
(Term: July 4, 1946- April 15, 1948)
Political leader
and first president of the independence republic of the
Philippines.
The silver tongued
genius- for a genius indeed, was born on January 1, 1892,
in Capiz (renamed Roxas City (1949), in his honor).
His parents were
Gerardo Roxas Sr. and Rosario Acuna. After graduating his
early education in the public school of Capiz. He went to
Hong Kong to study for sometime, later he transferred to
Manila High School to finish his secondary course. He
took up law at University of the Philippines and
graduated in 1913.
In 1913 to 1916,
after his bar exam whom he got 1st placer, he then became
professor at the Philippine Law School and National
University. Upon learning the excellent records of Roxas
former chief justice Cayetano S. Arellano, offered him to
be his secretary of the Supreme Court.
Roxas
began his political career in 1917 as a member of the
municipal council of his hometown Capiz in Panay Island.
He was governor of the province of Capiz in 1919-1921 and
was then elected to the Philippine House of
Representative, 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 teh 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 (1938-1940).
During World War II
Roxas served in the pro-Japanese government of Jose
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 McArthur. 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 restriction for the Philippine citizens,
and special privileges for U.S. property owner and
investor. 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 did not stay
long in office because of heart attack upon a speech in
an occassion in the Clark Air Base in April 15, 1948 and
was succeeded by his vice president Elpidio Quirino.
Manuel Roxas
bereaved wife Doña Trinidad de Leon and children Ruby
and Gerardo Roxas who became congressman, senator, and a
leader of Liberal Party.
He died at the age
of 44.
Married to Doña
Trinidad de Leon Roxas. Who is very active in the
Philippine society. Their two children Ruby, who is
active and involved in functions commemorating the memory
of her late father and former senator Gerry Roxas, their
only son, died several years ago.
Elpidio R. Quirino (1948-1953)
(Born- November 16, 1890, died-
February 28, 1956)
Second President, Third Republic
of the Philippines
(Term: April 17, 1948- November 10, 1953)
(Term: April 17, 1948- November 10, 1953)
He was born on November 16, 1890
in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
After obtaining a law degree
from the University of the Philippines in 1915, Quirino
practiced law until he was elected as member of
Philippine House of Representative in 1919-25 and as
senator in 1925-1931. 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.
After World War II, Quirino
serve as secretary of state and vice president under the
first president of the independence Philippines, Manuel
Roxas. When Roxas died on April 15, 1948, Quirino
suceeded to the presidency. The following years, he was
elected president for a four-year term on the Liberal
Party ticket, defeating the Nacionalista candidiate.
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 negotiation 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 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 election,
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, in his new country home in Novaliches where
he died of heart attack on February 28, 1956. His
bereaved wife Alicia Syguia and children Tomas, Victoria
and victims of Massacre of World War II: Armando, Norma
and Fe. His wife Alicia also died during World War II and
already dead when Quirino become president. Of their
children only Victoria is alive and re-married to Paco
Delgado.
Ramon F. Magsaysay (1953-1957)
(Born- August 31, 1907, died-
March 17, 1957)
Third President of the Third
Republic of the Philippines
(Term: December 30, 1953- March 17, 1957)
(Term: December 30, 1953- March 17, 1957)
He was born in the capital of
Iba, Zambales on August 31, 1907. His parents are Exequel
Magsaysay and Perfecta Del Fiero.
Magsaysay finished his
elementary at the Castillejos, However his secondary
course at the Zambales Academy both in his hometown
Zambales.
Though most Philippine political
leaders were of Spanish descent, Magsaysay was of Malay
stock, like most of the common people. He took up
mechanical engineering at University of the Philippines
but ended up with a commerce degree from Jose Rizal
College in Manila in 1933 and became general manager of a
Try-Tran transportation company before starting as a
mechanic. After serving as a guerrilla leader on Luzon
during World War II, he was appointed military governor
of his home province, Zambales, by MacArthur, 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
anti-guerrilla 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, 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 charge 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. Garcia, 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 interest
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. Neverthless, he remained
extremely popular and had a well deserve 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 September 8, 1954. Before the expiration of
his term as president, Magsaysay was killed when his
airplane crashed at Mount Pinatubo in the early morning
of March 17, 1957, he was succeeded by the vice
president, Carlos P. Garcia. The nation was shocked upon
learning of Magsaysay sudden death, most of the Filipino
people mourned because the nation lost a well loved
leader, who in his lifetime become a legendary figure in
Philippine politics.
