The President of the Philippines is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Philippines has undergone many transitions in the government from the First Philippine Republic going to the Fifth Philippine Republic. Note that the Presidents under the Commonwealth of the Philippines were under United States sovereignty, and that of the Second Republic is considered to be a puppet government of the Japanese during World War.II
List of the Presidents of the Philippines
Administration of General Emilio F. Aguinaldo (January 23, 1899– April 1, 1901)
General Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy was a Filipino general, politician, and independence leader. He played an instrumental role during the Philippines' revolution against Spain, and the subsequent Philippine-American War or War of Philippine Independence that resisted American occupation.
Aguinaldo became the Philippines' first President. He was also the youngest (at age 29) to have become the country's president, the longest-lived president (having survived to age 94) and the president to have outlived the most number of successors.
First President of the Republic of the Philippines. Aguinaldo’s presidential term formally began in January 23, 1899 and ended on April 1, 1901, when he took an oath of allegiance to the United States a week after his capture in Palanan, Isabela. His term also featured the setting up of the Malolos Republic, which has its own Congress, Constitution, and national and local officialdom -- proving Filipinos also had the capacity to build. Aguinaldo is best remembered for the proclamation of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898, in Kawit, Cavite.
Administration of Manuel L. Quezon (November 15, 1935 - August 1, 1944)
Manuel Luis Quezón y Molina served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. He was the first Filipino to head a government of the Philippines (as opposed to other historical states). Quezón is considered by most Filipinos to have been the second president of the Philippines, after Emilio Aguinaldo (1897–1901).
First of the Philippine Presidents of the Commonwealth. He won the elections held in September 1935 to choose the head of the Commonwealth Government. It was a government made possible by the Tydings-McDuffie Law, which Quezon secured from the U.S. Quezon’s term (1935 - 1944), though chiefly known for making Pilipino the national language, tried to solve nagging problems inherited from the Spanish and American administrations.
The Commonwealth Government was interrupted by the Japanese invasion of 1941. Quezon and his government were forced to go into exile in the U.S. He died on August 1, 1944, in New York. Jose P. Laurel. President of the Second Republic of the Philippines. He was elected by the National Assembly as President of the Republic on September 25, 1943 and inducted on October 14, 1943. This unicameral assembly was created through the sponsorship of the Japanese authorities.
Administration of José P. Laurel (1943 - 1945)
José Paciano Laurel y García was the president of the Republic of the Philippines, a Japanese-sponsored administration during World War II, from 1943 to 1945. Since the administration of President Diosdado Macapagal (1961–1965), Laurel has been recognized as a legitimate president of the Philippines.
Administration of Sergio Osmena (August 1, 1944 - May 28, 1946)
Sergio Osmeña y Suico was a Filipino politician who served as the 4th President of the Philippines from 1944 to 1946. He was Vice President under Manuel L. Quezon, and rose to the presidency upon Quezon's death in 1944, being the oldest Philippine president to hold office at age 65. A founder of Nacionalista Party, he was the first Visayan to become President of the Philippines.
Administration of Manuel Roxas (May 28, 1946– April 15, 1948)
Manuel Acuña Roxas was the first president of the independent Third Republic of the Philippines and fifth president overall. He served as president from the granting of independence in 1946 until his abrupt death in 1948. His term as president of the Philippines was also the shortest, lasting 1 year 10 months and 18 days.
Elections were held in April 1946, with Manuel Roxas becoming the first president of the independent Republic of the Philippines. The United States ceded its sovereignty over the Philippines on July 4, 1946, as scheduled. However, the Philippine economy remained highly dependent on United States markets– more dependent, according to United States high commissioner Paul McNutt, than any single U.S. state was dependent on the rest of the country. The Philippine Trade Act, passed as a precondition for receiving war rehabilitation grants from the United States, exacerbated the dependency with provisions further tying the economies of the two countries. A military assistance pact was signed in 1947 granting the United States a 99-year lease on designated military bases in the country.
Administration of Elpidio Quirino (April 17, 1948– December 30, 1953)
Elpidio Rivera Quirino was a Filipino politician, and the sixth President of the Philippines.
After the war, Quirino was elected vice-president in 1946 election, consequently the second and last for the Commonwealth and first for the third republic. After the death of the incumbent president Manuel Roxas in 1948, he succeeded the presidency. In what was claimed to be a dishonest and fraudulent 1949 presidential election, he won the president's office under Liberal Party ticket, defeating Nacionalista vie and former president José P. Laurel as well as fellow Liberalista and former Senate President José Avelino.
