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.