GENERAL EMILIO

AGUINALDO Y FAMY
President of the First
Philippine Republic
Birthdate: March 22, 1869,
died – February 6, 1964
Term: January 23 1899 –
March 23 1902

Filipino leader who fought first against the Spain and later against the United States for the
Independence of the Philippines.

Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy QSC, CCLH, was a Filipino revolutionary, politician, and
military leader who is officially recognized as the first and the youngest President of the
Philippines (1899–1901) and first president of a constitutional republic in Asia. He led
Philippine forces first against Spain in the latter part of the Philippine Revolution (1896–1898),
and then in the Spanish–American War (1898), and finally against the United States during the
Philippine–American War (1899–1901). He was captured in Palanan, Isabela by American
forces on March 23, 1901, which brought an end to his presidency. In 1935, Aguinaldo ran
unsuccessfully for president of the Philippine Commonwealth against Manuel Quezon.

He played an instrumental role in Philippine independence during the Philippine

Revolution against Spain and the Philippine-American War to resist American occupation. In
1895, Aguinaldo joined the Katipunan rebellion, a secret organization then led by Andrés
Bonifacio, dedicated to the expulsion of the Spanish and independence of the Philippines
through armed force. He quickly rose to the rank of General, and established a power base
among rebel forces. Defeated by the Spanish forces, he accepted exile in December 1897.
 MANUEL LUIS QUEZÓN Y MOLINA

First President of the Commowealth

Birthdate: August 19,1878, Died: August 1, 1944
Term: 15 November 1935 – 1 August 1944

Filipino statesman, leader of the independence movement, and first president of the Philippine
Commonwealth established under United States tutelage in 1935.

Quezon was the son of a school teacher and small landholder of Tagalog descent on
the island of Luzon. He cut short his law studies at the University of Santo Tomás in Manila in
1899 to participate in the struggle for independence against the United States, led by Emilio
Aguinaldo. After Aguinaldo surrendered in 1901, however, Quezon returned to the university,
obtained his degree (1903), and practiced law for a few years. Convinced that the only way to
independence was through cooperation with the United States, he ran for governor of Tayabas
province in 1905. Once elected, he served for two years before being elected a representative
in 1907 to the newly established Philippine Assembly.

In 1909 Quezon was appointed resident commissioner for the Philippines, entitled to
speak, but not vote, in the U.S. House of Representatives; during his years in Washington,
D.C., he fought vigorously for a speedy grant of independence by the United States. Quezon
played a major role in obtaining Congress’ passage in 1916 of the Jones Act, which pledged
independence for the Philippines without giving a specific date when it would take effect. The
act gave the Philippines greater autonomy and provided for the creation of a bicameral
national legislature modelled after the U.S. Congress. Quezon resigned as commissioner and
returned to Manila to be elected to the newly formed Philippine Senate in 1916; he
subsequently served as its president until 1935. In 1922 he gained control of the Nacionalista
Party, which had previously been led by his rival Sergio Osmeña.
 SERGIO OSMEÑA SR.
Second President of the Commonwealth
Birthdate: September 9, 1878
Died: October 19, 1961
Term: 1 August 1944 – 28 May 1946

Filipino statesman, founder of the Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista) and president of the
Philippines from 1944 to 1946.

Osmeña received a law degree from the University of Santo Tomás, Manila, in 1903. He
was also editor of a Spanish newspaper, El Nuevo Día, in Cebu City. In 1904 the U.S. colonial
administration appointed him governor of the province of Cebu and fiscal (district attorney) for
the provinces of Cebu and Negros Oriental. Two years later he was elected governor of Cebu.
In 1907 he was elected delegate to the Philippine National Assembly and founded the
Nationalist Party, which came to dominate Philippine political life.

A Filipino politician who served as the third 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 holder of the office.
 JOSE P. LAUREL (JOSÉ PACIANO LAUREL)
President of the Japanese Sponsored Republic
Birthdate: March 9, 1891, died – Nov. 6, 1959
Term: 14 October 1943 – 17 August 1945

Became the President of the Philippines during the Japanese

occupation of World War II.

