Diosdado Macapagal

Diosdado Pangan Macapagal Sr., often called “Apung Dadong,” was the ninth president of the Philippines, in office from 1961 to 1965. Before that, he served as the fifth vice president from 1957 to 1961 under Carlos P. Garcia. He also sat in the House of Representatives and later led the 1970 Constitutional Convention. His daughter, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, became president herself, serving from 2001 to 2010. Macapagal was one of the few Philippine presidents with doctoral degrees, earning a Doctor of Civil Law and a PhD in Economics from the University of Santo Tomas.

Nicknamed “The Poor Boy From Lubao,” he was born in Lubao, Pampanga. He studied at the University of the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, then worked as a government lawyer. He first won a seat in the House of Representatives in 1949, representing Pampanga’s 1st district. In 1957, he became vice president under Carlos P. Garcia, whom he later beat in the 1961 presidential election.

As president, Macapagal aimed to curb graft and corruption and boost the economy. He enacted the country’s first land reform law, let the peso float freely on currency markets, and loosened foreign exchange and import controls. Many of these efforts were hampered by a Congress controlled by the rival Nacionalista Party. He is also known for moving Independence Day from July 4 to June 12, marking the date in 1898 when Emilio Aguinaldo declared independence from Spain. He ran for reelection in 1965 but lost to Ferdinand Marcos.

Under Marcos, Macapagal was elected president of the 1970 constitutional convention, which produced the 1973 Constitution. However, he later questioned the charter’s legitimacy due to how it was ratified and amended. He died of heart failure, pneumonia, and renal complications in 1997 at age 86. Macapagal also wrote poetry in Spanish, though his political career overshadowed his literary work.

Macapagal was born on September 28, 1910, in Barrio San Nicolas, Lubao, Pampanga, the third of five children in a poor household. His father, Urbano Romero Macapagal, was a poet writing in Kapampangan; his mother was Romana Pangan Macapagal. He was a distant descendant of Don Juan Macapagal, a prince of Tondo and great-grandson of the last lakan, Lakandula. Through his mother, he was related to the Licad family; her grandmother and the grandmother of pianist Cecile Licad were sisters. The family raised pigs and took in boarders for extra income, earning him the nickname “Poor Boy from Lubao.”

Macapagal excelled in school, graduating valedictorian from Lubao Elementary School and salutatorian from Pampanga High School. He finished pre-law at the University of the Philippines Manila, then entered Philippine Law School in 1932 on a scholarship, working part-time as an accountant. He became known as a strong orator and debater but had to quit after two years due to poor health and lack of funds. Back in Pampanga, he and his friend Rogelio de la Rosa produced and starred in Tagalog operettas based on Spanish zarzuelas. In 1938, he married de la Rosa’s sister, Purita, with whom he had two children, Cielo and Arturo.

He saved enough to continue studies at the University of Santo Tomas, aided by philanthropist Don Honorio Ventura and his mother’s relatives, the Macaspacs, who owned land in Lubao. He earned his Bachelor of Laws in 1936, then topped the bar exam that year with a score of 89.95%. He later returned for a Master of Laws (1941), Doctor of Civil Law (1947), and PhD in Economics (1957), writing a dissertation titled “Imperatives of Economic Development in the Philippines.”

After passing the bar, Macapagal was invited to join an American law firm, a rare honor for a Filipino at the time. He became a legal assistant to President Manuel L. Quezon in Malacañang Palace. During the Japanese occupation in World War II, he stayed on as an assistant to President José P. Laurel while secretly aiding the anti-Japanese resistance. After the war, he worked as an assistant attorney at one of the largest law firms.