Emilio Aguinaldo

He was a Filipino general, politician, and independence leader. He had an instrumental role during the Philippines' revolution against Spain, and the subsequent PhilippineAmerican War or War of Philippine Independence that resisted American occupation.

Aguinaldo became the Philippines' first president. He was also the youngest (at age 28) to have become the country's president, the longest-lived former president (having survived to age 94) and the president to have outlived the most number of successors.

Manuel L. Quezon

He was 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), and is considered by most Filipinos to have been the second president of the Philippines, after Emilio Aguinaldo (18971901).

Quezon was the first Senate president elected to the presidency, the first president elected through a national election and the first incumbent to secure re-election (for a partial second term, later extended, due to amendments to the 1935 Constitution). He is known as the "Father of the National Language".

Jose P. Laurel

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. Laurels controversial Presidency during the Japanese Occupation (1943 - 1945) overshadowed his achievements as legislator, jurist, writer, and administrator in the pre-war struggle for independence. As an elected senator and later delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he distinguished himself for his advocacy of womens suffrage and his sponsorship of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. He also became an associate justice of the Supreme Court.

Sergio Osmea

He was elected Vice President of the Philippines in 1935 and succeeded Quezon to the Presidency in-exile. Osmena was a notable figure in the struggle for independence. A lawyer, he espoused the cause of independence through peaceful means as editor of the Cebu newspaper El Nuevo Dia (New Day), which he founded in 1900. He served as fiscal of Cebu and Negros Oriental. He was appointed governor of Cebu in 1904 and elected to the same post in 1906. In 1907, he was elected as representative of Cebu and later became speaker of the first Philippine Assembly. In 1922, he was elected as senator. He headed important government missions to the U. S. Osmena returned to the Philippines on October 20, 1944, together with Gen. Douglas MacArthur. In February 1945, he took the reins of government.

Manuel A. Roxas

He was popularly known as the First President of the Third Republic. He won the elections by a slim margin. He was inaugurated on July 4, 1946, the day the U.S. government granted political independence to its colony. Roxas was born in Capiz (now Roxas City), studied law at UP and graduated with honors in 1913. He topped the Bar examinations in the same year, was employed as private secretary to Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano, and taught law in 19151916. His political career started when he was appointed as a member of the Capiz municipal council. In 1919, he was elected as governor of Capiz. He was elected as congressman in 1922, and in 1935, he was chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He was elected as a senator in 1941 and eventually became Senate president.

Elpidio Quirino

Being the Vice President, he took over the Presidency after Roxas death. And, he managed to retain the position after winning over Laurel in the infamous fraud-tainted 1949 elections. Quirino was born in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, finished law studies at UP in 1915, and hurdled the Bar examinations in the same year. His political career started with his election as a representative of Ilocos Sur in 1919, then as a senator in 1925, and again reelected in 1931. President Quezon appointed him as secretary of finance and then secretary of the interior in the Commonwealth Government. As Roxas Vice President, he served concurrently first as secretary of finance and later as secretary of foreign affairs.

Ramon Magsaysay

He was largely famous for his success in the peace campaign. He defeated Quirino in the 1953 presidential elections by an unprecedented margin of votes.Popularly known as the guy, Magsaysay was born in Iba, Zambales. He took up mechanical engineering at UP but ended up with a commerce degree from Jose Rizal College. He took a job as a mechanic in the bus company Try-Tran and rose to become its branch manager. He attained fame as an able guerilla leader in World War II and was subsequently named by MacArthur as military governor of Zambales during the liberation. He was elected twice as a congressman after the war. He was instrumental in having the U.S. Congress pass the G.I. Bill of Rights, which accorded benefits to the Filipino war veterans. But his national prominence resulted from being appointed defense secretary in the Quirino administration, successfully fighting the Huks, and for being the friend of the common tao. Many regard Magsaysay as the President whose heart truly bled for the common man. He toured the barrios, opened up Malacanang to the public, solicited and acted upon their complaints, built artesian wells and roads. He had Congress pass the Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954, providing greater protection to tenants.Death

came to Magsaysay when his plane crashed at Mount Pinatubo in the early morning of March 17, 1957.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

She was 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 Corazn Aquino), and the daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal. Arroyo is also the first duly elected female Vice President of the Philippines. Arroyo was a former professor of economics at Ateneo de Manila University where Benigno Aquino III was one of her students. She entered government in 1987, serving as assistant secretary and undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry upon the invitation of President Corazon Aquino. After serving as a senator from 1992 to 1998, she was elected to the vice presidency under President Joseph Estrada, despite having run on an opposing ticket. After Estrada was accused of corruption, she resigned her cabinet position as Secretary of Social Welfare and Development and joined the growing opposition to the president, who faced

impeachment. Estrada was soon forced from office by the EDSA Revolution of 2001, and Arroyo was sworn into the presidency by Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. on January 20, 2001. She was elected to a full six-year presidential term in the controversial May 2004 Philippine elections, and was sworn in on June 30, 2004. Following her presidency she was elected to the House of Representatives, making her the second Philippine presidentafter Jos P. Laurelto pursue a lower office after their presidency

