Name: DELA CRUZ, MICHAELA E.

Prof: MR. CHRISTOPHER FIGUEROA

Subject: READINGS IN PHLIPPINE HISTORY
Schedule: MW 10:00AM-11:30AM

RANKING OF THE
PHILIPPINE PRESIDENTS
Ranking of Philippine Presidents

1. Ramon Magsaysay
2. Manuel L. Quezon
3. Emilio Aguinaldo
4. Rodrigo Duterte
5. Jose P. Laurel
6. Diosdado Macapagal
7. Carlos P. Garcia
8. Corazon Aquino
9. Elpidio Quirino
10. Ferdinand Marcos
11. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
12. Fidel V. Ramos
13. Sergio Osmena
14. Benigno Simeon Aquino III
15. Joseph Ejercito Estrada
16. Manuel Roxas
 Emilio Aguinaldo, (born March 22/23, 1869, near Cavite, Luzon, Philippines—
died February 6, 1964, Quezon City), Filipino leader and politician who fought
first against Spain and later against the United States for the independence of the
Philippines.
Aguinaldo was of Chinese and Tagalog parentage. He attended San Juan de Letrán
College in Manila but left school early to help his mother run the family farm. In
August 1896 he was mayor of Cavite Viejo (present-day Kawit; adjacent to Cavite
city) and was the local leader of the Katipunan, a revolutionary society that fought
bitterly and successfully against the Spanish. In December 1897 he signed an
agreement called the Pact of Biac-na-Bató with the Spanish governor general.
Aguinaldo agreed to leave the Philippines and to remain permanently in exile on condition of a substantial
financial reward from Spain coupled with the promise of liberal reforms. While first in Hong Kong and then in
Singapore, he made arrangements with representatives 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 returned to the Philippines May 19, 1898, and announced renewal of the struggle with Spain. The
Filipinos, who declared their independence of Spain on June 12, 1898, proclaimed a provisional republic, of
which Aguinaldo was to become 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, which was signed on December 10, 1898.
Relations 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 declared a republic and which had been
approved by the assembly and by Aguinaldo—was proclaimed. Aguinaldo, who had been president of the
provisional government, was elected president.
On the night of February 4 the inevitable conflict between the Americans and Filipinos surrounding Manila was
precipitated. By the morning of February 5 the Filipinos, who had fought bravely, had been defeated at all points.
While the fighting was in progress, Aguinaldo issued a proclamation of war against the United States, which
immediately sent reinforcements to the Philippines. The Filipino government fled northward. In November 1899
the Filipinos resorted to guerrilla warfare.

After three years of costly fighting the insurrection was finally brought to an end when, in a daring operation on
March 23, 1901, led by Gen. Frederick Funston, Aguinaldo was captured in his secret headquarters at Palanan in
northern Luzon. Aguinaldo took an oath of allegiance to the United States, was granted a pension from the U.S.
government, and retired to private life.
In 1935 the commonwealth government of the Philippines was established in preparation for independence.
Aguinaldo ran for president, but he was decisively beaten. He returned to private life until the Japanese invaded
the Philippines in December 1941. The Japanese used Aguinaldo as an anti-American tool. He made speeches
and signed articles. In early 1942 he addressed a radio appeal to U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur—who at that time
was with the U.S. garrison holding out against the Japanese on Corregidor Island—to surrender (the troops there
did surrender in May 1942, but MacArthur had already been evacuated).
The Americans returned to the Philippines in late 1944, and, after they had retaken Manila in 1945, Aguinaldo
was arrested. He and others accused of collaboration with the Japanese were imprisoned for some months before
they were released by presidential amnesty. In 1950 Aguinaldo was appointed by Pres. Elpidio Quirino as a
member of the Council of State. In his later years he devoted much attention to veterans’ affairs, the promotion
of nationalism and democracy in the Philippines, and the improvement of relations between the Philippines and
the United States.
 Manuel Quezon, in full Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, (born Aug. 19, 1878,
Baler, Phil.—died Aug. 1, 1944, Saranac Lake, N.Y., U.S.), Filipino statesman,
leader of the independence movement, and first president of the Philippine
Commonwealth established under U.S. tutelage in 1935.

