The List of Philippine Presidents from Aguinaldo to BBM

As the world braces for the inauguration of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. as the 17th president of the Republic of the Philippines, it would be an ideal time to do a quick sibika lesson about the people who run this country since the Philippines declared independence on the 12th of June, 1898.

File Photo: PEP

• Emilio Aguinaldo - The 1st Philippine President from 1899 to 1901. Known as the president of the Revolutionary Government, Aguinaldo signed the Biak-na-Bato Pact to declare a ceasefire between the Filipinos and Spaniards. At age 28, he was the youngest to take over the Philippines and after his term was finished in 1901, when the Philippines got caught in the war against the Americans, he was the longest-lived president in history, upon his death in 1964 at the age of 94. The face of Aguinaldo can be commonly seen on the five peso coin.

• Manuel Luis Quezon - The 2nd Philippine President from 1935 to 1944. He is the first president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and the first Senate president elected as the President of the Philippines through a national election. Dubbed the "father of national language", he established the National Council of Education and made Tagalog the nation's national language. In the 1st of August, 1944, during the Second World War, Manuel L. Quezon died of tuberculosis at Sarawak Lake, New York City, and his body was buried in what was known as the Quezon Memorial Circle. Because Manuel L. Quezon is part of the Philippine history, he can be seen commonly at the twenty peso bill, and aside from that, there was a province, a city, a bridge, and a university in Manila named after him.

• Jose P. Laurel - The 3rd Philippine President from 1943 to 1945. During the Second World War, Laurel established a provisional government called KALIBAPI, or Organization of Serving the new Philippines. In 1944, he declared Martial Law and war between the Philippines and the allied forces (the US and Great Britain).  Although his leadership during the Second World War was questionable, Laurel was considered a legitimate president of the Philippines since the early 1960s and he and his family founded the university known as Lyceum.

• Sergio Osmeña - The 4th Philippine President from 1944 to 1946. He was the first Visayan to become president at the old age of 65, which also makes him the oldest person to become president. During the Second World War, Osmeña joined with US General Douglas McArthur in Leyte on October 20, 1944, to restore Philippine freedom after the occupation by the Japanese Imperial Army. Osmeña rehabilitated the Philippine National Bank and made the Philippines part of the International Monetary Fund. He made the Bell Trade Act approved by US Congress during his term. He can be commonly seen in the fifty peso bill.

• Manuel Roxas - The 5th Philippine President from 1946 to 1948. He is the third and last president under the Commonwealth and the first president of the Third Republic of the Philippines after the Second World War. Under his term, Roxas commenced reconstruction from war damage and life without foreign rule, all thanks to the Philippine Rehabilitation Act and Philippine Trade Act laws accepted by Congress. He can be commonly seen on the 100 peso bill.
• Elpidio Quirino - The 6th Philippine President from 1948 to 1953. He was served as the replacement for Manuel Roxas following his death on the 15th of April, 1948, and in his time, the established Social Security Commission and the Integrity Board to monitor graft and corruption. He made Quezon as the capital of the Philippines. During his term, the Hukbalahap guerrilla movement became active, causing havoc in some parts of the Philippines.

• Ramon Magsaysay - The 7th Philippine President from 1953 to 1957. During his term, he suppressed the Hukbalahap militants and became chairman of the Committee on Guerrilla Affairs. Apart from that, the Philippines was ranked second in Asia's clean and well-governed countries thanks to its lack of corruption. Magsaysay was killed in an accident while boarding his presidential plane.

• Carlos P. Garcia - The 8th Philippine President from 1957 to 1961.  He was once a vice president under Ramon Magsaysay and as secretary of Foreign Affairs for four years. Following Magsaysay's tragic death, Garcia steps into the leadership role. He was known for his policy which heavily favored Filipino businesses over foreign investors and established the Austerity Program focusing on Filipino trade and commerce. As a native of Bohol, he is responsible for reviving cultural arts in the Philippines, and since his death in 1971, he was the first president to have his remains buried at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

• Diosdado Macapagal - The 9th Philippine President from 1961 to 1965 and the father of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. During his term, he established the first Land Reform Law, allowing for the purchase of private farmland to be distributed in affordable lots to those who don't have land to manage. He is responsible for putting the Philippine peso on the currency exchange market and made June 12, 1898, Independence Day. Diosdado Macapagal established the Philippine Veteran's Bank.