He left his bereaved wife Luz
Banzon, children Teresita, Milagros Magsaysay Valenzuela
and Ramon Magsaysay Jr., a proclaim winner in May 8, 1995
Senatorial election.
Magsaysay died at the age of 50
years old.
Carlos P. Garcia (1957-1961)
(Born- November 4, 1896, died-
June 14, 1971)
Fourth President of the Third
Republic of the Philippines
(Term: March 18, 1957- December 30, 1961)
(Term: March 18, 1957- December 30, 1961)
After graduating from Philippine
Law School in Manila in 1923, he was among the top ten in
the bar examination. He became successively, a school
teacher, representative in the Philippine Congress,
governor of his province (Bohol), and then senator
(1941-1953).
Garcia was the one who commissioned
the Philippine rehabilitation at war damage claims in
1945 in the United States. 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 (1953-1957). He became
president of the Philippines in March 1957 for eight
months, upon the death of president Ramon Magsaysay, and
was elected to a full four-year term the same year (The
noisiest and the most expensive in Philippine history).
He maintained the strong tradition ties with the United
States and sought closer relation with non-communist
Asian countries. In the election of November 1961 he was
defeated by the vice president Diosdado Macapagal.
He left his bereaved wife,
Leonila Dimataga and the only daughter Linda Garcia
Campus.
He died on June 14, 1971 at the
age of seventy five (75).
Diosdado P. Macapagal (1961-1965)
(Born- September 28, 1910)
Fifth President of the Third
Republic of the Philippines
(Term: December 30, 1961- December 30, 1965)
(Term: December 30, 1961- December 30, 1965)
Best known as the "Champion of the Common Man."
He was born in Barrio San
Nicolas, Lubao, Pampanga, on September 28, 1910. His
parents are Urbano Macapagal and Romana Pangan, their
family was a middle class and a law abiding citizen,
Macapagal pursue his studies in order to reach his goal
in the future.
Nevertheless, Macapagal finish
his elementary at the Lubao Elementary School, he
received an honor of being the valedictorian and in 1929
in the Pampanga High School for his secondary course, he
is the salutatorian.
He entered Philippine Law School
to get his law degree.In this law school he become
well-known as the best orator and debater. After two
years he transferred to the University of Sto. Tomas.
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 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
to1961, Macapagal was a member of the Liberal Party and
vice president under Nacionalista President Carlos P.
Garcia. In the 1961 elections, however he ran against
former president Carlos P. Garcia forging a coalition of
the Liberal and progressive parties and making a crusade
against corruption a principal element of his platform.
He was elected by a wide margin.
While president, Diosdado Macapagal
worked to suppress graft and corruption and to stimulate
the Philippine economy. He placed the Peso in the free
currency-exchange market, encouraged wealthiest families,
which cost the treasury millions of pesos yearly. His
reforms, however, were crippled by a House
Representatives and Senate dominated by the
Nacionalistas, and he was defeated in the 1965 elections
by Ferdinand E. Marcos.
Macapagal’s administration
(1961 - 1965) is best remembered for resetting the date
of the celebration of Philippine Independence Day –
from July 4 when the U.S. turned over the reins of
government in 1946 to the more correct date of June 12
when Aguinaldo declared independence in 1898.
In 1972 he chaired the
convention that drafted the 1973 constitution only to
question in 1981 the validity of its ratification. In
1979 he organized the National Union for Liberation as an
opposition party to the Marcos regime. He had two children
from first wife Purita dela Rosa (deceased); Maria Cielo
and Arturo. For his second wife Doña Evangeline Macaraeg
Macapagal, their children are Maria Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo, a winner in the 1995 senatorial race and Diosdado
Macapagal Jr. who served the government under Corazon's
administration.
As of this writing (February
1996) Macapagal is still alive and a regular
writer/columnist in a leading newspaper. In his
retirement, although he still heartily and devoted a good
part of his time to reading and writing.
The good president always
remembered those past days serving his country with love
and honor with peace in his heart.
