Republic of the Philippines

Tarlac State University

College of Education

Lucinda Campus

Administration of Carlos P. Garcia

Self Instruction

Module Approach

Submitted by:

Carl M. Fulloso

BSED IB

Submitted to:

Jose Angel D. Zaballa

August 2013
I. Tittle:

The Administration of Carlos P. Garcia

II. Objective:

- State the biography of Former President Carlos P. Garcia.

- Discuss the political career of Former President Carlos P. Garcia.
- Name all the member of the cabinet of the administration Carlos P. Garcia.
- Explain the “ Filipino First Policy” and its achievements.
- Enumerate the accomplishments of the administration Carlos P. Garcia.

III. Rationale:

- This module is intended for comprehensive insight about our Former

President Carlos P. Garcia, for the people to reminisce and appreciate all
the accomplishment of administration Carlos P. Garcia. It is also to bring
back all the memories and things he contributed to our country.
- This module is the result of extensive research and reconnaissance to
provide a sagacious output concerning the administration of Carlos P.
Garcia.

IV. Target Population:

- This module contains information all about the administration of President

Carlos P. Garcia which it can be considered as an effective educational
materials for teaching to all of students who enrolled in the different state
universities and colleges nationwide, and who taking up the social science
subjects as a requirement to pass their perspective courses especially for
BEED/ BSED particular the social studies major students enrolled in the
College of Education, Tarlac State University. Furthermore it can be
useful to all concerned Filipino citizen who are interested and willing to
learn about the life, educational attainment, political career, achievements,
projects and program of the administration of late President Carlos P.
Garcia. This module provides important information and details fitted to
all student and researchers who will conduct research projects ,
 investigatory that can be used as reference about the administration of
President Carlos P. Garcia.

VI. Learning cell:

Garcia was born in Talibon,Bohol, on November 4, 1896, to the spouses

Policronio Garcia and Ambrosia Polestico. It was undoubtedly from his father that
young Carlos inherited hid love of politics, because Policronio served as
municipial president or mayor of his town for four consecutive terms.Although
his father was not a native of Talibon, having first seen the light of day in
Bangued, Abra, son of the spouded Pablo Garcia ang Petrona Abila,who were oth
from the latter place, he was able to get himself elected as Talibon local executive
for four consecutive times a tribute to his qualities as a political leader.

Young Carlos studied first at the Talibon Elementary school and later at
the Cebu Provincial High School. Fired with an ambition to purdue higher
education, he enrolled at the Diliman University in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.
He subsequently took law at the Philippine Law School in Manila, for aside from
the fact that he was include to this profession, his great interest was in politics and
he knew that his being a lawyer would be the best springboard to that field.

As a students, Carlos always topped on his classes. He finished his

Bachelor of Law degree in 1923, as valedictatorian of his class. He was admitted
to the Philippine bar in the same year, passing the examinations among the first
ten.

A versatile man, Garcia was enamoured not only of law and politics but of
poetry, oratory and debating as well. In law school he copped the coveted
Malcolm four-year law scholarship.He excelled as a poet in the Cebuano dialect;
in tribute to his poetic gift he was given the appellation “Prince of Visayan Poets”
or “bard from Bohol.” Complementing this gift was his oratorical ability he used
this talents in his political career, accounting in no small measure for the
phenomenal success he achieved as a politician.
 After passing the bar, Garcia.instead of practicing his profession, taught at
Bohol Provincial High School for two years.

But politics was in the his blood and so in 1925 he launches his candidacy
for representative in the third district of Bohol. He won impressively over his
opponents. At the time, the Phillipines was still under American sovereignty.

In view of his creditable performance in the Legislature and his

democratic ways, which endeared him to the electorate, he was re-elected. He
served as representative until 1931.

Desiring to broaden his political experiences. He ran for provincial

governor of Bohol in the 1931 elections and was elected. So well did he acquit
himself as provincial chief executive that when he decided to run for re-election,
the people supported him again. After serving his province as governor for two
terms, he won a second re-election, thus serving as governor until 1940.

With the approach of the 1941 elections shortly before the outbreak of the
war between the United States and Japan, the Nacionalista Consolidado Party
headed by Quezon and Osmena began scouting for candidates of the Party for
senator. Twenty-four senators were to be elected at large by the entire Philippine
electorate, and the Party had to choose 24 candidates to represent the various
region of the country.

