EMILIO AGUINALDO
Synopsis
Revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo was born on March 22, 1869, in
Kawit, Cavite, Philippines. In 1898, he achieved independence of the
Philippines from Spain and was elected the first president of the new
republic under the Malolos Congress. He also led the Philippine-
American War against U.S. resistance to Philippine independence.
Aguinaldo died of a heart attack on February 6, 1964, in Quezon City,
Philippines.
Early Life
Emilio Aguinaldo was born on March 22, 1869, in Kawit, Cavite,
Philippines. Nicknamed Miong, Aguinaldo was the seventh of eight
children. His parents were of Chinese and Tagalog descent. His father,
Carlos, died when Aguinaldo was just nine years old. Widowed, his
mother, Trinidad, sent him to attend public school in Manila.
Having had to cut his studies short at the Colegio de San Juan de
Letran due to a cholera outbreak, Aguinaldo returned home to Kawit,
where he developed a growing awareness of Filipino frustration with
Spanish colonial rule.
While serving as the head of barter in Manila, he joined the Pilar Lodge
chapter of the Freemasonry in 1895. The Freemasonry was a
government- and church-banned resistance group. It was through his
role as municipal captain of this fraternity that Aguinaldo met Andres
Bonifacio, a key figure in the fight to overthrow Spanish rule.
MANUEL L. QUEZON
Manuel L. Quezon was born as Manuel Luís Quezon y Molina on August 19,
1878, in Baler in the district of El Príncipe, which is now known as
Aurora, named after his wife. His father Lucio Quezon was a retired
Sergeant of the Spanish colonial army who became a primary
schoolteacher in Paco, Manila, while his mother María Dolores Molina
taught at a primary school in their hometown.
Family & Personal Life
Manuel L. Quezon fell in love with his first cousin Aurora Aragón, with
whom he eloped to Hong Kong in 1918. They got married on December
17, 1918. They had four children; daughters, María Aurora, María
Zeneida and Luisa Corazón Paz, and son Manuel L. Quezon, Jr.
While still in exile in the US, he died from tuberculosis on August 1,
1944, at a 'cure cottage' in Saranac Lake, New York. His body was
buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In 1946, his remains were moved
to the USS Princeton and re-interred at the Manila North Cemetery,
before being moved to the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City in
1979.
Trivia
Manuel L. Quezon was a gifted pianist who once single-handedly taught
an orchestra of a trans-Atlantic ship to play the Philippines’ national
anthem. He was also
JOSE PACIANO RIZAL.
-> The 3rd president (1943 - (1945) of the Philippines
-> Born on march 9, 1891 in Tanauan, Batangas-> His father served under Pres. Aguinaldo
and signatory to the Malolos Constitution
-> As a teen, he was charged but acquitted for murder of his rival suitor-> Married to
Prudencia Hidalgo in 1911
-> Took up law at UP, Master of Laws at UST, Doctor of Laws at Yale Law School
-> Became Secretary of Interior in 1922-
> Elected Senator in 1925 and served as such until 1931
-> Elected as delegate to the 1935 Constitutional Convention-
> Appointed as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1936
-> Appointed President by the Japanese Occupational Forces in 1943-
> Evacuated to Japan in 1945 when the Philippines Fell to the returning AmericanForces
-> On August 17, 1945, from his refuge in Japan, issued an Executive Proclamationdissolving
of the 2nd Republic
-> Charged for treason in 1946 but was granted amnesty by President Roxas in 1948-
> Elected to the Senate in 1951 under the Nacionalista Party
-> Negotiated trade with US officials resulting to the Laurel-Langley Agreement
.-> Founded Lyceum of the Philippines in 1952
-> Died of heart attack on November 6, 1959 in Manila
RAMON MAGSAYSAY
Born in the Philippines on August 31, 1907, Ramon Magsaysay was the
seventh president of the Philippines (1953–57), best known for successfully
defeating the communist-led Hukbalahap (Huk) movement in his country and
his popular appeal. He died in his country in 1957.