The Roxas administration granted general amnesty to those who had collaborated with the Japanese in World War II, except for those who had committed violent crimes. Roxas died suddenly of a heart attack in April 1948, and the vice president, Elpidio Quirino, was elevated to the presidency. He ran for president in his own right in 1949, defeating Jose P. Laurel and winning a four-year term.
World War II had left the Philippines demoralized and severely damaged. The task of reconstruction was complicated by the activities of the Communist-supported Hukbalahap guerrillas (known as "Huks"), who had evolved into a violent resistance force against the new Philippine government. Government policy towards the Huks alternated between gestures of negotiation and harsh suppression. Secretary of Defense Ramon Magsaysay initiated a campaign to defeat the insurgents militarily and at the same time win popular support for the government. The Huk movement had waned in the early 1950s, finally ending with the unconditional surrender of Huk leader Luis Taruc in May 1954.
Administration of Ramon Magsaysay (December 30, 1953– March 17, 1957)
Ramón del Fierro Magsaysay was the third President of the Republic of the Philippines (and seventh president overall) from December 30, 1953 until his death in a plane crash in 1957. He was elected President under the banner of the Nacionalista Party.
Supported by the United States, Magsaysay was elected president in 1953 on a populist platform. He promised sweeping economic reform, and made progress in land reform by promoting the resettlement of poor people in the Catholic north into traditionally Muslim areas. Though this relieved population pressure in the north, it heightened religious hostilities. Nevertheless, he was extremely popular with the common people, and his death in an airplane crash in March 1957 dealt a serious blow to national morale.
Administration of Carlos P. Garcia (March 18, 1957– December 30, 1961)
Carlos Polistico García was a Filipino teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist and guerrilla leader. He became the eighth President of the Philippines known for his "Filipino First" policy, which put the interests of the Filipino people above those of foreigners and of the ruling party.
Carlos P. Garcia succeeded to the presidency after Magsaysay's death, and was elected to a four-year term in the election of November that same year. His administration emphasized the nationalist theme of "Filipino first", arguing that the Filipino people should be given the chances to improve the country's economy. Garcia successfully negotiated for the United States' relinquishment of large military land reservations. However, his administration lost popularity on issues of government corruption as his term advanced.
Administration of Diosdado Macapagal (December 30, 1961– December 30, 1965)
Diosdado Pangan Macapagal was 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 is the father of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who served as the 14th President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010.
Diosdado Macapagal was elected president in the 1961 election, defeating Garcia's re-election bid. Macapagal's foreign policy sought closer relations with neighboring Asian nations, particularly Malaya and Indonesia. Negotiations with the United States over base rights led to anti-American sentiment. Notably, the celebration of Independence Day was changed from July 4 to June 12, to honor the day that Emilio Aguinaldo declared independence from Spain in 1898.
Administration of Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. (December 30, 1965 - February 25, 1986)
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. was a Filipino dictator who held the title of President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives (1949–1959) and a member of the Philippine Senate (1959–1965). He was Senate President from 1963–1965.
While in power he implemented wide-ranging programs of infrastructure development and economic reform. However, his administration was marred by massive authoritarian,corruption, despotism, nepotism, political repression, and human rights violations.
In 1983, his government was accused of being involved in the assassination of his primary political opponent, Benigno Aquino, Jr. Public outrage over the assassination served as the catalyst for the People Power Revolution in February 1986 that led to his removal from power and eventual exile in Hawaii. It was later discovered that he and his wife Imelda Marcos had moved billions of dollars of embezzled public funds to the United States, Switzerland, and other countries, as well as into alleged corporations during his 20 years in power.
Administration of Corazon C. Aquino (February 25, 1986– June 30, 1992)
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office in Philippine history. She is best remembered for leading the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines. She is considered an icon of democracy, and was titled by TIME Magazine in 1986 as its 'Woman of the Year'.
A self-proclaimed "plain housewife", Aquino was married to Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., the staunchest critic of then President Ferdinand Marcos. Senator Aquino was assassinated on August 21, 1983 upon returning to the Philippines after three years in exile in the United States. After her husband's assassination, Aquino emerged as the leader of the opposition against the Marcos administration. In late 1985, when President Marcos called for a snap election, Aquino ran for president with former senator Salvador Laurel as her vice-presidential running mate.