Garcia was chosen one of the 24 candidates of the Party, to represents

Eastern Visayas. His choice was evidently in recognition of his political record,
having been re-electionist representative and re-electionist governor for two and
three terms, respectively. After the votes were counted, he was among the 24
senators elected. Among those elected with him were Claro M. Recto, Manuel A.
Roxas, Elpidio Quirino, Jose Yulo, Quintin Paredes, and a host of others who
later made their mark in Philippine politics.

The outbreak of the Pacific War on December 8, 1941, howerver,

prevented the elected senators and congressmen from assuming office. So Garcia,
like the rest of the freedom loving Filipinos, took to the hills and engaged in the
guerrilla movement against the invading Imperila Japanese forces.

For refusing to serve under the Japanese despite their order for him to
surrender, a prize was fixed on his head. He had a close shave with the enemy
when the ship on which he and his father were sailing was wrecked. Fortunately
for them, they survived and escaped capture. Garcia was also on the “wanted list”
of a rival underground organization, but the taking over by Ruperto Kangleon of
the leadership of the Eastern Visayas as guerillas saved him from further
molestation and possible liquidation. In recognition of his leadership and loyalty
to the cause, President Manuel L. Quezon, who was in the United States in 1943
as head of the Philippine Commonwealth-in-exile, wrote a letter to Garcia
approving the civil government organized in Bohol during the Japanese
occupation, with Garcia as high adviser.

After the war, and with the re-establishment of the Commonwealth

Government, Garcia run for senator in 1946 under the Nacionalista Party banner
and came out. He was a member of the Upper House until 1953.

In 1953 the opposition Nacionalista Party picked Garcia as its candidate

for Vice President of the Phillipines, with Ramon Magsaysay as his running mate
for president. The team triumphed over the ruling Liberal Party.

In connection with his position as Senator from 1945 up to 1952, and as

Vice President from 1953 to March 1957, Garcia also had the following activities:

1. Missioner to Washington for the Philippine Rehabilitation and War

Damage Claims in 1945.
2. Delegates in 1945 to the World Conference in San Francisco,
which drafted the Charter of the United Nations.
3. Delegates to the South East Asia (SEA) Baguio Conference in
1950.
4. Delegate to the Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference in Dublin,
Ireland in 1950.
 5. Chairman of the Philippine delegation to Geneva Conference in
1954 for Korean Unification.
6. Presiding officer of the SEATO Conference in Manila in 1954,
which produces the Manila Treaty and the
Pacific Charter.
7. Chairman of the Philippines delegation to the SEATO Conference
in Pakistan in 1956 and in Canberra, Australia in 1957.
8. Vice President of the Nacionalista Party national directorate since
1947 and executive Vice President of the same Party since 1954 up
to the time of his death.

On March 17, 1957, while Garcia, who was then Vice President, was
attending the SEATO Conference in Canberra in his capacity as Secretary of
Foreign Affairs and chairman of the Philippine delegation, President Ramon
Magsaysay met a tragic death when his president plane, Pinatubo, crashed on Mt.
Manunggal in Cebu on its way back to Manila from Cebu City. Immediately the
Vice President was informed of the accident and he rushed home to mourn the
loss of his chief and at the same time to take his oath as the new President of his
country.

Sworn in as the fourth president of the Republic of the Philippines on

March 18, 1957, Garcia at once buckles down to work on the problems of state
left to him by the late Magsaysay. Lacking the glamour of his popular
predecessor, he was thought to be a weakling; people including his Partymates
dubbed him a “prisoners” of his party the “toy” of the Nacionalista bigwings. His
serene composure even under stress, coupled with his failure or refusal to crack
the party whip when his partymates believed he should do so, was mistaken for
weakness.

But Garcia showed all and sundry how badly his critics underestimated
him when, toward the end of 1957, at the national convention called by his party
to nominate its official candidate for President, he copped such nomination
without much difficulty. As he said, “A
President has to be pretty stupid not to get
his party’s nomination in the convention.
And I’m not stupid.”

In the election that followed in

November 1957, Garcia again showed his
critics, the doubting Thomases, how
erroneously they underrated him when he gave his presidential opponents – Jose
Yulo, Manuel Manahan, Claro M. Recto, Antonio Quirino – a sound thrashing.
He won over Yulo, his closest rival, by a majority of over 600,000 votes.