• Ferdinand Marcos - The 10th Philippine President from 1965 to 1986. He is known to be the most infamous dictator the Philippines has ever produced since the declaration of Martial Law on September 22, 1972. Long before his declaration of Martial Law, Marcos made more schools, roads, bridges, hospitals, and other infrastructure than any other former president, and in the aftermath of Martial Law, the Philippines' GNP was four times greater than in 1972 and made one of the most indebted countries in Asia by 1986. Following the 1986 People Power Revolution, Marcos was ousted from power by Corazon Aquino. His remains are buried in the Libingan ng Mga Bayani during the early years of the Duterte administration despite drawing many criticisms from pro-democracy groups.

• Corazon Aquino - The 11th Philippine President from 1986 to 1992. She is the first female president to run the Asian country following Marcos' departure in the aftermath of the People Power Revolution. During her term, she restored democracy in the Philippines and nullified the 1973 Marcos Constitution, paving the way for her new Constitution of the Philippines. Thanks to her accomplishments, she became Time magazine's Woman of the Year in 1986. Since her death on August 1, 2009, she is now seen in the new 500-peso bill alongside her husband Benigno Aquino. One of her children was well-known to the public as Kris Aquino was known to be a media personality while Benigno "Nonoy" Aquino III became the leader of the country in 2010.

• Fidel V. Ramos - The 12th Philippine President from 1992 to 1998. He became the president of the Philippines after his win in the 1992 elections. He was once the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines before he became the leader of this nation. Because being the first non-Catholic president of the Philippines, he reinstated the infamous death penalty sentence as well as signed a peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front. Even during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, Ramos restored economic growth and stability in the country and he was awarded British Knighthood from the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II.

• Joseph Ejercito Estrada - The 13th Philippine President from 1998 to 2001. He became president after winning the May 1998 elections against the likes of Fidel V. Ramos and Miriam Defensor-Santiago. Although his main purpose is to restore strength and stability to the nation, his term was short-lived following his allegations of plunder. He was ousted from power in January 2001 after the historic impeachment trial and he was replaced by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

• Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - The 14th Philippine President from 2001 to 2010 and the 2nd female president. She is the daughter of the late Diosdado Macapagal and she was once a vice-president before she served as the replacement of the ousted Estrada. Believe it or not, Arroyo was the ex-classmate of her former American counterpart, Bill Clinton, at Walsh School of Foreign Service, where she maintained her Dean's list status. During her term, she placed the Philippines in a state of emergency following the Oakwood Mutiny and she was alleged in cheated the 2004 elections.

• Benigno Aquino III - The 15th Philippine President from 2010 to 2016 and the only son of the late Corazon Aquino. Since his May 2010 election victory, Aquino initiated the "Daang Matuwid" plan to restore the strength and stability of the nation, although his leadership was put to test the following a series of events such as the August 2010 hostage-taking incident that killed numerous Hong Kong tourists as well as 2013's Superstorm Yolanda. Aquino got caught up in the tensions between the Philippines and China over the islands of the South China Sea, which most ASEAN nations, Japan, and the US got mixed into them. He died on June 24, 2021, at the age of 61.

• Rodrigo Roa Duterte - The 16th Philippine President from 2016 to 2022. From being the longest-serving Davao City mayor to one of the most controversial world leaders, most pro-democracy groups slammed him for his authoritarian moves, Duterte will be forever remembered for unleashing his brutal campaign against drugs that killed thousands of people, causing much heat from the world. Aside from his alleged extra-judicial killings during his war on drugs, the Duterte administration became infamous for forging alliances with China and Russia while saber-rattling against the United States, forcing him to revoke the Visiting Forces Agreement but he can't because of ongoing Chinese threats, the shutdown of ABS-CBN in the middle of the COVID pandemic, appointing former military officials to government institutions, martial law in the middle of the Marawi siege against the Maute-ISIS group, and many other controversial moments Duterte pulled off. His major accomplishments during his term are his "Build Build Build" campaign, a massive array of infrastructure projects for the benefit of the Filipinos, as well as the foundation of Bangsamoro.

• Ferdinand Marcos Jr. - Beginning his term as the 17th President of the Philippines, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. won the May 2022 elections by a landslide, which caused cheers from his massive line of supporters and tears from pro-democracy groups, fearing that he will do as his namesake father did in the 1970s. While most pro-democracy groups feared historical revisionism, BBM supporters believe that BBM's win in the elections is the chance for the Marcos family to have a clean slate. The majority of Filipinos have decided to give themselves a second chance to redeem themselves from their father's wrongdoings.

...and this is the list of Philippine Presidents from Emilio Aguinaldo to Bongbong Marcos.