Quezon was the son of a schoolteacher 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 modeled 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.

Quezon fought for passage of the Tydings–McDuffie Act (1934), which provided for full independence for the
Philippines 10 years after the creation of a constitution and the establishment of a Commonwealth government
that would be the forerunner of an independent republic. Quezon was elected president of the newly formulated
Commonwealth on Sept. 17, 1935. As president he reorganized the islands’ military defense (aided by Gen.
Douglas MacArthur as his special adviser), tackled the huge problem of landless peasants in the countryside who
still worked as tenants on large estates, promoted 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 built in a 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 nations, and wrote his autobiography, The Good Fight
(1946). Quezon died of tuberculosis before full Philippine independence was established.
 José P. Laurel, in full José Paciano Laurel, (born March 9, 1891, Tanauan, Luzon,
Philippines—died November 6, 1959, Manila), 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.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (December 1941), and the subsequent Japanese assault
on the Philippines, Laurel stayed in Manila; President Manuel Quezon had escaped, first to the Bataan Peninsula
and then to the United States. Laurel 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 each time he recovered. In July 1946 he was charged
with dozens of counts of treason, but he never stood trial; he shared in a general amnesty declared by President
Manuel Roxas in April 1948.

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.
 Sergio Osmeña, (born Sept. 9, 1878, Cebu City, Phil.—died Oct. 19, 1961,
Manila), 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.

Osmeña remained leader of the Nationalists until 1921, when he was succeeded by Manuel Quezon, who had
joined him in a coalition. Made speaker of the House of Representatives 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 measure of independence. The following year
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 served 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.
 Manuel Roxas, (born Jan. 1, 1892, Capiz, Phil.—died April 15, 1948, Clark Field,
Pampanga), political leader and first president (1946–48) of the independent
Republic of the Philippines.

After studying law at the University of the Philippines, near Manila, Roxas began
his political career in 1917 as a member of the municipal council of Capiz (renamed
Roxas in 1949). He was governor of the province of Capiz in 1919–21 and was
then elected to the Philippine House of Representatives, 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 the 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 (1938–40).

During World War II Roxas served in the pro-Japanese government of José 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 MacArthur. 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 restrictions for Philippine citizens,
and special privileges for U.S. property owners and investors. 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 died in office in 1948 and was succeeded by his vice president, Elpidio Quirino.
 Elpidio Quirino, (born Nov. 16, 1890, Vigan, Phil.—died Feb. 28, 1956,
Novaliches), political leader and second president of the independent Republic of
the Philippines.

After obtaining a law degree from the University of the Philippines, near Manila,
in 1915, Quirino practiced law until he was elected a member of the Philippine
House of Representatives in 1919–25 and a senator in 1925–31. 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.
Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Philippine Commonwealth and Independence Act on March 24, 1934.
Standing behind him (left to right) are Wyoming Democratic Sen. Joseph O'Mahoney, Secretary of War George
H. Dern, Filipino Sen. Elpidio Quirino, Filipino leader and future president Manuel Quezon, Maryland
Democratic Sen. Millard E. Tydings, and Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs C.F. Cox.

After World War II, Quirino served as secretary of state and vice president under the first president of the
independent Philippines, Manuel Roxas. When Roxas died on April 15, 1948, Quirino succeeded to the
presidency. The following year, he was elected president for a four-year term on the Liberal Party ticket, defeating
the Nacionalista candidate.
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 negotiations 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 Luzon, and Quirino appointed the able
Ramon Magsaysay as secretary 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 elections,
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.
 Ramon Magsaysay, (born Aug. 31, 1907, Iba, Phil.—died March 17, 1957, near
Cebu), president of the Philippines (1953–57), best known for successfully
defeating the communist-led Hukbalahap (Huk) movement.

