Diosdado Pangan Macapagal (September 28, 1910–April 21, 1997) was the 9th President of the Philippines.
His daughter, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is the current president of the Philippines.
Early life and career
Macapagal was born in Lubao, Pampanga to Urbano Macapagal and Romana Pangan. His family was poor, but with the help of Honorio Ventura, the Secretary of Interior at that time, he studied law at the University of Santo Tomas. He finished his law degree in 1936. He worked as a lawyer for an American employer in Manila, and was assigned as a legal assistant to President Manuel Quezon.
During the Japanese occupation of World War II, he served as support to the anti-Japanese task force and as an intelligence liaison to the US guerillas. It was during this period that his first wife died of malnutrition. He later married Evangelina Macaraeg, the mother of current Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
In 1948 he served as second secretary to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC. In 1949 he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served until 1956. During that time, he was the Philippines' representative to the United Nations General Assembly three times.
In 1957, as a member of the Liberal Party, he became vice president under President Carlos Garcia of the Nacionalista Party.
Presidency
He was elected in 1961 by a coalition of liberals and progressives. He focused on fighting corruption and graft in the government. Seeking to stimulate economic development, he took the advice of wealthy supporters and allowed the Philippine peso to float on the free currency exchange market. This policy bled millions of pesos from the government's treasury each year during his administration. His reform efforts were blocked by the Nacionalistas, who dominated the House of Representatives and the Senate at that time.
In 1965, he was defeated in the presidential election by Ferdinand Marcos, who had built a conservative coalition to block Macapagal's reforms.
Post-presidency
In 1971, Macapagal was elected president of the constitutional convention that drafted the 1973 constitution of Marcos' dictatorship.
In 1979 he formed the National Union for Liberation to oppose the Marcos regime.
Diosdado Macapagal died of heart failure, pneumonia and renal complications at the Makati Medical Center on April 21, 1997. He is buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
External link
Last updated: 09-01-2005 01:54:57