Ferdinand E. Marcos (1965-1986)
(Born- September 11, 1917, Died-
September 28, 1989)
Sixth President of the Third
Republic of the Philippines
(Term: December 30, 1965- February 25, 1986)
(Term: December 30, 1965- February 25, 1986)
He was born in Sarrat, Ilocos
Norte on September 11, 1917. His parents are; Don Mariano
Marcos and Doña Josefa Edralin. His father is a
politician, while his mother is a teacher in their
hometown.
Marcos attended school at the
age of five years old in Sarrat Central School, later he
transferred to Manila. According to his scholastic
records, Marcos always got an honor from his elementary
and secondary course. He is best in oratory speeches as
well as in debate and declamatory speeches.
Marcos attended school in Manila
and studied law in the late 1930s at the University of
the Philippines, in Quezon 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, acquittal a year later. He become a trial
lawyer in Manila. During World War II he served as an
officer with the Philippine Armed Forces. Captured by the
Japanese, he survived the Death March from Bataan to
Central Luzon and then escaped. Marcos subsequent claims
to being an important leader in the Filipino guerrilla
resistance movement were a central factor in his later
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 House of Representatives (1949-1959)
and of the Senate (1959-1965). Serving as Senate
President (1963-1965). 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, 1969, Marcos was reelected, the first he
had made progress in agriculture, industry, and education.
Yet his administration was troubled by increasing student
demonstrations and violent urban-guerilla activities.
On September 21, 1972, Marcos imposed
martial law. Holding that communist and subversive forces
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 Peoples Army) and Muslim separatist
undertook guerrilla activities intended to bring down the
central government.
Under Martial Law the president
assumed extraordinary powers, including the suspension of
the Writ of Habeas Corpus. Marcos announce the end of
Martial Law in January 17, 1981 but still ruled in an
authoritarian fashion thereafter under various
constitutional formats. He won election to the newly
created post of president against only token opposition
in June 1981.
Marcos wife from 1954 was Imelda
Romualdez Marcos, a former beauty queen. Imelda became a
powerful figure in her own right after her husband
instituted martial law in 1972. She was frequently
criticized for her appointment of relatives to lucrative
government and industrial position while she held the
post of Governor of Metropolitan Manila (1975-1986) and
Minister of Human Settlements and Ecology (1979-1986).
Marcos later years in power were
marred by rampant government corruption, 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 health was
beginning to fall, and opposition to his rule was
growing. Hoping to present an alternative to both Marcos
and the increasingly powerful New Peoples Army. Benigno
Aquino Jr. return to Manila on August 21, 1983, only to
be shot dead as he stepped off the plane. The
assassination was probably the work of the government and
touch off massive anti-government protest. 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 election to be held in 1986. But a
formidable political opponent soon emerged in Aquino's
widow, Corazon C. 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. Marcos held
to his presidency as the Philippine military split
between supporters of his and of Aquino's legitimate
right to the presidency. A tense stand off (EDSA
Revolution, People's Power) that ensued between the two
sides ended only when Marcos fled the country on February
25, 1986 at United States urging, and went into exile in
Hawaii, USA.
Evidence subsequently emerged
that during his year in power, Marcos, his family, and
his close associates had looted the Philippines economy
of billions of dollars through embezzlements and other
corrupt practices. Marcos and his wife were subsequently
indicted by the U.S. government on racketeering charges.
After a trial a year later, Imelda won acquittal by the
board of jury. Imelda return to the Philippines to face
the charges against her and her family.
Marcos died on September 28,
1989 at Waikiki, Hawaii. His bereaved wife, Imelda R.
Marcos and children Imee Marcos Manotoc, Irene Marcos
Araneta and Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., a
former congressman of Ilocos Sur and a senatorial
candidate in May 8, 1995 election. He serve as
congressman under Ramos administration.
Ferdinand Marcos died at the age
of seventy two (72).
Corazon C. Aquino (1986-1992)
(Born- January 25, 1933, Died- August 1, 2009)
Seventh and First Woman
President of the Republic of the Philippines
(Term: February 25, 1986- June 30, 1992)
(Term: February 25, 1986- June 30, 1992)
Political leader
and president from (1986 to 1992) of the Philippines. In 1983 she
succeeded her murdered husband, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.(A popular
critic of the Marcos administration), as leader of the opposition to
President Ferdinand Marcos. No one could have imagined that Cory Aquino
would become a president of the Philippines.