The son of an artisan, Magsaysay was a schoolteacher in the provincial town of Iba
on the island of Luzon. Though most Philippine political leaders were of Spanish
descent, Magsaysay was of Malay stock, like most of the common people. Working
his way through José Rizal College near Manila, he obtained a commercial degree
in 1933 and became general manager of a Manila transportation company. After
serving as a guerrilla leader on Luzon during World War II, he was appointed
military governor of his home province, Zambales, 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 antiguerrilla 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 the 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 charged 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. Romulo, 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 interests 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. Nevertheless,
he remained extremely popular and had a well-deserved 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 Sept. 8, 1954. Before the expiration of his term as president,
Magsaysay was killed in an airplane crash; he was succeeded by the vice president, Carlos P. Garcia.
 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 Macapagal, (born Sept. 28, 1910, Lubao, Phil.—died April 21, 1997,
Makati, Phil.), reformist president of the Philippines from 1961 to 1965.

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 he
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 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.

In 1972 he chaired the convention that drafted the 1973 constitution, but in 1981 he questioned the validity of its
ratification. In 1979 he organized the National Union for Liberation as an opposition party to the Marcos regime.
 Ferdinand Marcos, in full Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, (born September 11, 1917,
Sarrat, Philippines—died September 28, 1989, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.), Philippine
lawyer and politician who, as head of state from 1966 to 1986, established an
authoritarian regime in the Philippines that came under criticism for corruption and
for its suppression of democratic processes.
Marcos attended school in Manila and studied law in the late 1930s at the
University of the Philippines, near that 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 and won
acquittal a year later. He became a trial lawyer in Manila. During World War II he
was an officer with the Philippine armed forces. Marcos’s later claims of having
been a leader in the Filipino guerrilla resistance movement were a central factor in
his 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 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. Yet his administration was troubled by increasing student
demonstrations and violent urban guerrilla activities.

On September 21, 1972, Marcos imposed martial law on the Philippines. Holding that communist and subversive
forces had 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 People’s Army) and Muslim separatists (notably of the Moro National Liberation
Front) undertook guerrilla activities intended to bring down the central government. Under martial law the
president assumed extraordinary powers, including the ability to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. Marcos
announced the end of martial law in January 1981, but he continued to rule in an authoritarian fashion under
various constitutional formats. He won election to the newly created post of president against token opposition
in June 1981.
Marcos’s wife from 1954 was Imelda Romuáldez Marcos, a former beauty queen. Imelda became a powerful
figure after the institution of martial law in 1972. She was often criticized for her appointments of relatives to
lucrative governmental and industrial positions while she held the posts of governor of Metropolitan Manila
(1975–86) and minister of human settlements and ecology (1979–86).
Marcos’s later years in power were marred by rampant government corruption, economic stagnation, the steady
widening of 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’s health was beginning to fail, and opposition to his rule was growing. Hoping to present an
alternative to both Marcos and the increasingly powerful New People’s Army, Benigno Aquino, Jr., returned to
Manila on August 21, 1983, only to be shot dead as he stepped off the airplane. The assassination was seen as the
work of the government and touched off massive antigovernment protests. 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 elections to be held in 1986. But a formidable political opponent soon
emerged in Aquino’s widow, Corazon 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. Deeply discredited at home and abroad by
his dubious electoral victory, Marcos held fast to his presidency as the Philippine military split between supporters
of his and of Aquino’s legitimate right to the presidency. A tense standoff that ensued between the two sides
ended only when Marcos fled the country on February 25, 1986, at U.S. urging. He went into exile in Hawaii,
where he remained until his death.
Evidence emerged that during his years 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, but in 1990 (after Marcos’s
death) Imelda was acquitted of all charges by a federal court. She was allowed to return to the Philippines in
1991, and in 1993 a Philippine court found her guilty of corruption (the conviction was overturned in 1998).
 Corazon Aquino, in full Maria Corazon Aquino, née Maria Corazon Cojuangco ,
(born January 25, 1933, Tarlac province, Philippines—died August 1, 2009,
Makati), Philippine political leader who served as president (1986–92) of the
Philippines, restoring democratic rule in that country after the long dictatorship of
Ferdinand Marcos.