Filipino lawyer, politician, and jurist, who served as president of the Philippines (1943–
45) during the Japanese occupation during World War II. Laurel was born and raised in a town
south of Manila. His father served in the cabinet of Emilio Aguinaldo in the late 1890s. The
younger Laurel received a law degree from the University of the Philippines in 1915 and an
advanced jurisprudence degree in 1919 before earning a doctorate in civil law from Yale
University in the United States in 1920. He entered politics and was elected to the Philippine
Senate in 1925, serving there until he was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme
Court in 1936. 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.

A Filipino politician and judge. He was the president of the Second Philippine Republic,
a Japanese puppet state when occupied during World War II, from 1943 to 1945. Since the
administration of President Diosdado Macapagal (1961–1965), Laurel has been officially
recognized by later administrations as former president of the Philippines.
 MANUEL ACUÑA ROXAS
Last President of the
Commonwealth
Birthdate: Jan. 1, 1892, died –
April 15, 1948
Term: (28 May 1946 – 15 April
1948)

Political leader and first President of the Independence Republic of the Philippines.

He 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, subsequently becoming the first President of the
independent Third Philippine Republic after the United States ceded its sovereignty over the
Philippines. In 1916 he became provincial governor. In 1922 he was elected to Congress,
becoming Speaker of the Philippine Assembly.

In December 1931 Roxas, together with Senate president pro tempore Sergio Osmeña,
left for the United States to secure the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act from the U.S. Congress, which
would grant Philippine independence after a transition period of 10 years. This bill was rejected
by the opposition forces led by Manuel Quezon. In 1934 Roxas was elected to the
constitutional convention. In 1938 he was appointed secretary of finance by Commonwealth
president Quezon and then became his trusted adviser. In 1941 Roxas ran for the Senate and
won.
 ELPIDIO QUIRINO Y RIVERA
Second President, Third Republic of the
Philippines
Birthdate: Nov, 16, 1890
Died: February 28, 1956
Term: (17 April 1948 – 30 December 1953)

Political leader and second president of the Independence

Republic of the Philippines.

Born in 1890, Elpidio Quirino was elected to the Philippine Congress in 1919. He was
part of the independence mission to Washington that freed the Philippines from American
control in 1934. He then served as vice president under Manuel Roxas, becoming president
upon Roxas' death in 1948. For six years, Quirino oversaw postwar reconstruction, but his
administration suffered from corruption.

Elpidio Quirino was born on November 16, 1890, in the small city of Vigan, on Luzon
Island in the Philippines. His father, Don Mariano Quirino, was a warden at a provincial jail. His
mother was Dona Gregoria Mendoza Rivera Quirino. Young Elpidio graduated from
elementary school in nearby Caoayan. Advanced beyond his years, Elpidio became a barrio
(rural village) teacher while studying at Vigan High School. Elpidio Quirino moved to Manila
and graduated from Manila High School in 1911 and then passed the civil service exam

He entered law school at the University of the Philippines, graduating in 1915, and
served as secretary to Senate President Manuel Quezon, where he began his rise through the
Philippine government. In 1919, he was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives. In
1925, he was elected to the Philippine Senate and was quickly given Senate committee
appointments.In 1931 Elpidio Quirino was reelected to the Senate, and in 1934 he served as a
member of the Philippine Independence mission to Washington, D.C., helping secure the
Tydings-McDuffie Act, which set the timetable for Philippine independence from the United
States. Quirino was also one of the drafters of the Philippine constitution, which was approved
in May 1935.
 RAMÓN DEL FIERRO MAGSAYSAY
Third President of the Third Republic of the Philippines
Birthdate: August 31, 1907
Died: March 17, 1957
Term: (30 December 1953 – 17 March 1957)

Best known for successfully defeating the communist led

Hukbalahap (H uk) Movement. Idol of the masses,
champion of democracy, and freedom fighter.

