Carlos Garcia

Carlos' Achievements and Challenges:

1) From 1947 to 1953 Garcia was vice president of the Nacionalista party directorate, and he also served in the Cabinet beginning in 1953 as vice president and secretary of foreign affairs.

2) When he was in the Senate, he was chairman and member of numerous key committees, among them government reorganization, foreign affairs, public works, army and navy, and justice.

3) When President Magsaysay was killed in an airplane accident on March 17, 1957, Garcia became his successor, having been elected vice president in November 1953.

4) After six months of interviewing applicants nationwide, San Francisco Schools commune has abounding its top position. Carlos Garcia, Vice President of Urban Markets for McGraw-Hill (educational publishers), has been called as the abutting administrator of San Francisco Schools.

Diosdado Macapagal

Diosdado's Achievements and Challenges:

1) In 1948, President Elpidio Quirino, appointed Macapagal second secretary to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC which was his first stint in public office. A year later Quirino asked him to run against a Huk candidate as representative from Pampanga. Macapagal won and was elected to a seat in the Philippine House of Representatives. He was re- elected in 1953 and served until 1956. In Congress he authored the "Minimum Wage Law" and the "Rural Health Law" that sent mobile medical teams throughout the country. He was designated head of a Philippine delegation which was sent to the United States to work out the US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty.

2) Macapagal, who was a member of the Liberal Party, became vice president in the administration of Carlos P. Garcia in 1957. Later in 1961 he was elected President of the the Philippines with an impressive 55.04 percent of the votes in a five-candidate race that included Carlos Garcia, Emmanuel Pelaez, Sergio Osmena Jr., and Gil Puyat.

3) In simple words, Macapagal opted for the parliamentary route to make changes in the inequitable social systems rather than for the revolutionary route taken by Abad Santos and Taruc. Macapagal's decision defined the reformist character of his political career. The system did not quash his talents and intellectual assets, and yet it also frustrated his efforts when as president, he translated his social equity programs into legislation and policy.

Ferdinand Marcos

Ferdinand's Achievements and Challenges:

1) 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 in 1963. He claimed that during World War 2 he had been the leader of Ang Maharlika, a guerrilla force in northern Luzon.

2) In 1983, his government was implicated in the assassination of his primary political opponent, Benigno Aguino Jr.. The implication caused a chain of events, including a tainted presidential election that served as the catalyst for the People Power Revolution in February 1986 that led to his removal from power and eventual exile in Hawaii.

Gloria Arroyo

Gloria's Achievements and Challenges:

1) In 2002, looking back on her first year as president, she cited the country's economic survival as her greatest achievement, although she remained well aware that much work lay ahead, according to The Power and the Glory.

2) Prior to entering politics in 1987, Arroyo was a professor ofeconomics. Arroyo first took the position of president amid revolts and protests and this turmoil has come to characterize both of her terms in office. As president, Arroyo has focused on the economy and, through the implementation of a series of "holiday economics" polices, has lowered inflation rates to a recent low and garnered praise from international observers.

3) Arroyo is a strong supported of United States foreign policy, including the Iraq Warand War on Terror. She has also tried to improve regional relations as represented in the Cebu City hosting of the ASEAN Summit in 2007.

Joseph Estrada

Joseph's Achievements and Challenges:

1) Central in the campaign was Estrada’s campaign slogan "Erap para sa Mahirap" (Erap for the poor) that succeeded in inspiring the masses with the hope that Estrada would be the president of and for the masses.

2) During the campaign, Estrada's political rivals tried but failed to discredit him while publicizing his womanizing, drinking and gambling. Estrada was inaugurated on June 30, 1998 in the historical town of Malolos in Bulacan province.

3) Estrada’s financial backers designed a campaign strategy that reflected Estrada’s pro-poor image that he had built up throughout his movie career.

Fidel Ramos

Fidel's Achievements and Challenges:

1) During his administration, Ramos began implementing economic reforms intended to open up the once-closed national economy, encourage private enterprise, invite more foreign and domestic investment, and reduce corruption.

2) Ramos was also known as the most-traveled Philippine President in recent history with numerous foreign trips abroad, generating about US$ 20 billion worth of foreign investments to the Philippines.

3) He had the mandate to continue the democratic reforms gained by the country during Corazon Aquino's peaceful people-power revolution of 1986.

Corazon Aquino

Corazon's Achievements and Challenges:

1) After leaving the presidency, Aquino received several awards and citations. In 1994, Aquino was cited as one of 100 Women Who Shaped World History in a reference book written by Gail Meyer Rolka and published by Bluewood Books in San Francisco, California.

2) In 1996, she received the J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding from the Fulbright Association, joining past recipients such as Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela.

3) In 2002, Aquino became the first woman named to the Board of Governors of the Board of the Asian Institute of Management, a leading graduate business school and think tank in the Asia Pacific region. She served on the Board until 2006.