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.

When Ferdinand E. Marcos unexpectedly called for presidential elections in February 1986, Corazon Aquino
became the unified opposition’s presidential candidate. 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 Philippine military soon publicly renounced Marcos’s 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 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 Ramos, in full Fidel Valdez Ramos, byname Eddie Ramos, (born March 18,
1928, Lingayen, Phil.), military leader and politician who was president of the
Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was generally regarded as one of the most
effective presidents in that nation’s history.

Ramos was educated at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and at the
University of Illinois, U.S. He then entered the Philippine army, serving in Korea
and Vietnam. In 1972 President Ferdinand Marcos (who was Ramos’ second
cousin) appointed him chief of the Philippine Constabulary, and when Marcos
imposed martial law later that year Ramos was responsible for enforcing it; the
Constabulary arrested thousands of political dissidents. In 1981 Ramos became deputy chief of staff of the armed
forces.

After the presidential elections of 1986, in which Marcos claimed victory despite allegations of large-scale
electoral fraud, Ramos and defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile supported Marcos’ opponent, Corazon Aquino.
Their defection sparked the civilian “People Power” movement that forced Marcos into exile. During Aquino’s
presidency Ramos served as military chief of staff (1986–88) and secretary of national defense (1988–91), and
he suppressed several military coup attempts against her government.

Ramos was elected to succeed Aquino in May 1992. As president he purged the national police force of corrupt
officers; encouraged family-planning practices to curb the growth of the country’s population; and liberalized the
Philippines’ heavily protected economy in order to spur economic growth. Ramos’ governing coalition won a
decisive victory in congressional elections held in 1995, midway through his six-year term as president. His
administration reached peace agreements with two long-active guerrilla insurgencies, the communist New
People’s Army and the Muslim separatists of the Moro National Liberation Front. He meanwhile continued his
efforts to deregulate major industries that were dominated by a handful of large companies and to improve the
government’s inefficient tax-collection system. These reforms helped revitalize the Philippines’ economy, which
emerged from years of stagnation to grow at a rapid rate in 1994–97. The country was thus able to weather a
severe business downturn that crippled national economies across Southeast Asia in 1998. Ramos was
constitutionally restricted to one term as president, which ended in June 1998.
 Joseph Estrada, original name Joseph Ejercito, (born April 19, 1937, Manila,
Philippines), Filipino actor and politician who served as president of the
Philippines (1998–2001) and later mayor of Manila (2013– ).

The son of a government engineer, Estrada entered the Mapua Institute of

Technology with the intention of following in his father’s footsteps, but he
eventually dropped out to become a film actor. Forbidden by his parents to use the
family name, he adopted the screen name Erap Estrada. He played the lead in more
than 100 movies, usually portraying a swashbuckling tough guy who defends the poor against the corrupt
establishment. He also produced some 75 films.

In 1968 Estrada entered politics, successfully running for the mayorship of the Manila suburb of San Juan, a post
he retained until 1986. In 1969 he was elected to the Senate. In 1992 he ran for vice president on the National
People’s Coalition ticket. Although the party’s presidential candidate, Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr., lost the election
to Fidel Ramos, Estrada won the vice presidential contest.
In 1998 Estrada ran for president, though his candidacy faced significant opposition. Ramos, who was
constitutionally barred from running for a second term, endorsed House Speaker José de Venecia, and many of
the country’s powerful businessmen opposed Estrada’s populist proposals. The Roman Catholic Church denied
Estrada its support because he had admitted to having fathered four children by women other than his wife.
However, he did have the support of Imelda Marcos, the widow of former president Ferdinand Marcos and then
a member of Congress, and he enjoyed a devoted following among the country’s poor. Estrada managed to
capture nearly 40 percent of the vote, handily defeating his nearest rival, de Venecia, who garnered only 15.9
percent. The margin of victory was the largest in a free election in the history of the Philippines, and Estrada was
officially declared president by Congress on May 29, 1998.
Estrada’s tenure as president was short-lived, however, as a corruption scandal erupted in October 2000 when a
fellow politician claimed that Estrada had accepted millions of dollars worth of bribes. In November the
Philippine Senate began an impeachment trial, but it was abandoned after some senators blocked the admission
of evidence. On Jan. 20, 2001, Estrada was ousted amid mass protests, and his vice president, Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo, ascended to the presidency. Later that year Estrada was brought to trial on charges of plunder (large-
scale corruption) and accused of having procured more than $80 million through bribes and corrupt dealings.
Estrada denied the accusations, calling them politically motivated, and he remained relatively popular in the
Philippines despite the charges. In September 2007 he was convicted of plundering and sentenced to a maximum
of 40 years in prison. The following month, however, Estrada was pardoned by Arroyo. In October 2009 he
announced his candidacy for president, but he was defeated in the May 2010 elections by Benigno S. Aquino III
(son of Benigno Aquino, Jr., and Corazon Aquino).