Garcia advocated a “ Filipino First Policy” under which the government

seeks to achieve economic independence by reducing imports and substituting
them with locally made products.

Cabinet of President Carlos P. Garcia

Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Cesar Fortich Secretary March 3, 1960. – December 1961

Juan de G. Rodriguez Secretary April 12, 1956 – August 1960

Department of Education, Culture and Sports

Jose E. Romero Secretary May 18, 1959 – September 4, 1962

Daniel Salcedo Secretary November 18, 1957 – December 28, 1959
Manuel Lim Secretary September 3, 1957 – November 17, 1957
Martin Aguilar, Jr. Secretary March 29, 1957 – September 2, 1957

Department of Finance

Dominador Aytona Secretary January 24, 1960 – December 29, 1961

 Department of Foreign Affairs

Felixberto M. Serrano Secretary August 22, 1957 – December 1961

Carlos P. Garcia Secretary March 10, 1954– August 1957

Department of Health

ElpidioValencia Secretary July 15, 1958 – December 31, 1961

Paulino J. Garcia Secretary March 17, 1957 – July 15, 1958

Department of Justice

Alejo R. Mabanag Secretary May 18,1959 – December 1961

Enrique Fernandez Secretary June 1959 – July 1959
Jesus G. Barrera Secretary April 1958 – June 1959
Pedro T. Tuazon Secretary March 10, 1954 – March 1958

Department of Labor and Employment

Angel Castano Secretary August 22 1957

Department of National Defense

Alejo S. Santos Secretary May 18, 1959 – December 30, 1961

Jesus M. Vargas Secretary August 28, 1957 – May 18, 1959
Eulogio B. Balao Secretary March 17, 1957 – August 28, 1957

The Department of Public Works, Transportation and Communications

Florencio Moreno Secretary 1957-1961

Department of Social Services and Development

Amparo Villamor Administrator 1960-1961

 Department of Commerce and Industry

Manuel Lim Secretary January 24, 1960-1962

Pedro C. Hernaez Secretary April 10, 1959 -1960

Executive Secretary

Natalio Castillo Executive Secretary January 24, 1960 – September 5, 1961

Juan Pajo Executive Secretary January 16, 1958 – August 28, 1959
Fortunato DeLeon Executive Secretary March 18, 1957 – December 30, 1957

As he prepared to go the hustings , however, he saw his party hopelessly

divided between itself. The President of the Nacionalista Party, Eulogio“ Amang”
Rodriguez, circulated a “White Paper” compiling the anomalies and irregularities
which he attributed to Garcia during the latter’s administration. The opposition
Liberal Party capitalized on this expose. Garcia lost the LP’s Diosdado
Macapagal, whose political star was then on the ascendancy.

FILIPINO – FIRST - POLICY AND INDUSTRIAL DISPERSAL

By Former President Carlos P. Garcia

One of the outstanding policies that characterized my administration as

President was historically knows as the “Filipino-First-Policy.” The important
objective was to make the Filipinos first and supreme in the national economic
household of the Philippines. For 400 years when we were under foreign
domination the economic policy of this country had been defined and carried out
principally for the benefit of the colonial power that at the time ruled us. But since
1946, when we regained independence and became a sovereign nation, we started
to define our national economic policy mainly for the benefit of the Filipino
people. It is not an easy task to carry out or implement this policy because the
roots of the foreign economic domination for 400 years penetrated so deep and
wide into our soil that in order to achieve quick results we have had to resort to
violent confiscatory measures of foreign properties, trample upon rights
guaranteed by the Constitution and incur the hostile attitude of all peoples and
governments of the world right at the start of our own independent existence.

True, the right of the sovereign Philippine nation to be first and supreme in
their economic household is legitimate and undeniable in the same way that the
Americans want to be supreme in the United States, the Japanese in Japan, the
Spaniards etc., but we have to do this respecting the constitutional rights of aliens.
It had to be a slow long-range policy.

The first important step in the long-range policy of Filipino-First was to

make the Philippines self-sufficient in the three greatest human needs of man –
food, clothing and shelter or housing. In making the Philippines self-sufficient in
food, the development of our agricultural economy should be sufficient. But in
making the Philippines self suffiicnet in shelter or housing, there is need of
developing our industries, especially textile and steel, In other words we have had
to develop an agr-industrial economy. With this orientation we started quite
aggressively towards the realization of the Filipino-first-policy.

