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Lionheart
(1961-1965)9th Philippine President
3rd republic
Diosdado P. Macapagal was the fifth president of the Third Republic of the Philippines.
He was born in Lubao, Pampanga on September 28, 1910 to Urbano Macapagal and Romana Pangan.
He studied law at the University of Sto. Tomas. After receiving his law degree, he was admitted to the bar in 1936. in 1940, he became President Manuel L. Quezon’s legal assistant. In 1948, President Elpidio Quirino, appointed Macapagal as chief negotiator with the British Government of the issue of Philippine Sovereignties over the Turtle Islands. After the successful transfer of the Turtle Island, Macapagal was assigned as second secretary to the
Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. In 1949, he won a seat in the Philippine House of Representatives. He was re-elected in 1953 and served until 1956.
He became the vice president of Carlos P. Garcia in 1957. He was elected president of the Philippines in 1961. Under his presidency, financing institution such as The Philippine Veterans Bank was organized. One of his major foreign policy achievements was the forming of Maphilindo (composed of Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia) in 1963, which paved the way for the creation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. Macapagal was instrumental in changing of the date of the Philippine Independence Day from July 4 to June 12.
In 1965, Macapagal ran and lost to Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippine presidential election. In 1971, he was elected delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He succeded Carlos P. Garcia who died while serving as president of the constitution.
Diosdado P. Macapagal died on April 21, 1997.
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