In 2013 Estrada ran for mayor of Manila and defeated the incumbent, Alfredo Lim. After taking office later that
year, he faced a number of issues, notably the city’s debt and inability to pay for basic services. In order to raise
revenue, he sharply raised property taxes. Estrada faced a serious challenge from Lim in the 2016 elections but
narrowly won a second term.
 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.

Arroyo brought an unprecedented academic and administrative background to the Philippines presidency, but her
tenure was plagued by political unrest. Just months after she took office, some 20,000 supporters of Estrada
stormed the gates of the presidential palace. Several people were killed, and Arroyo declared a “state of rebellion”
that lasted five days. In 2003 disaffected soldiers seized a Manila apartment building and demanded Arroyo’s
resignation; the attempted coup was suppressed peacefully. Promising to reduce corruption and improve the
economy, Arroyo was reelected president in 2004. However, accusations that she rigged the election emerged the
following year and resulted in a failed attempt at impeachment. In 2006 Arroyo declared a countrywide state of
emergency after a military coup was blocked; the state of emergency was lifted after about one week. Terrorism
was also a concern for Arroyo’s administration. Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist group that sought a separate Islamic state
in the southern Philippines, was responsible for a number of attacks, including the 2004 bombing of a ferry that
killed more than 100 people.

In late 2009, after members of a politically powerful clan in Mindanao were implicated in the massacre of a
political opponent and his entourage there, Arroyo briefly declared martial law in the region. She also renounced
ties with the clan, which until then had been a political ally. Constitutionally barred from seeking another six-
year presidential term, she ran for and won a seat in the House of Representatives in the May 2010 presidential
and parliamentary elections.

Arroyo subsequently was investigated for various alleged crimes, and in 2011 the government barred her from
leaving the country to seek medical treatment. In November she was arrested on charges of having committed
electoral fraud during the 2007 Senate election. She pleaded not guilty in February 2012. The following month,
however, new allegations were brought which stated that she and her husband had accepted bribes from a Chinese
telecommunications company in 2007. She was released from custody on bail in July 2012. Later that year Arroyo
was arrested for allegedlyhaving misused state lottery funds while president. At the time she was in a Manila
hospital, and she remained there until the country’s Supreme Court dismissed the charges in July 2016. Arroyo,
who had been reelected to Congress in May, resumed her political career. An important ally of Pres. Rodrigo
Duterte, she was elected speaker of the House of Representatives in 2018.
 Benigno Aquino III, in full Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, also called
Noynoy, (born February 8, 1960, Manila, Philippines), Filipino politician who
served as president of the Philippines (2010–16) and was the scion of a famed
political family.

He was the son of Corazon Aquino, who served as president of the Philippines
(1986–92), and political leader Benigno Simeon Aquino, Jr.—themselves the
children of politically connected families. The elder Benigno, an opposition figure
to Pres. Ferdinand Marcos who was imprisoned when the younger Benigno was a
child, was released and allowed to go to the United States in 1980. The following
year the younger Benigno, after graduating from Ateneo de Manila University with
a bachelor’s degree in economics, followed his family to Boston. His father
returned to the Philippines in 1983 intending to challenge Marcos for the presidency but was assassinated
immediately on arrival. The family nevertheless returned to the country soon afterward, and there the young
Aquino worked for companies including Philippine Business for Social Progress and Nike Philippines.