Corazon "Cory" Aquino, the first woman to
become president of the Philippines, was born in Tarlac on January 25,
1933. Her parents are Don Jose Cojuangco and Doña Demetria Sumulong.
Cory was the sixth among the eight children of the Sumulong. Corazon
Aquino's children are Maria Elena Aquino, Aurora Corazon, Victoria
Eliza, Noynoy and Kris Aquino, her youngest child is a TV and movie
personality.
Corazon Cojuangco was born into a wealthy,
politically prominent family based in Tarlac province, north of Manila.
In 1946, her family left for the U.S. and she enrolled at Ravenhill
Academy in Philadelphia. She finished her junior and senior years at
Notre Dame College in New York. She entered Mount Saint Vincent College
in New York City in 1949 where she finished a Bachelor of Arts, major in
French. In 1953, she returned to the Philippines to take up law at the
Far Eastern University, but then abandoned further studies in 1955 to
marry Benigno Aquino, who was then a promising young politician. Cory
remained in the background during her husband's subsequent career,
rearing their five children at home and later in exile. Her husband was
assassinated upon his return to the Philippines in August 1983.
When Ferdinand Marcos
unexpectedly called for presidential election in February
1986, Corazon Aquino become the unified opposition's
candidate for the presidency. 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
Philippines military soon publicly renounced Marcos
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 she proclaimed a
provisional constitution and soon thereafter appointed a
commission to write a new constitution. The resulting
document was ratified by a landslide popular vote in
February 1987. In spite of her continuous popular support,
Aquino faced an ongoing outcry over economic injustice, a
problem that was only exacerbated by continuing 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 children are Maria Elena
Aquino, Aurora Corazon, Victoria Eliza, Noynoy and Kris
Aquino. Her youngest child is a TV & movie
personality.
Fidel V. Ramos (1992-1998)
(Born- March 18, 1928)
8th President of the Republic of the
Philippines
(Term- June 30, 1992-June 30, 1998)
(Term- June 30, 1992-June 30, 1998)
Fidel V. Ramos was born in Lingayen, Pangasinan
on February 8, 1928. His parents are Narciso Ramos (A lawyer, a
crusading journalist, a legislator and later, secretary of foreign
affairs) and Angela Valdez Ramos. Fidel V. Ramos have two sisters,
Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani and Gloria Ramos de Rodda, a diplomat.
Become a Valedictorian of his graduating class
at the Lingayen Elementary School in Maniboc, Lingayan, Pangasinan, he
was the consistent valedictorian of his class, through his elementary
grades and through his high school at the University of the Philippines.
In the year 1950, Fidel V. Ramos graduated in
the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, a well know military
school in the U.S.A. He also acquired his master in Civil Engineering
course at the University of Illinois in the year 1951. Another course in
associate Infantry Company Officers at Fort Benning at Fort Bragg. In
the year 1960 he was the topnotcher of all the 21 graduated for the
"Special Forces/Pay Operations/Airborne." Aside from those courses, he
took up Command and General Staff at Fort Santiago year 1965, where he
became the topnotcher of all 48 graduating students.
During the administration of President Marcos,
Fidel V. Ramos became the Presidential assistant of military tactics.
(1968-1969); Assistant to the head of State of the Civil Defense July 1,
1969- Nov. 6, 1970. Head of the Intelligence Services of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines and Deputy Chief of Staff for Home Defense
Activities (1971-1981).
Moreover, he become a delegate of the
Philippines to other countries such as: Delegation for the third
conference of the Association fo Southeast Asian Nations, held at
Malaysia (1969) and the Ministerial conference of Southeast Asian
Nations held at Kuala Lumpur (Nov. 1971).
According to his record, FVR receives award,
medal and honor for his achievements in Korea and Vietnam. Known for his
disciplinarian method in his troop but has a good faith in his heart.
In his administration the good President look
forward the dream for the Philippines as an industrialized country
towards the year 2000. He also emphasizes for the rebels who are willing
to surrender, to achieved the real peace and order in the country.
The Ramos Administration intensify to complete
the Program such as; school buildings, roads and bridges, country wide
development, country's infrastructure program for Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao and inviting foreign investors to put up business in the
country to help the Filipino People.
