Diosdado Macapagal
Diosdado Pangan Macapagal GCrM, KGCR (Tagalog: [makapaˈɡal]; September 28, 1910 – April 21, 1997) was a Filipino lawyer, poet and politician who served as the ninth President of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth Vice President, serving from 1957 to 1961. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives, and headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970. He was the father of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who followed his path as President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010.
Diosdado P. Macapagal | |
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Macapagal, c. 1962 | |
| 9th President of the Philippines | |
| In office December 30, 1961 – December 30, 1965 | |
| Vice President | Emmanuel Pelaez |
| Preceded by | Carlos P. Garcia |
| Succeeded by | Ferdinand Marcos |
| 5th Vice President of the Philippines | |
| In office December 30, 1957 – December 30, 1961 | |
| President | Carlos P. Garcia |
| Preceded by | Carlos P. Garcia |
| Succeeded by | Emmanuel Pelaez |
| Member of the House of Representatives from Pampanga's 1st district | |
| In office December 30, 1949 – December 30, 1957 | |
| Preceded by | Amado Yuzon |
| Succeeded by | Francisco Nepomuceno |
| 2nd President of the 1971 Philippine Constitutional Convention | |
| In office June 14, 1971 – January 17, 1973 | |
| President | Ferdinand Marcos |
| Preceded by | Carlos P. Garcia |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| President of the Liberal Party | |
| In office December 30, 1957 – January 21, 1961 | |
| Preceded by | Eugenio Pérez |
| Succeeded by | Ferdinand Marcos |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Diosdado Pangan Macapagal September 28, 1910 Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines |
| Died | April 21, 1997 (aged 86) Makati, Philippines |
| Resting place | Libingan ng mga Bayani, Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines 14°31′11″N 121°2′39″E |
| Political party | Liberal (1949-1997) |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 4, including Arturo and Gloria |
| Alma mater | |
| Profession |
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| Signature | |
Known as "the poor boy from Lubao," he was a native of Lubao, Pampanga. Macapagal graduated from the University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas, both in Manila, after which he worked as a lawyer for the government. He first won the election in 1949 to the House of Representatives, representing the 1st district in his home province of Pampanga. In 1957, he became vice president under the rule of President Carlos P. Garcia, whom he later defeated in the 1961 election.
As president, Macapagal worked to suppress graft and corruption and to stimulate the growth of the Philippine economy. He introduced the country's first land reform law, placed the peso on the free currency exchange market, and liberalized foreign exchange and import controls. Many of his reforms, however, were crippled by a Congress dominated by the rival Nacionalista Party. He is also known for shifting the country's observance of Independence Day from July 4 to June 12, commemorating the day President Emilio Aguinaldo unilaterally declared the independence of the First Philippine Republic from the Spanish Empire in 1898. He stood for re-election in 1965, and was defeated by Ferdinand Marcos.
Under Marcos, Macapagal was elected president of the 1970 constitutional convention that would later draft what became the 1973 Constitution, though the manner in which the charter was ratified and modified led him to later question its legitimacy. He died of heart failure, pneumonia, and renal complications, in 1997, at the age of 86.
Macapagal was also a poet in the Spanish language, though his poetic oeuvre was eclipsed by his political biography.