Ramon Magsaysay became the seventh president

of the Philippines in 1953, and is credited with restoring law and order during the Philippine
crisis of the 1950s. Born in the Philippines on August 31, 1907, Ramon Magsaysay was the
seventh president of the Philippines (1953–57), best known for successfully defeating the
communist-led Hukbalahap (Huk) movement in his country and his popular appeal. He died in
his country in 1957. Ramon Magsaysay was born Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay in Iba, a city in
the Philippines, on August 31, 1907. After attending the University of the Philippines,
Magsaysay transferred to the Institute of Commerce at José Rizal College (1928-1932), where
he received a bachelor's degree in commerce.
Magsaysay was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives in 1946, and was later re-
elected to a second term. During both terms, he was chairman of the House National Defense
Committee.

In 1950, Philippines President Elpidio Quirino appointed Magsaysay secretary of

defense to deal with the threat of the Huks, whose leader, Luis Taruc, had called for the
overthrow of the government. Magsaysay reformed the army, dismissing many officers and
emphasizing mobility and adaptability in combat operations against the Huk guerrillas—tactics
that he had learned in his own guerrilla efforts against the Japanese in World War II.

From then until 1953, Magsaysay carried out one of the most effective anti-guerrilla
campaigns in modern history; by 1953, the Huks were no longer a serious threat.
Unfortunately, Magsaysay's sweeping measures had made many enemies for him within the
government, and he resigned on February 28, 1953, later charging the Quirino Administration
with corruption and incompetence.
 Carlos Polistico García
4th President of the Third Republic of the Philippines
Birthdate: Nov. 4, 1896
Died: June 14. 1971
Term: (18 March 1957 – 30 December 1961)

Famous for his austerity program and policy. He maintained the strong tradition ties with the
United States and sought closer relation with non-communist Asian countries.

A Filipino teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist, organized
guerrilla and Commonwealth military leader, who was the eighth President of the Philippines.

Carlos P. Garcia, in full Carlos Polestico Garcia, (born November 4, 1896, Talibon,
Philippines—died June 14, 1971, Quezon City), fourth president of the Republic of the
Philippines. After graduating from law school in 1923, he became, successively, a
schoolteacher, representative in the Philippine Congress, governor of his province (Bohol), and
then (1941–53) senator. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II,
Garcia was active in the resistance movement. He was elected vice president on the ticket of
the Nacionalista Party in 1953 and was also minister of foreign affairs (1953–57). He became
president of the Philippines in March 1957, upon the death of Pres. Ramon Magsaysay, and
was elected to a full four-year term the same year. He maintained the strong traditional ties
with the United States and sought closer relations with noncommunist Asian countries. In the
election of November 1961 he was defeated by Vice Pres. Diosdado Macapagal.
 Diosdado Pangan Macapagal
Fifth President of the Third Republic of the Philippines
Birthdate: Sept. 28, 1910
Term: (30 December 1961 – 30 December 1965)

Poet, politician, lawyer, diplomat, statesman, economist,

and intellectual, Diosdado Macapagal was born poverty but
rose due to diligence and brilliance.

He is a son of poor tenant farmers. In 1929 he

entered the University of the Philippines, where he received an associate in arts degree in
1932. Meanwhile he worked part time with the Bureau of Lands. Macapagal was constantly
forced to interrupt his schooling for lack of funds. His brother-in-law Rogelio de la Rosa, with
whom he acted in and produced Tagalog operettas, helped him continue his education.
Macapagal entered the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, receiving his bachelor of laws
degree in 1936, his master of laws degree in 1941, and doctor of laws degree in 1947. He also
received a doctorate in economics in 1957. 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. 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.
 FERDINAND EMMANUEL
EDRALIN MARCOS
6th and last President of the Third
Republic of the Philippines
Birthdate: September 11, 1917
Died: September 28, 1989
Term: (30 December 1965 – 25 February 1986)

Philippine lawyer and politician who ruled by martial law and

was ousted by peaceful People Power Revolution in 1986.