Ramos married Amelita Martinez on October 21,
1953. They had five children.
Joseph Ejercito Estrada (1998-2001)
(Born- April 19, 1937)
9th President of the Third Republic of the Philippines
(Term- June 30, 1998-January 20, 2001)
9th President of the Third Republic of the Philippines
(Term- June 30, 1998-January 20, 2001)
Joseph Ejercito
Estrada was born on April 19, 1937 in Tondo, Manila. He is the eight
of the ten children of Emilio Ejercito and Maria Marcelo. His family
later moved to San Juan, Rizal (now part of Metro Manila) where he
grew up.
Estrada studied at Ateneo de Manila
University. He took up engineering at the Mapua Institute of
Technology, on his second year he moved to the Polytechnic College
of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, Manila. Before he could finish
engineering he quit school and decided to try the movies.
Displeased with his decision to drop out of
college, his parents forbade him to use his family name, which
forced him to adopt "Estrada" as a screen name and "Erap" ("pare" or
friend spelled backward) as a nickname.
During his movie career, he played the lead
role in more than hundred movies and produced more then 70 films. In
1974, he founded the Movie Workers Welfare Fund (MOWELFUND) that
provides movie industry workers with financial and professional
assistance. He was the first FAMAS Hall of Fame awardee for Best
Actor (1981) and also became a Hall of Fame awardee as a
Producer(1983).
Estrada entered politics when he ran for
mayor of San Juan in 1968. He was only proclaimed mayor in 1969,
after he won an electoral protest against Dr. Braulio Sto. Domingo.
As mayor (1969-1986), Estrada was named one of the Ten Outstanding
Young Men (TOYM) in Public Administration (1972). He was also named
Most Outstanding Mayor and Foremost Nationalist (1972), and most
outstanding Metro Manila Mayor (1972). He won a seat in the Senate
in 1987. At the Senate, he chaired a Committee on Cultural
Minorities and Rural Development and co-chaired the committees on
Health, Natural Resources and Ecology, and Urban Planning. On
September 16, 1991, he voted for the rejection of the Treaty of
Friendship, Cooperation, and Security, which ended the stay of the
United States military bases in the Philippines.
He was elected Vice President in 1992. He
was appointed chairman of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC).
He was elected President of the Philippines
in 1998 but the EDSA II Revolution cut his 6-year term short on
January 20, 2001.
He is married to Luisa Pimentel, with whom
he has three children.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (January 20, 2001-June 30, 2010)
(Born- April 5, 1947)
Tenth President of the Republic of the
Philippines
(Term- January 20, 2001)
(Term- January 20, 2001)
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
or GMA was born on April 5, 1947. His parents were former President
Diosdado Macapagal and Dr. Eva Macaraeg. She grew up in Iligan City.
GMA finished high school as Valedictorian
at the Assumption College. She studied college at the Georgetown
University, Washington, D.C. but she stopped during her third year,
when she got married to Jose Miguel Tuazon Arroyo.
She finished her course in Commerce at
Assumption College, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She got her Masters
Degree in Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University and her
Doctorate at the University of the Philippines. She worked as an
assistant secretary for President Cory Aquino in 1986, and was later
appointed as Undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry.
GMA was elected Senator in 1992, and was
re-elected in 1995. In 1998, She was elected vice-president of the
Philippines, with Joseph Estrada as President. She was appointed as
Secretary of Social Welfare and Development but gave up the position
in October 2000 when there was a public clamor for the resignation
of President Estrada. when some of the top officials of government
and Armed Forces of the Philippines withdrew its support for
government and President Estrada was forced to leave Malacañang
on January 21, 2001. GMA was sworn in as the new President. She
chose Senator Teofisto Guingona to be Vice-President.
GMA's administration was welcomed by the
people and by the business sector, as they believed in her
capability as an economist. She immediately activated economic
programs to prepare the Philippines towards globalization.
Meanwhile, Estrada criticized the
legitimacy of GMA's presidency, however it was affirmed by the
Supreme Court. She served the unfinished term of Estrada. In 2004,
she ran for President and won against the popular actor, Fernando
Poe Jr. Her vice-president is Noli de Castro, a radio and TV
commentator and news broadcaster.
GMA married Jose Miguel Tuazon Arroyo in
1968. They have three children Mikey, Luli and Dato. Mikey and Dato
also became politicians.
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