Ramon Magsaysay was born Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay in Iba, a city in the
Philippines, on August 31, 1907. After attending the University of the
Philippines, Magsaysay transferred to the Institute of Commerce at José Rizal
College (1928-1932), where he received a bachelor's degree in commerce.
At the start of World War II, Magsaysay joined the motor pool of the 31st
Infantry Division of the Philippine army. He was promoted to captain, and was
involved in clearing the Zambales coast of the Japanese before to the landing
of American forces there.Magsaysay was elected to the Philippine House of
Representatives in 1946, and was later re-elected to a second term. During
both terms, he was chairman of the House National Defense Committee.
In 1950, Philippines President Elpidio Quirino appointed Magsaysay secretary
of defense to deal with the threat of the Huks, whose leader, Luis Taruc, had
called for the overthrow of the government. Magsaysay reformed the army,
dismissing many officers and emphasizing mobility and adaptability in
combat operations against the Huk guerrillas—tactics that he had learned in
his own guerrilla efforts against the Japanese in World War II.
MANUEL ROXAS
Manuel Roxas (1892-1948) was the last president of the Commonwealth and
the first president of the Republic of the Philippines. His administration
demonstrated decisively that political sovereignty without economic
independence encourages reaction, perpetuation of social injustices, and
exploitation.
Manuel Roxas was born in Capiz, Capiz Province, on Jan. 1, 1892. In 1914 he
graduated from the College of Law of the University of the Philippines. In
1916 he became provincial governor. In 1922 he was elected to Congress,
becoming Speaker of the Philippine Assembly.
In December 1931 Roxas, together with Senate president pro tempore Sergio
Osmeña, left for the United States to secure the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act from
the U.S. Congress, which would grant Philippine independence after a
transition period of 10 years. This bill was rejected by the opposition forces
led by Manuel Quezon. In 1934 Roxas was elected to the constitutional
convention. In 1938 he was appointed secretary of finance by Commonwealth
president Quezon and then became his trusted adviser. In 1941 Roxas ran for
the Senate and won.
On Dec. 8, 1941, at the outbreak of the war, Roxas served as lieutenant
colonel in the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). He refused to join
Quezon in fleeing to the United States because he wanted to preserve the
morale of the Filipino soldiers fighting in Bataan and Corregidor. He was
captured in 1942 by the Japanese forces in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, and was
forced to serve in the puppet government of José Laurel. Roxas accepted the
position of chairman of the Economic Planning Board in Laurel's wartime
Cabinet. During the Japanese retreat he allegedly escaped from the Japanese
high command in Baguio on April 15, 19445.
ELPIDIO QUIRINO
Elpidio Quirino (1890-1956) was the second president of the Philippine
Republic. During his administration, the Philippines passed through a period
of revolutionary turmoil marked by widespread corruption, demoralization,
economic crisis, and political terrorism.
Elpidio Quirino was born on Nov. 16, 1890, in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, the son of the
warden of the provincial jail. Quirino taught school while studying at Vigan
High School and then went to Manila, where he worked as junior computer in
the Bureau of Lands and as property clerk in the Manila police department.
He graduated from Manila High School in 1911 and also passed the civil
service examination, first-grade.
After graduating from the College of Law, University of the Philippines, in
1915, Quirino served as law clerk in the Philippine Commission and then as
secretary to Senate president Manuel Quezon. In 1919 Quirino won the post
of congressional representative from the first district of Ilocos Sur. He
opposed Sergio Osmeña, the leader of the Nacionalista party, and joined
Quezon's Collectivista faction of the party. In 1925 Quirino was elected to the
Senate. Quezon appointed him chairman of the Committee on Accounts and
Claims and of the Committee on Public Instruction and to other important
congressional bodies. In 1931 Quirino was reelected to the Senate. In the
controversy surrounding the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Law of 1933, he sided with
Quezon.
