Diosdado P.

Macapagal

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Diosdado P. Macapagal

Diosdado P. Macapagal (1910-1997) was the fifth president

of the Republic of the Philippines. He was instrumental in
initiating and executing the Land Reform Code, which was
designed to solve the centuries-old land tenancy problem,
the principal cause of the Communist guerrilla movement in
central Luzon.

Diosdado Macapagal (/people/history/philippines-history-biographies/diosdado-macapagal)

was born on Sept. 28, 1910, the 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.

Early Career And Government Service

In 1941 Macapagal worked as legal assistant to President Quezon and as professor of law in the
University of Santo Tomas. A claim is made that he served as an intelligence agent for the
guerrillas during the Japanese occupation, but this period of his life has not been well
documented.

In 1946 Macapagal served as assistant and then as chief of the legal division in the Department
of Foreign Affairs. In 1948 he was second secretary to the Philippine embassy in Washington and
in 1949 became counselor on legal affairs and treatises in the Department of Foreign Affairs. In
1949 he was elected representative of the first district of Pampanga Province on the ticket of the
Liberal party. In 1953 he was the only Liberal party member to win reelection.
Macapagal attained worldwide distinction in 1951, when, as chairman of the Philippine UN
delegation, he conducted a debate with Soviet foreign minister Andrei Vishinsky. In November
1957 Macapagal was elected vice president, receiving 116,940 more votes than the total
received by the elected president, Carlos P. Garcia. In December Macapagal became the titular
head of the Liberal party. In spite of his rank as vice president and because he belonged to the
opposition party, Macapagal was treated as a complete outsider; he was barred from Cabinet
meetings and was assigned routine ceremonial duties. Consequently, Macapagal denounced the
graft and corruption in the Garcia administration and toured the country campaigning for the
next election.

On Jan. 21, 1961, Macapagal was chosen as Liberal party candidate for president. Rallying the
masses in the villages and towns, he elaborated a familiar motif in his speeches: "I come from
the poor…Let me reap for you the harvest of the poor. Let us break the chain of poverty…"

Performance As President

Macapagal became president on Nov. 14, 1961, defeating Garcia. In his inaugural statement he
declared: "I shall be president not only of the rich but more so of the poor. We must help bridge
the wide gap between the poor man and the man of wealth, not by pulling down the rich to his
level as Communism desires, but by raising the poor towards the more abundant life." With his
naivetéand paternalistic attitude, Macapagal vowed to open Malakanyang Palace, the
presidential residence, to all the citizens. He canceled the inaugural ball and issued a decree
forbidding any member of his family or of his wife's to participate in any business deals with the
government. He dismissed corrupt officials and started court action against those who could
not explain their sudden acquisition of wealth. He changed the date that Filipinos celebrate their
independence to June 12 from July 4. In 1898, Filipino revolutionaries had declared
independence from Spain on June 12; July 4 was the date the Philippines were declared
independent by the United States (/places/united-states-and-canada/us-political-
geography/united-states) after World War II (/history/modern-europe/wars-and-battles/world-
war-ii).

Macapagal aimed to restore morality to public life by concentrating on the elevation of the living
standard of the masses. Addressing Congress in 1962, he formulated the objectives of his
socioeconomic programs as, first, the immediate restoration of economic stability; second, the
alleviation of the common man's plight; and third, the establishment of a "dynamic basis for
future growth." Unfortunately, Macapagal's friends in the oligarchy and the privileged minority in
Congress and business soon began parading their lavish wealth in conspicuous parties, junkets,
and anomalous deals.

On Jan. 21, 1962, Macapagal abolished the economic controls that had been in operation since
1948. He devalued the Philippine peso by setting its value according to the prevailing free market
rate instead of by government direction. He lifted foreign exchange (/social-sciences-and-
law/economics-business-and-labor/money-banking-and-investment/foreign-exchange) controls
and reduced tariff rates on essential consumer goods. Seeking to remedy the problem of
unemployment, he took steps to decentralize the economy and at the same time encourage
commerce and industry in the provinces. He also proposed decentralization in government by
investing greater power in provincial and local governments as a step essential to the growth of
democratic institutions. He also suggested the establishment of eight regional legislatures with
power to levy taxes.

Land Reform Program

To ameliorate the plight of the Filipino peasant in the face of vast population growth, Macapagal
instituted a public land clearance program to make new farmlands available for immediate use.
The product of his concern for the impoverished majority was the Land Reform Code of Aug. 8,
1963, which sought to replace the abusive and unjust tenancy system inherited from colonial
times by the leasehold system, affording full government protection to the leaseholder. The
positive result obtained in 1966 demonstrated the value of the land reform program in materially
improving the local living conditions of the rural poor.

Foreign Policy

Macapagal's foreign policy displayed an eccentric course. On the one hand, he affirmed that he
would never recognize Communist China despite what the United States (/places/united-
states-and-canada/us-political-geography/united-states) or other nations might decide. On the
other, he criticized in May 1962 the United States support of Laos neutralists as "a species of
sophistry that can only weaken the defense of the free world."
In June 1962 Macapagal registered a claim of Philippine sovereignty over British North Borneo
(Sabah). In July he proposed the establishment of a greater Malayan confederation which would
supersede the British-sponsored plan for the Federation of Malaysia. This would be a step
toward ultimate establishment of a Pan-Asian Union. Macapagal initiated the Manila Accord of
July 31, 1963, signed by himself, President Sukarno of Indonesia, and Abdul Rahman of Malaya;
on August 6 the three chiefs of state issued the Manila Declaration toward the establishment of
Maphilindo, designed to set up closer ties between the three countries in their collective fight
against neocolonialism. This plan broke up with the formation on Aug. 1, 1964, of the Federation
of Malaysia by the Malayan and British governments.

Although Macapagal prided himself in being the "conscience of the common man," he failed in
preventing his administration from being wrecked by the Stonehill scandal of 1962, which
revealed massive government corruption and racketeering that involved almost the whole
bureaucracy and Congress. Despite Macapagal's so-called incorruptibility, he failed to solve
decisively the major social and economic problems of the nation. He lost his bid for re-election in
1965 to Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled for the next 20 years. However, Macapagal's political
legacy lives on in his daughters, both of whom followed him into politics: Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo (/people/history/philippines-history-biographies/gloria-macapagal-arroyo) is a Filipino
senator, and Cielo Macapagal-Salgado is vice-governor of Pampanga, her father's home
province. Macapagal also had two sons, Arturo and Diosdado, Jr.

He died in Manila on April 21, 1997 of heart failure. He was 86.

 Further Reading

The only official biography of Macapagal in print is Quentin J.Reynolds and Geoffrey Bocca,
Macapagal, the Incorruptible (1965). For a just estimate of Macapagal's administration see
Teodoro A. Agoncillo and Oscar Alfonso, A Short History of the Filipino People (1969).

Additional Sources

"Diosdado Macapagal (/people/history/philippines-history-biographies/diosdado-macapagal),

ex-Philippine Leader," Newsday, April 23, 1997, p. 13.

Reuters News Service, April 21, 1997.

Macapagal, Diosdado, A Stone for the Edifice; Memoirs of a President, Quezon City, Philippines,
Mac Publishing, c1968. □

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Diosdado Macapagal

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