He became vice president of his family’s Best Security Agency Corporation in 1986, the same year that his
mother was named president of the Philippines after her opposition party successfully charged incumbent
President Marcos with voting fraud. Aquino left the company in 1993 to work for another family-owned business,
a sugar refinery. Finally, in 1998, he made the move to politics as a member of the Liberal Party, serving the
constitutional maximum of three consecutive terms as a representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province.
During this time he also served as deputy speaker of the House of Representatives (2004–06), but he resigned
from the post in advance of joining other Liberal Party leaders in making a call for the resignation of Pres. Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo (2001–10), who was accused of corrupt dealings including the rigging of the 2004 presidential
election. From 2006 Aquino served as vice-chairman of the Liberal Party, and in 2007, at the end of his final term
in the House of Representatives, he made a successful bid for a Senate seat.

In September 2009 Aquino announced his candidacy in the 2010 presidential race. His mother, to many a symbol
of democratic rule in the Philippines, had died the previous month, an event that heightened Aquino’s profile and
served as a catalyst for his seeking higher office. Though his opponents for the presidency included such seasoned
politicians as Joseph Estrada, who had previously served as president of the Philippines (1998–2001), Aquino
was considered the front-runner from the time that he entered the race. In the elections held on May 10, Aquino
won the presidency by a wide margin.

Aquino’s chief domestic accomplishment was the conclusion of a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) in October 2012. The deal promised a significant amount of autonomy to a Muslim-
majority region of southern Mindinao and seemingly concluded four decades of deadly conflict. Economic
growth in the Philippines was strong during Aquino’s administration, but unemployment remained high, and
opposition politicians argued that the benefits chiefly accrued to the country’s elite. Aquino also faced criticism
over his government’s slow response to Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed some 8,000 people and displaced
more than 800,000 when it hit the Philippines in November 2013. The most significant foreign policy issue of
Aquino’s term in office was China’s increasingly assertive posture in the South China Sea. The Philippines sought
a judgment from the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague to clarify the ownership of a reef that was
claimed by China despite the fact that it lay within Philippine territorial waters. Although the court later ruled
that China had no claim to the reef and that China’s actions had constituted a violation of the Philippines’
sovereignty, China dismissed the decision. Limited to a single six-year term, Aquino supported Manuel (“Mar”)
Roxas to succeed him in 2016. Roxas, the grandson of Pres. Manuel Roxas, represented the mainstream political
establishment at a time when voters were clearly frustrated with the status quo, and he finished a distant second
to inflammatory populist Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte succeeded Aquino as president on June 30, 2016.
 Rodrigo Duterte was born on March 28, 1945, in Maasin, Southern Leyte,
Philippines. The son of a regional governor, he graduated from law school in
1972 and joined the City Prosecution Office of Davao City. Duterte became
Davao City mayor in 1988, and was reelected six times after forging a
reputation for being tough on crime. He earned a decisive victory in his
country's 2016 presidential election, but soon drew criticism for his support of
extrajudicial killings and threats to cut diplomatic ties with the U.S.

Early Years
Rodrigo Roa Duterte was born on March 28, 1945, in Maasin, Southern Leyte, Philippines. His father, Vicente,
served as a local mayor and governor, and his mother, Soledad, was a teacher and a community activist.
Prone to misbehavior, Duterte was twice expelled from elementary school. He managed to channel his temper
somewhat by the time he attended Lyceum of the Philippines University, where he was influenced by Communist
Party of the Philippines founder José María Sison. Duterte went on to study law at San Beda College, earning his
degree in 1972 despite claims that he shot a classmate.