Ferdinand Marcos, born on September 11, 1917, in Ilocos

Norte province, was a member of the Philippine House of
Representatives (1949-1959) and Senate (1959-1965) before winning the presidential election.
After winning a second term, he declared martial law in 1972, establishing with wife Imelda an
autocratic regime based on widespread favoritism that eventually lead to economic stagnation
and recurring reports of human rights violations. Marcos held onto the presidency until 1986,
when his people rose against his dictatorial rule and he was forced to flee. He died on
September 28, 1989 in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii. Marcos started as an attorney, then served in
the Philippine House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the Philippine Senate from
1959 to 1965. He was elected President in 1965, and presided over a growing economy during
the beginning and intermediate portion of his 20-year rule, but ended in loss of livelihood,
extreme poverty, and a crushing debt crisis. Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law
on September 23, 1972, during which he revamped the constitution, silenced the media, and
used violence and oppression[20] against the political opposition
From 1946 to 1947 Marcos was a technical assistant to Manuel Roxas, the first
president of the independent Philippine republic. He was a member of the House of
Representatives (1949–59) and of the Senate (1959–65), serving as Senate president (1963–
65). In 1965 Marcos, who was a prominent member of the Liberal Party founded by Roxas,
broke with it after failing to get his party’s nomination for president. He then ran as the
Nationalist Party candidate for president against the Liberal president, Diosdado Macapagal.
The campaign was expensive and bitter. Marcos won and was inaugurated as president on
December 30, 1965. In 1969 he was reelected, becoming the first Philippine president to serve
a second term. During his first term he had made progress in agriculture, industry, and
education..
 María Corazón Sumulong Cojuangco
First President of the Fifth Republic of the Philippines and the
First woman president in the Philippines
Birthdate: January 25, 1933
Term: (25 February 1986 – 30 June 1992)

Political leader and the First Woman President of the

Philippines, she succeeded her murdered husband, Benigo
“Ninoy” Aqino Jr. (a popular critic of the Marcos
administration), as a leader of the opposition to president
Ferdinand Marcos.

Maria Corazon "Cory" Cojuangco Aquino was a

Filipino politician who served as the 11th President of the
Philippines and became the first woman to hold that office. She was widely accredited as the
"Mother of Asian Democracy. 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.
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 Valdez Ramos
Second President of the Fifth Republic of the Philippines
Birthdate: March 18, 1928
Term: (30 June 1992 – 30 June 1998)

As head of the State his administration centrepiece program

is Philippines 2000; which aim to uplift the Philipiines as a
newly industrialized country by year 2000.

Gen. Fidel Valdez Ramos, AFP (Ret.) CCLH GCMG

(Hon.) born Fidel Ramos y Valdez; March 18, 1928),[2] popularly known as FVR and Eddie, is
a retired Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th President of the Philippines
from 1992 to 1998. During his six years in office, Ramos was widely credited and admired by
many for revitalizing and renewing international confidence in the Philippine economy. At age
90, he is currently the oldest living former Philippine President. Prior to his election as
president, Ramos served in the cabinet of President Corazón Aquino, first as chief-of-staff of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and later as Secretary of National Defense from
1986 to 1991.[3] He was the father of the Philippine Army's Special Forces and the Philippine
National Police Special Action Force.

During the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, Ramos was hailed as a hero by many
Filipinos for his decision to break away from the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos
and pledge allegiance and loyalty to the newly established government of President Aquino.
Thirty years later, he however shifted to the side of Rodrigo Duterte, who he persuaded to run
for president against Aquino's ally, Mar Roxas, and his nemesis, Miriam Defensor Santiago.
Ramos also supported the Philippine Drug War
 Jose Marcelo Ejercito
Thirteenth President of the Philippines
Third President of the Fifth Republic of the Philippines
Birthdate: April 5, 1947
Term: (30 June 1998 – 20 January 2001)

Filipino film and actor and director, later politician. He

resigned after the impeachment trial against him collapsed.

Joseph "Erap" Ejercito Estrada (born José Ejército y

Marcelo; born April 19, 1937) is a Filipino politician and former
actor who served as the 13th President of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001 and as the ninth
Vice President of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. In 2001, he became the first president in
Asia to be impeached from an executive role. He has been Mayor of the City of Manila, the
country's capital, since 2013.