CARLOS P. GARCIA
Carlos P. Garcia (1896-1971) was the fourth president of the Republic of the
Philippines. He was noted for the enunciation of the Filipino First Policy,
intended to complete and guarantee Philippine economic independence and
sovereignty.
Carlos P. Garcia was born in Talibon, Bohol, on November 4, 1896. He took
law courses at Silliman University in 1918-1919 and graduated with a law
degree from the Philippine Law School. He topped the bar examination in
1923. He was elected for three terms (1925-1931) as representative of the
third district of Bohol. He served for three terms (1933-1941) as governor of
Bohol Province. For 13 years (1941-1954) Garcia served in the Senate of the
Philippines.
During World War II, in May 1942, Garcia was hunted by the Japanese military
authority because of his loyalty to the Allied cause and his refusal to
surrender and cooperate with the government. After the war he participated
in several missions to Washington to work for the approval of the Philippine
Rehabilitation and War Damage Claims. He was a delegate to the World
Conference at San Francisco to draft the charter of the United Nations
Organization in May 1945. He acted as presiding officer of the Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization Conference in Manila in 1954, which produced the Manila
Treaty and the Pacific Charter.
DIOSDADO 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 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
FERDINAND MARCOS
Philippine president Ferdinand Edralin Marcos (1917-1989) began his career
in politics with the murder of Julio Nalundasan in 1935, and ended it with the
murder of Benigno Aquino, Jr., in 1983. Some believe his entire life was based
on fraud, deceit, and plunder, and his two decades as president have come to
epitomize the worst excesses of autocratic rule.
Ferdinand Marcos was born in Sarrat, Ilocos North, on September 11, 1917, to
Josefa Edralin and Mariano Marcos, both teachers. Mariano was later a two-
term congressman and during World War II, a collaborator with the Japanese.
Subsequently he was tied to four water buffalo by Filipino guerrillas and
pulled apart. Marcos' real father, a man Marcos claimed was his "godfather,"
was a wealthy Chinese named Ferdinand Chua. He was a well-connected
municipal judge who was responsible for much of Marcos' unusually good
luck. Among other things, Chua paid for young Marcos' schooling and
managed to influence the Philippine Supreme Court to throw out the solid
testimony which in 1939 had convicted Marcos of murder.
Marcos did well in school, as he had an extraordinary memory which allowed
him to quickly memorize complicated texts and recite them forwards or
backwards. In college, Marcos' principal interest was the .22-caliber college
pistol team. On September 20, 1935, Julio Nalundasan was at home
celebrating that day's Congressional election victory over Mariano Marcos
when he was shot and killed with a .22-caliber bullet fired by the 18-year-old
Marcos. Three years later, the honors student who was in his senior year of
law school, was arrested for Nalundasan's murder. A year later, now a law
school graduate, he was found guilty "beyond any reasonable doubt." Jailed,
Marcos spent six months writing his own 830-page appeal. He also took the
Philippine bar exam and passed with scores so high he was accused of
cheating. Upon an oral re-examination by the Supreme Court, Marcos scored
even higher with his remarkable memory. When the Supreme Court finally
took up Marcos's appeal in 1940, the judge in charge (allegedly influenced by
Judge Chua) was disposed to simply throw the case out. Marcos was a free
man. The next day, he returned to the Supreme Court where he was
administered his oath as a lawyer.
CORAZON AQUINO
Corazon Cojoangco Aquino (born 1933) was the first woman to run for the
office of the president of the Republic of the Philippines. The results of the
1986 election were so fraudulent that both Aquino and her opponent, the
incumbent, Ferdinand Marcos declared victory. As a result of the election, the
Filipino people rose in protest and Marcos was forced to flee the country and
Aquino assumed the office of president.
Corazon Cojoangco Aquino was born on January 25, 1933, the sixth of eight
children born to Jose Cojoangco of Tarlac, a prosperous province 65 miles
northwest of Manila, the Philippines capital. The Cojoangcos were members
of a wealthy landowning family prominent in politics.