Carlos P. Garcia

He presided over the eight months of Magsaysays remaining term and went on to win the 1957 elections, the noisiest and the most expensive in Philippine history. Garcia hailed from Talibon, Bohol. He finished his law studies at the Philippine Law School in Manila. He passed the Bar examinations and was among the top ten. His election as Bohol representative to the National Assemblly in 1952 marked his entry into Philippine politics and public service one of the longest ever. He was again reelected as a representative. In 1931, he started the first of this three terms as governor of Bohol. In 1941, he was elected as a senator, but it was only in 1945 that he took office because of World War II. He was again reelected as a

senator and in 1953, he became Vice President to Magsaysay. He was appointed in a concurrent capacity as secretary of foreign affairs. Garcias administration (1957 - 1961) was anchored in his austerity program. It was also noted for its Filipino First policy an attempt to boost economic independence.

Corazon C. Aquino

President from 1986 to 1992, she is associated with the EDSA Revolt. No one could have imagined that Cory Aquino would become a president of the Philippines. Although she was born to the landed class in Tarlac, her background was so disparate from the patterns that cut presidential figures. In 1946, her family left for the U.S. and she enrolled at Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia. She finished her junior and senior years at Notre Dame College in New York. In 1949, she entered Mount Saint Vincent College also in New York where she finished a Bachelor of Arts course, major in French . In 1953, she returned to the Philippines to take up law at the Far Eastern University. But, the following year, she met and married Benigno Ninoy Aquino. Subsequently, she became content to live in her husbands shadow and took the role of wife and mother to her five children. However, Ninoys assassination in

1983 swept aside this role and catapulted her to the top position of the country after the tumultuous events which followed the EDSA revolution in February 1986. She refused to run for reelection in the 1992 presidential elections; but instead endorsed and worked very hard for her chosen candidate Fidel V. Ramos.

Fidel V. Ramos

He was the military hero of the February 1986 Philippine People Power Revolution and victor of the first multiparty presidential elections in 1992, thus becoming the 12th President of the Republic of the Philippines. Ramos was born on March 18, 1928, and grew up in Lingayen, Pangasinan. His father - Narciso Ramos - was a lawyer, a crusading journalist, a five-term legislator of the House of Representatives, and later, secretary of foreign affairs. The Ramos administration has anchored its governance on the philosophy of People Empowerment as the engine to operationalize economic growth, social equity, and national solidarity. It is focusing on a five-point program: peace and stability; economic growth and sustainable development; energy and power generation; environmental protection; and a streamline democracy. The six-year term of Ramos (1992 - 1998) is looked upon with much hope and optimism not only because of his clear vision of the future but also because of his

hands-on leadership style in meeting the challenges faced by the country. Because of his leadership, the Philippines is expected to attain full political stability, sustained economic development and social justice by the turn of the 21st century.

Ferdinand E. Marcos

He was the President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives (19491959) and a member of the Philippine Senate (19591965). He was Senate President from 19631965.

While in power he implemented wide-ranging programs of infrastructure development and economic reform. However, his administration was marred by massive corruption, 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, during his 20 years in power, he and his wife Imelda Marcos had moved billions of dollars of embezzled public funds to accounts and investments in the United States, Switzerland, and other countries.

Diosdado Macapagal

He 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.

A native of Lubao, Pampanga, Macapagal graduated from the University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas, after which he worked as a lawyer for the government. He first won election in 1949 to the House of Representatives,

representing a district in his home province of Pampanga. In 1957 he became vice president in the administration of President Carlos P. Garcia, and in 1961 he defeated Garcia's re-election bid for the presidency.

Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino

He was a Filipino politician who has been the 15th President of the Philippines since June 2010. Aquino is a fourth-generation politician: his great-grandfather, Servillano "Mianong" Aquino, served as a delegate to the Malolos Congress; his grandfather, Benigno Aquino, Sr., served as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 1943 to 1944; and his parents were President Corazon Aquino and Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. Aquino is a member of the Liberal Party.[7] In the Liberal Party, Aquino held various positions such as Secretary General and Vice President for Luzon. Aquino is the Chairman of the Liberal Party.

Born in Manila, Aquino finished his Bachelor of Arts Major in Economics from Ateneo de Manila University in 1981 and joined his family in their exile in the United States shortly thereafter. He returned to the Philippines in 1983 shortly after the assassination of his father and held several positions working in the private sector. In 1998, he was elected to the House of Representatives as Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province. He was subsequently reelected to the House in 2001 and 2004 In 2007, having been barred from running for re-election to the House due to term limits, he was elected to the Senate in the 14th Congress of the Philippines.

Joseph Estrada

He was a Filipino politician who served as the 13th President of the Philippines from 1998 until 2001. Estrada was the first person in the Post-EDSA era to be elected both to the presidency and vice-presidency. He is the Mayor of Manila, the country's capital, after emerging as the victor in the 2013 mid-term elections.

Estrada gained popularity as a film actor, playing the lead role in over 100 films in an acting career spanning 33 years. He used his popularity as an actor to make gains in politics, serving as mayor of San Juan for sixteen years, as Senator for one term, then as Vice President of the Philippines under the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos.

Presidents of the Philippines