Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (Tagalog pronunciation: [makapaˈɡal ɐˈɾɔjɔ], born April 5,

1947),[4] often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipina academic and politician who served as
the 14th president of the Philippines from 2001 until 2010. She is the longest serving President of
the Philippines in the post-Marcos era. Before her accession to the presidency, she served as
the 10th vice president of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, and was a senator from 1992 to 1998.
After her presidency, she was elected as the representative of Pampanga's 2nd district in 2010 and
later became the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2018 until her retirement in 2019.
She is the first woman to hold two of the highest offices in the country: Vice President and Speaker
of the House.[5]
The daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal, she studied economics at Georgetown
University in the United States, where she began a lasting friendly relationship with her classmate
and future U.S. President Bill Clinton.[6] She then became a professor of economics at Ateneo de
Manila University, where her eventual successor, President Benigno Aquino III, was one of her
students. She entered government in 1987, serving as the assistant secretary and undersecretary of
the Department of Trade and Industry upon the invitation of President Corazon Aquino, Benigno's
mother. After serving as a senator from 1992 to 1998, she was elected to the vice presidency under
President Joseph Estrada, despite having run on an opposing ticket.
After Estrada was accused of corruption, she resigned her cabinet position as Secretary of Social
Welfare and Development and joined the growing opposition against the president, who faced
impeachment. Estrada was soon forced out from office by the Second EDSA Revolution in 2001,
and Arroyo was sworn into the presidency by Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. on January 20 that
year. In 2003, the Oakwood mutiny occurred after signs of a martial law declaration were seen under
her rule.[7][8] She was elected to a full six-year term in the controversial 2004 presidential election, and
was sworn in on June 30, 2004. Following her presidency, she was elected to the House of
Representatives through her home district, making her the second Philippine president—after José
P. Laurel—to pursue a lower office after their presidency.
On November 18, 2011, Arroyo was arrested and held at the Veterans Memorial Medical
Center in Quezon City under charges of electoral sabotage[9][10] but released on bail in July 2012.
These charges were later dropped for lack of evidence. She was rearrested in October 2012, on
charges of misuse of $8.8 million in state lottery funds.[11] She was given a hospital arrest, allegedly
due to "life-threatening health conditions" certified by her doctors.[12] On July 19, 2016, she was
acquitted by the Supreme Court by a vote of 11-4 under the administration of her ally, Rodrigo
Duterte.[13] Also, the Supreme Court declared the DOJ's hold departure order unconstitutional.[14]
[15]
 Her lawyers afterwards stated that Arroyo no longer needed her medical paraphernalia, releasing
her from the hospital.[16]