Aquino attended an exclusive Catholic school for girls in Manila before
travelling to America to attend Philadelphia's Raven Hill Academy. After
earning a degree in French and mathematics from New York's Mount Saint
Vincent College in 1953, she returned to the Philippines and enrolled in a
Manila law school. While at law school she met her future husband, Benigno
Aquino and married him in 1954. The marriage united two of Tarlac's most
prominent families.
Aquino's husband belonged to a family whose involvement in politics went as
far back as the last century. One year after they were married, Aquino's
husband was elected mayor of the city of Concepcion at the age of 22. Her
husband was considered one of the Philippines' brightest political hopes.
Moving up in politics, Aquino's husband became the youngest territorial
governor and later the youngest senator in the Philippines. Throughout all her
husband's political successes, Aquino stayed in the background, preferring to
concentrate her energies on raising their four daughters and a son.
FIDEL VALDEZ RAMOS
Fidel Valdez Ramos (born 1928) was inaugurated president of the Philippines
in June 1992. He had the mandate to continue the democratic reforms gained
by the country during Corazon Aquino's peaceful people-power revolution of
1986.
The eighth president of the postwar Philippine Republic, Fidel Valdez Ramos
was known as a hero of the 1986 people-power revolution, the bloodless coup
that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Corazon Aquino, the widow of Marcos'
assassinated archenemy, was installed in the presidency at that time.
People power was Ramos' idea of how to fight the weapons of the Marcos
regime when the dictator, losing confidence in Constabulary Chief Fidel
Ramos and his defense minister, Juan Ponce Enrile, set out to destroy them.
Ramos asked Jaime Cardinal Sin to send people to protect their fortress, the
Constabulary Camp at EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue). Cardinal Sin
appealed to the people by radio, and millions of people surrounded the camp
to protect Ramos, Enrile, and the soldiers who joined them. The people at
EDSA thwarted tanks and armored vehicles, and in four days in 1986 caused
the flight to Hawaii of Marcos and his family. Corazon C. Aquino, who may
have won a controversial election against Marcos weeks before, became
president, and democracy was restored after 20 years of autocratic rule.
After the EDSA victory, "Eddie" Ramos, who had been a soldier all his adult
life, served President Aquino as chief of staff of the armed forces of the
Philippines and later as secretary of national defense. During the six years of
Aquino's administration Ramos defeated seven coup attempts, two of them
serious. His successful maneuvers against the coups earned for him the trust
and confidence of President Aquino, who, towards the end of her term, openly
supported him to be her successor to the presidency.
SERGIO OSMENA
Sergio Osmeña (1878-1961) was the second president of the Philippine
Commonwealth and a distinguished statesman. He led the country in its
initial stage of political maturation by his honest and selfless devotion to
public service.
Sergio Osmeña was born in Cebu on the island of Cebu on Sept. 9, 1878. He
entered the San Carlos Seminary in Cebu in 1889 and then earned his
bachelor's degree from San Juan de Letran College. His schooling was
interrupted by the 1896 revolution and the Filipino-American War. During the
revolution he edited the militantly nationalistic periodical El Nuevo Dia. After
the revolutionary struggles he continued his studies until he passed the bar
examination on Feb. 20, 1903.
On March 5, 1906, Osmeña was elected provincial governor of Cebu at the
age of 28. Although he had little political experience, he succeeded in solving
the grave problems of public order and community cooperation in his
province, cultivating the people's trust in the municipal enforcement officers.
Early Efforts for Independence
In 1902 Osmeña had joined those nationalists who petitioned Governor
William Howard Taft to allow the formation of a political party advocating
immediate independence for the Philippines. In 1906 Osmeña became
president of the first convention of provincial governors, which urged
eventual independence. In 1907 he was unanimously elected speaker of the
Assembly, a post he held for 9 years. Together with Manuel Quezon, the
leader of the majority in the Assembly, and other nationalist leaders, Osmeña
formed the Nacionalista party.