Davao City Mayor

Duterte's rise from the legal ranks to politician began when he was named special counsel at the City Prosecution
Office of Davao City in 1977. He became assistant city prosecutor two years later, and in 1986 he was elected
vice mayor of Davao City.
That same year, President Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in the "People Power Revolution," fueling an increase
in crime that was particularly rampant in Davao City. Elected mayor in 1988, Duterte sought to crack down on
criminal activity by imposing a strict curfew and drinking laws. Additionally, he permitted the actions of a
vigilante "death squad" — often referred to as the "Davao Death Squad" and “Duterte Death Squad” — that
reportedly killed more than 1,000 suspected drug dealers and gang members over a 20-year span.
Nicknamed the "Punisher" for his controversial methods, Duterte nevertheless was successful in reducing crime.
Furthermore, he was credited with helping to make Davao City cleaner by enforcing a smoking ban, and for his
LGBT-friendly measures. His popularity was such that he served seven terms as mayor, sidestepping term limits
with stints as a congressman and vice mayor, and drew huge ratings with a weekly television program.
Presidential Campaign
After initially dismissing the idea he would run for president, Duterte reversed course and threw his hat into the
race in late 2015. Among other promises, he said he would establish a new federal parliamentary government and
revive the country's steel industry.
However, the substance of his campaign was quickly overshadowed by a series of outrageous statements. He
insisted he would massacre criminals and refused to apologize for a joke about the rape of an Australian
missionary. His brashness invited comparisons to Donald Trump, who was simultaneously running his own
unfiltered campaign for president in the United States.
The strategy proved effective, as Duterte nearly doubled the votes compiled by his two closest opponents. In May
2016, he was officially named the 16th president of the Philippines, and the first from its southern island of
Mindanao.

Philippines President
After taking office, Duterte signed an executive order to provide full disclosure of government records and
transactions and announced plans to decongest airports. Vigilante attacks continued under his watch, and
thousands of criminals reportedly surrendered to authorities. Viewed as a tough, effective leader, Duterte scored
a 91 percent approval rating in late July.
However, despite being subjected to greater international scrutiny in his new role, Duterte refused to scale back
his incendiary rhetoric. Among his headline-making comments, he lashed out at U.S. President Barack Obama
over mention of the extrajudicial killings, and compared himself to Hitler for his desire to exterminate drug
addicts.
Duterte also threatened to shake up longtime alliances with his words. Upon a state visit to China in October, he
announced that he was "separating" with the U.S. and aligning himself with the "ideological flow" of his host
country. Although he later softened those remarks, he left many wondering whether he would attempt to tip the
balance of power in the Pacific region.
Duterte grew more receptive to rekindling ties with the U.S. following the 2016 election of President Trump, who
invited his Filipino counterpart to the White House in April 2017. In November, Duterte met with Trump at the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit meeting in Manila. According to Duterte's spokesman, the two
leaders discussed the ongoing problems with rampant drug use in the Philippines, but did not broach the subject
of human-rights violations. The U.S. president chose to focus on areas of common ground, noting, “We’ve had a
great relationship."

Family
Duterte was married to former flight attendant Elizabeth Zimmerman from 1973 until an annulment was granted
in 2000. Two of their three children, Paolo and Sara, followed their father into politics. Additionally, Duterte has
a daughter with his common-law wife, Honeylet Avanceña.
Justification

I choose Ramon Magsaysay as the first or best Philippine President because his term was considered the Golden
Years of the country. People trusted the military, and the government had the least amount of corruption during
his time. The first President to wear a Barong tagalog during his inaguration, and opened the gates of Malacanang
to the people. He also led the South East Asia Treaty Organization that fought Cold War Marxist Communism.
The makamasa president, exemplary leader, no nepotism in the government, real and selfless public servant.

Manuel Roxas on the other side is my last pick. The reason why Roxas is so low on this list is the fact that most
people were behind this Presidency following the country's independence. Given the euphoria of the people, it
was during this time that American influence was stronger than ever in government, which didn't sit well with
many people. The Roxas administration also went through controversies and failures. Most notable of these was
the graft and corruption of the Surplus War property Scandal, the Chinese immigration scandal, the School
Supplies Scandal, and the failure to defeat the communist HUKBALAHAP.