What were the early achievements under this policy? The initial effort was
beamed towards self-suffiency in food. We harnessed the power of science by
establishing a Los Banos Agricultural College (UP), the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI). After five years of intensive scientific experimentation
high yielding varieties were found whereby our self-sufficiency in food was
obtained. It should be noted that the IRRI spread its blessings not only in the
Philippines but also in all the rice producing countries of Southeast Asia. Hence
the so-called Green Revolution in Asia.
 The second step was aimed at making the Philippines self-sufficient in
clothing. So the Filipinos were encouraged to go into textile industry by giving
them some preference in the allocation of our dollar reserves for the importation
of the required machineries and equipment. Another encouragement was in the
form of tax exemptions of new and necessary industries for at least 5 years. The
result was the establishment of a good number of textile manufacturing
companies the total productive capacity of which would be sufficient to supply
clothing for th entire Filipino people. Notwithstanding this we have not achieved
real and full self-sufficiency in clothing because the raw material which is cotton
is still imported, we have to have the cotton produced in our own country to
supply raw materials for our textile industry before we can claim self-sufficiency
in clothing. We tried to start big cotton plantations in Cotabato but this failed
because cotton requires at least two months of continuous dry season for
flowering and maturity but the rainful distribution in Cotabato is even throughout
the year hence the failure of the enterprise. This failure in Cotabato, however,
points out the national area for big scale cotton production is Northern Luzon
where there is a well-defined continuous dry season in certain parts of the year.

The third gigantic step is directed towards self-sufficiency in shelter or

building materials for housing. So the giant undertaking of establishing the Iligan
Integrated Steel Mill Inc. (IISMI) was started during my time. Why Iligan and not
elsewhere? Because the Maria Cristina Hydro-Electric Power House which has a
total electric power potential of 750,000 kilowatts is in Iligan, Lanao. This is the
biggest industrial power house in the Philippines. The total power capacity of
Maria Cristina has not yet been fully consumed and in case of full consumption
thereof, we can multiply the Maria Cristina power house at least 5 times along the
Agus river which is the only river-outlet of the great Lanao lake to Iligan bay.
This natural condition gives us good assurance that the IISMI and the other
industries in Iligan, Cagayan de Oro, Marawi and even Pagadian and surrounding
areas will have steady supply of industrial power for centuries.
 Let it not be forgotten that the steel industry is the mother industry of 101
other industries like the automotive industry, shipbuilding, electronics, general
construction, etc. With intensive effort in less than one decade or by 1980 the
Philippines will achieve self-sufficiency in shelter or housing. The rapid growth
of our population calls for great expansion of housing projects throughout the
country, and of course, this calls for rapid expansion of the steel industry, but it is
a great blessing of Divine Providence that right in Mindanao, that is Surigao, we
have the world’s biggest deposit of laterite ore thus assuring steel industry of the
steady supply of iron to keep it going for centuries.

What other things did the Filipino-First Policy achieve?

1. The MERALCO, a 100 percent Filipino enterprise acquired from the

American original owners used to be the biggest foreign public utility
and public service company in our country.

2. A Filipino concern acquired the Hacienda Luisita, Tarlac, one of the

biggest sugar haciendas in our country. It was owned by Tabacalera, a
Spanish Corporation.

3. Other smaller Spanish and British holdings were acquired by

Filipinos.

4. The first Filipino controlled oil corporations – FILOIL was

established under the Filipino-First-Policy with the help of our dollar
reserves.

5. We increased by 150,000 tons the Philippine bottoms engaged in

foreign shipping by means of acquiring from Japan 12 vessels of
12,500 tons each. These increased our participation as carriers of our
imports and exports from 2.2. percent before to 11 percent now. This
also led to the merger of small Filipino shipping companies engaged in
foreign shipping into a bigger corporation now known as the United
 Philippines Lines (UPL) which recently has acquired a new 80,000-ton
tanker, the biggest in Southeast Asia. We also doubled the tonnage for
inter-island shipping.

6. Those mentioned already like the IISMI and the textile industries.

One of the important elements of the Filipino-First-Policy is the so-called

policy of INDUSTRIAL DISPERSAL the objective of which is to check the
present tendency of concentrating industries in only one area like the Greater
Manila and on the contrary, to spread the industries to all the regions of the
Philippines according to the natural resources thereof.