GLORIA ARROYO
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was born on 5 April 1947 in
San Juan, Philippines, to Diosdado Macapagal and
Evangelina Macaraeg Macapagal,. His father was a
politician who went on to become President of
Philippines. She had two half sisters.
In her childhood, she lived in Iligan City with her
maternal grandmother from the age of four to seven
and then switched her stay between the cities of
Mindanao and Manila in the subsequent years. In
1961, she started living in Manila permanently after
his father became the President.
She studied at the Assumption Convent and
graduated from the school in 1964. Following her
high school graduation, she went to the Walsh
School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, in
Washington DC. Former US President Bill Clinton
was one of her batch mates at the Walsh School.
JOSEPH ESTRADA
Elected President of the Philippines in 1998. He is the 13th
president of the republic from June 30, 1998 to January 20, 2001.
Ousted on January 20 2001 as Philippine President in a bloodless
people's revolt that came to be known as Edsa II. The revolution
was sparked by the accusation of his close buddy, Ilocos Sur
governor Chavit Singson on October of 2000 that he was receiving
bribe money from illegal gambling.
Impeached on November of 2000 by the Philippine Congress, led
by then-House Speaker Manuel 'Manny' Villar who was later
elected as a Philippine Senator, for corruption and bribery.
Estrada's trial in the Senate was marred on January 16 2001 when
pro-administration senators blocked the presentation of key piece
of evidence, leading to protests in Manila and other major cities
that led to the fall of his government.
On April 2001 (three months after vacating the Malacanang),
Estrada was arrested and imprisoned along with his eldest son
and then-San Juan Mayor Jinggoy for several counts of perjury and
plunder. This detention triggered a series of protests that
culminated in two events, the so-called (and much debated) Edsa
III and the failed May 1 rebellion, where Estrada's supporters
stormed Malacañang in a bid to oust current Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and bring Estrada back to power.
Wife Dr. Loi Ejercito was elected as a senator of the Philippines
His white band on his left wrist is used to cover a bad scar from a
fight.
Best friends of Fernando Poe Jr.
BENIGNO AQUINO
Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III is the 15th and
current President of the Philippines. He is scion of a
famous and influential political family of four
generations. Servillano "Mianong" Aquino, his great-
grandfather was a delegate of the ‘Malolos Congress’.
Benigno Aquino, Sr, his grandfather was the speaker of
the ‘House of Representatives’ of the Philippines while
his father Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was a Senator.
His mother Corazon Aquino remained the 11th President
of the country from 1986 to 1992. He resided in the US
for a while with his family when they took self-exile but
after his father’s assassination he went back to
Philippines and worked in private organisations. His first
political representation was from the 2nd district of
Tarlac province in 1998 as an elected member of the
‘House of Representatives’. He represented the House
for the next two terms and was barred in 2007 because
of term restrictions. He served as a Senator of the 14th
Congress. He remained the Secretary General and Vice
President of the ‘Liberal Party’ for Luzon and at present
serves as Chairman of the party. He succeeded Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo as the 15th President of the country.
RODRIGO DUTERTE
Duterte’s father served as governor of the province of Davao, and
his mother was a community activist who had a prominent role in
the “people power” movement that deposed
the authoritarian president Ferdinand Marcos and restored
democratic rule to the Philippines. Duterte earned a political
science degree (1968) from Lyceum of the Philippines University
in Manila and a law degree (1972) from San Beda College. In 1977
he joined the Davao City prosecutor’s office, where he remained
until he was appointed (1986) vice mayor of that city.
Duterte was elected mayor in 1988, and he was reelected to that
post twice over the subsequent decade. Because of term-limit
restrictions, he was barred from seeking reelection in 1998, but he
successfully ran for a seat representing Davao in the Philippines
House of Representatives. Upon the completion of that term in
2001, he returned to Davao City and was once more elected
mayor. Because the term-limit restriction again came into force in
2010, he was elected vice mayor, and his daughter Sara served as
mayor. In 2013 Duterte returned to the mayor’s office, this time
with his son Paolo (“Pulong”) serving as vice mayor.