After the elections were held on February 7, 1986, and the Batasang Pambansa proclaimed Marcos the winner in the elections, Aquino called for massive civil disobedience protests, declaring herself as having been cheated and as the real winner in the elections. Filipinos enthusiastically heeded her call and rallied behind her. These series of events eventually led to the ousting of Marcos and the installation of Aquino as President of the Philippines on February 25, 1986 through the People Power Revolution.
Administration of Fidel V. Ramos (June 30, 1992 – June 30, 1998)
Fidel "Eddie" Valdez Ramos - popularly known as FVR, was the 12th President of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. During his six years in office, Ramos was widely credited and admired by many for revitalizing and renewing international confidence in the Philippine economy.
In the 1992 elections, Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos, endorsed by Aquino, won the presidency with just 23.6% of the vote in a field of seven candidates. Early in his administration, Ramos declared "national reconciliation" his highest priority and worked at building a coalition to overcome the divisiveness of the Aquino years. He legalized the Communist Party and laid the groundwork for talks with communist insurgents, Muslim separatists, and military rebels, attempting to convince them to cease their armed activities against the government. In June 1994, Ramos signed into law a general conditional amnesty covering all rebel groups, and Philippine military and police personnel accused of crimes committed while fighting the insurgents. In October 1995, the government signed an agreement bringing the military insurgency to an end. A peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a major separatist group fighting for an independent homeland in Mindanao, was signed in 1996, ending the 24-year old struggle. However, an MNLF splinter group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front continued the armed struggle for an Islamic state. Efforts by Ramos supporters to gain passage of an amendment that would allow him to run for a second term were met with large-scale protests, leading Ramos to declare he would not seek re-election.
Administration of Joseph Estrada (June 30, 1998 – January 20, 2001)
Joseph "Erap" Ejercito Estr(born Jose Mada arcelo Ejercito on April 19, 1937) was the 13th President of the Philippines, serving from 1998 until 2001.
Joseph Estrada, a former movie actor who had served as Ramos' vice president, was elected president by a landslide victory in 1998. His election campaign pledged to help the poor and develop the country's agricultural sector. He enjoyed widespread popularity, particularly among the poor. Estrada assumed office amid the Asian Financial Crisis. The economy did, however, recover from a low −0.6% growth in 1998 to a moderate growth of 3.4% by 1999. Like his predecessor there was a similar attempt to change the 1987 constitution. The process is termed as CONCORD or Constitutional Correction for Development. Unlike Charter change under Ramos and Arroyo the CONCORD proposal, according to its proponents, would only amend the 'restrictive' economic provisions of the constitution that is considered as impeding the entry of more foreign investments in the Philippines. However it was not successful in amending the constitution.
On March 21, 2000 President Estrada declared an "all-out-war" against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) after the worsening secessionist movement in Midanao. The government later captured 46 MILF camps including the MILF's headquarters', Camp Abubakar. In October 2000, however, Estrada was accused of having accepted millions of pesos in payoffs from illegal gambling businesses. He was impeached by the House of Representatives, but his impeachment trial in the Senate broke down when the senate voted to block examination of the president's bank records. In response, massive street protests erupted demanding Estrada's resignation. Faced with street protests, cabinet resignations, and a withdrawal of support from the armed forces, Estrada was forced from office on January 20, 2001.
Administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (January 20, 2001 – June 30, 2010)
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a Filipino politician who served as the 14th President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010, as the 12th Vice President of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, and is currently a member of the House of Representatives representing the 2nd District of Pampanga. She was the country's second female president (after Corazón Aquino).
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (the daughter of the late President Diosdado Macapagal) was sworn in as Estrada's successor on the day of his departure. Her accession to power was further legitimized by the mid-term congressional and local elections held four months later, when her coalition won an overwhelming victory. Arroyo's initial term in office was marked by fractious coalition politics as well as a military mutiny in Manila in July 2003 that led her to declare a month-long nationwide state of rebellion.
Arroyo unsuccessfully attempted a controversial plan for an overhaul of the constitution to transform the present presidential-bicameral republic into a federal parliamentary-unicameral form of government.
Administration of Benigno Aquino III (June 30, 2010 - Incumbent (Elections in 2016)
Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III - also known as Noynoy Aquino or PNoy.
Benigno Aquino III began his presidency on June 30, 2010, when he became the fifteenth President of the Philippines. He is the second bachelor president next to Emilio Aguinaldo. He is the son of former Philippines president Corazon C. Aquino. He, like his mother, doesn't live in the Malacanang Palace but in a house within its premises.
Source: Wikipedia/Presidents of the Philippines