It is a national danger to concentrate the industries in the Greater Manila

area because in time of war the destruction by nuclear weapons of this area would
mean the extinction of the entire Philippine war potential. But if the industries are
dispersed in all regions of the Philippines this country can hold out long after the
industrial area of Greater Manila is bombed out of existence. Another important
consideration is that under the present tendency to concentrate in Greater Manila,
the provinces are drained of their man-power whereas Greater Manila will have a
monstrous over-supply of man-power. The concentration of population in Manila
multiplies the social problems, the problem of unemployment, peace and order,
education, etc. and multiplies their complexity much faster than we can solve
them. But if the policy of INDUSTRIAL DISPERSAL were prosecuted
vigorously, the man-power of the province will be employed right in their native
region, the undeveloped or underdeveloped unatureal resources will be properly
exploited and conserved and a correct balance of distribution of population will be
established thereby easing up many social problems especially the problems of
unemployment, peace and order, housing etc. we may even in the process of
INDUSTRIAL DISPERSAL solve the problem of the pollution of environment.

Where are the probable sites of the industries under the policy of industrial
dispersal? The answer is: All regions of the Philippines depending upon their
natural resources. Among the most important of these are located in Mindanao
where the development is at a minimum and where the natural resources are at a
maximum. Let me cite the most important ones of which I have personal
knowledge, because these have been envisioned in Republic Act No. 3o34 known
as the Mindanao Development Authority (MDA) approved by Congress on June
17, 1961. The MDA had an authorized capitalization of P300M to be released in
10 years or P30M a year. The envisioned projects are:

I. The conversion of the land marshes of Cotabato roughly

100,000 hectares in area as the rice industry center of the Philippines.
Among the rice projects studied in connection with the negotiation
with Japan in the Reparations Treaty, the Cotabato area was found the
best,

a. because it was the biggest area,

b. because it is situated far outside the typhoon belt,

c. because it is naturally irrigated,

d. d because of its almost inexhaustible fertility with alluvial soil

deposited thereat by the Cotabato river for centuries,

e. because it is the natural rice granary of Southern Philippines

while the Central Luzon rice granary supplies food for the
population of Luzon

II. The development of the Maria Cristina and the Agus river as the
industrial power center of all Mindanao making possible the
establishment of electric trains throughout Mindanao. Even the
exploitation of the laterite mineral deposits of Surigao estimated to
contain five billion cubic meters of laterite ore including the industries
 in Iligand and Cagayan de Oro, Marawi and Pagadian and surround
areas will be powered by the Maria Cristina Power Center.

III. The exploitation of the laterite mineral deposits in Surigao

estimated to contain not less than 5 billion cubic meters of ore.

IV. Establishment of cultured pearl industry in Davao and Sulu.

V. The industrialization of logging and other forest resources into

finished products such as ships, plywood, furniture and wood arts,
pulp and paper especially newsprint paper etc., instead of exporting
them as raw logs and unmanufactured forest products.

I have not mentioned other regions in other parts of the Philippines not
because they are less important, but because they are fairly defined and fairly
developed like the sugar industry in Negros and other parts of Western Visayas
and Central Luzon, the coconut industry in the Eastern Visayas and the Southern
Luzon, the abaca industry in Bicol region and Davao, the tobacco industry of
Ilocos and Cagayan Valley and the possible cotton industry in the Ilocos region.
All that is needed in these areas is further industrialization of their products
instead of exporting them as raw materials.

With the full realization of the Filipino-First-Policy specially the

INDUSTRIAL DISPERSAL envisioning the exploitation of the the natural
resources of the regions, there is not a scintilla of doubt that the Philippines will
rise to be the most prosperous, the happiest, and the most stable leader of
progress in Southeast Asia.

But let us never lose sight of the fact that the realization fo this grand
vision requires that all the national administrations succeeding one another must
pursue the Filipino-First-Policy with unrelenting constancy and uninterrupted
consistency.
 I will therefore propose before the Constitutional Convention that in the
Article of the Constitution containing the Declaration of Principles, the Filipino-
First-Policy with industrial disposal be enunciated as a permanent policy of the
Republic of the Philippines.

It was also to his everlasting credit that, whatever might have been his
fault and shortcomings, he safeguards during his term the sanctity of the ballot
scrupulously and zealously. He did not allow the electoral process- the very heart
of democracy – to be tampered with, nor the popular will subverted, in any way.