Estrada gained popularity as a film actor, playing the lead role in over a hundred films in
an acting career spanning some three decades, and model, who was started as a fashion and
ramp model at the age of 13. He used his popularity as an actor to make gains in politics,
serving as Mayor of San Juan from 1969 to 1986, as Senator from 1987 to 1992, then as Vice-
President under President Fidel V. Ramos from 1992 to 1998.
 María Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal
Fourteenth President of the
Philippines
Fourth President of the Fifth
Republic of the Philippines
Birthdate: April 5, 1947
Term: (20 January 2001 – 30 June 2010)

The daughter of the late President Diosdado Macapagal. The

second woman to be swept into the Presidency by a peaceful
People Power Revolution (EDSA II)

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

Arroyo’s father, Diosdado P. Macapagal, was president of the Philippines from 1961 to
1965. Arroyo studied economics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she
began a lasting friendship with classmate and future U.S. president Bill Clinton. After returning
to the Philippines and graduating magna cum laude from Assumption College in Manila in
1968, Arroyo earned a master’s degree in economics (1978) from Ateneo de Manila University
and a doctorate in economics (1986) from the University of the Philippines in Quezon City.

Arroyo was a university professor when Pres. Corazon Aquino appointed her
undersecretary of trade and industry in 1986. She won a seat in the Senate in 1992 and was
reelected in 1995 by a record 16 million votes. She was elected vice president in 1998,
garnering more votes than the winner of the presidency, Joseph Estrada, who named Arroyo
secretary of social welfare and development. In 2000, however, a corruption scandal
enveloped Estrada, and on October 12 Arroyo resigned from the cabinet post to rally
opposition against him. Angry protesters drove Estrada from the presidential residence on
January 20, 2001, and Arroyo assumed power.
 Benigno Simeon
Cojuangco Aquino III
15th President of the Republic of the Philippines
Birthdate: February 8, 1960
Term: (30 June 2010 – 30 June 2016)

(Vice Governor of Tarlac Province) and Mother is former President Corazon Aquino. His
siblings are 5 (Noynoy is the third child and He has four sisters, Maria Elena (“Ballsy”), Aurora
Corazon (“Pinky”), Victoria Eliza (“Viel”), and Kristina Bernadette (“Kris”).

Aquino is a fourth-generation politician and the chairman of the Liberal Party from 2010
to 2016. Born in Manila, Aquino finished his Bachelor of Arts (major in economics) from Ateneo
de Manila University in 1981 and joined his family in their exile in the United States shortly
thereafter. He returned to the Philippines in 1983 shortly after the assassination of his father
and held several positions working in the private sector. In 1998, he was elected to the House
of Representatives as Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province. He was
subsequently re-elected to the House in 2001 and 2004.[4] In 2007, having been barred from
running for re-election to the House due to term limits, he was elected to the Senate in the 14th
Congress of the Philippines. On September 9, 2009, shortly after the death of his mother,
Aquino officially announced he would be a candidate in the 2010 presidential election. He was
elected and on June 30, 2010 was sworn into office as the fifteenth President of the Philippines
at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, Manila, succeeding Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He
stepped down at the end of his term on June 30, 2016, succeeded by Rodrigo Duterte.
 Rodrigo Duterte
16th President of the Republic of the Philippines
Birthdate: March 28, 1945
Term: (30 June 2016 – present)

President Rodrigo Duterte became a mayor in Davao for

7 terms (1988-1998; 2001-2010; 2013 to present –
equiavalent of 22 years). His parents are Former Governor in Davao Vicente G. Duterte and
Soledad “SOleng” Roa ( school teacher and civic leader) (died age 95; Feb 4, 2012)

Rodrigo Roa Duterte, KGCR, also known as Digong and Rody, is a Filipino politician
who is the 16th and current President of the Philippines and the first from Mindanao, the
southernmost major island group of the country, to hold the office. He is the chair of the ruling
PDP–Laban party. He went to San Beda College of Law. His spouse were Elizabeth
Zimmerman (m. 1973–2000), Honeylet Avanceña.

His project – Build-build project costs to trillions which primarily focuses on the
construction of different buildings, infrastructures, and different transportation line. War on
drugs has also been controversially spread in the whole country. Different campaigns for
peace have also been promoted by the president.