This was evidence by the

fact that, while in 1957 he was
elected President when he was
already in power after the death of
Ramon Magsaysay whom he
succeeded by virtue of his being
Vice President; and in 1961, when
Garcia sought reelection, he also
lost to Macapagal, the minority
candidate, who bested him in the
presidential race, when he could
have easily tipped the balance in his favor, had he wanted to, by availing himself
of the powers of his office. But Garcia did not and he allowed the people to assert
themselves freely at the polls.
 May he, therefore, be hailed as a peerless devotee of democracy, a true
and confirmed champion of liberty – a distinction which, by itself alone, should
assure him an honored place in the rolls of our great men. Indeed, the fact that his
administration allowed holding of the free, clean, honest and orderly elections its
significant contribution to the country’s political development as a bastion of
democracy in the part of the world.

When the election of the delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention

was held, Garcia launched his candidacy in his old congressional district of
Bohol. His former constituents wholeheartedly support his bid. Thus elected, he
ran for President of the Constitutional Convention and came out. He took his oath
on June 11, 1971.

He had scarely warmed his post as Convention president, however, when

illness overtook him three days after his election. He died on June 14, 1971.
Surviving him were his widow, Mrs. Leonila (Inday) Dimataga- Garcia, a
pharmacist from Opon, Cebu, graduate of the School of Pharmacy, University of
Santo Thomas; and their only daughter, Linda Garcia-Campos.

Had Garcia lived long enough to witness the events during Marcos’
authoritarian rule, he probably would have been one of the latter’s bitterest critics.
For Garcia was a devout lover of democracy and freedom, and his conscience
would not have allowed him to remain silent in the face of so much tyranny and
oppression. If his past pronouncements and record of service especially during the
Japanese occupation are any indication, he would have come out openly against
the manner in which the elections and referenda under Marcos had been rigged to
favor the latter’s candidates and ensure approval of his announced program of
government. For doing so, Garcia would have incureed the ire and displeasure of
the previous regime, perhaps even to the extent of being considered among those
who deserved to be eliminated from the political scene in one way or another.
Summary:

On March 18, 1957, the day after Magsaysay’s tragic death, Vice
President Carlos P. Garcia took his oath as fourth president of the Third
Philippine Republic. He continues the unexpired term of President Magsaysay. In
the presidential race of November 13, 1957, President Garcia ran with Jose P.
Laurel, Jr. as candidate of the Nacionalista Party against Jose Yulo and Diosdado
Macapagal, the presidential team of the Liberal Party. Garcia won the presidency
with Macapagal as vice president. It was the first time that the Filipinos voted for
the president and vice president belonging to opposite parties.

President Garcia was sworn in as fourth president of the Third Philippine

Republic on December 30, 1957. He was not popular as Magsaysay but he fared
well with his intelligence and eloquence.

President Garcia carried on the good policies of Magsaysay including the

latter’s uncompromising stand for democracy. His own program of government
was characterized by austerity. To the president, austerity is temperate spending,
more work, more productive investments and efficiency. It also meant less import,
less extravagant consumptions.

One of the outstanding achievements of President Garcia was the adoption

of the “Filipino First Policy” to promote greater Filipino participation in business.
The policy gave preferences to Filipinos in commercial and industrial activities as
well as in foreign exchange for imports, which adversely affected American and
other foreign interests in the country. In 1959, he was able to obtain the reduction
of the 99-year lease of American bases to 25 years subject to renewal or
termination by mutual consent and consultation with the Philippine government
on the operational use of American bases in the Philippines.

In the presidential election of November 14, 1961, President Garcia lost

his reelection bid to Vice President Macapagal. The Liberal Party was back to
power once more.
 Ex-President Garcia went into retirement after his presidential term in
1961. However, the nation chose to call him a new to another public service of
historic value, as delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1971. Because of
his rich legislative experience, he was elected president of the Constitutional
Convention, it was the convention that amended the 1935 Constitutional and
drafted a new Constitution which was allegedly ratified in 1973. President Garcia
did not live long to see the completion of the Magna Carta, when death claimed
him at 6:00 p.m. of June 14, 1972. 72 hours after he took his oath as president of
the Constitutional Convention. Ex-President Diosdado Macapagal was elected on
June 29, 1971 to succeed Garcia as Convention president.