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List of presidents of the Philippines
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Under the Constitution of the Philippines, the president of the Philippines (Filipino: Pangulo ng Pilipinas) is both the head of state and government, and serves as the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces.[3][4] The president is directly elected by qualified voters to a six-year term and must be "a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a registered voter, able to read and write, at least forty years of age on the day of the election, and a resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding such election". No elected president can seek re-election. Upon resignation, or removal from the office, the vice president assumes the post. A president's successor who hasn't served for more than four years can still seek a full term for the presidency.[5]

The incumbent president is Bongbong Marcos, who assumed office on June 30, 2022.
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History
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Emilio Aguinaldo became the inaugural president of the Philippines under the Malolos Republic, which was considered the First Philippine Republic.[6][note 2] He held that office until 1901 when he was captured by United States forces during the Philippine–American War (1899–1902).[3] The American colonization of the Philippines abolished the First Republic,[11] which led to an American governor-general exercising executive power.[18]
In 1935, the United States, pursuant to its promise of full Philippine sovereignty,[19] established the Commonwealth of the Philippines following the ratification of the 1935 Constitution, which also restored the presidency. The first national presidential election was held,[note 3] and Manuel L. Quezon (1935–1944) was elected to a six-year term with no provision for re-election[4] as the second Philippine president and the first Commonwealth president.[note 2] In 1940, however, the Constitution was amended to allow re-election but shortened the term to four years.[3] However, a change in the government occurred three years later when the Second Philippine Republic was organized with the enactment of the 1943 Constitution, which Japan imposed after the occupied the Philippines in 1942 during World War II.[22] José P. Laurel acted as puppet president of the new Japanese-sponsored government;[23] his de facto presidency,[24] not legally recognized until the 1960s,[10] overlapped with that of the president of the Commonwealth, which went into exile. The Second Republic was dissolved after the Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945; the Commonwealth was then restored in the Philippines in the same year with the election of Sergio Osmeña (1944–1946) as president.[3]
Manuel Roxas (1946–1948) then followed Osmeña when he won the first post-war election in 1946. He became the first president of the independent Philippines when the Commonwealth ended on July 4 of that year. The Third Republic was ushered in and would cover the administrations of the next five presidents, the last of which was Ferdinand Marcos (1965–1986),[3] who performed a self-coup by imposing martial law in 1972.[25] The dictatorship of Marcos saw the birth of the New Society (Filipino: Bagong Lipunan) and the Fourth Republic. His tenure lasted until 1986 when he was deposed in the People Power Revolution. The current constitution came into effect in 1987, marking the beginning of the Fifth Republic.[3]
Of the individuals elected as president, three died in office: two of natural causes (Manuel L. Quezon[26] and Manuel Roxas[27]) and one in a plane crash (Ramon Magsaysay, 1953–1957[28]). The longest-serving president is Ferdinand Marcos with 20 years and 57 days in office; he is the only president to have served more than two terms. The shortest is Sergio Osmeña, who spent 1 year and 300 days in office.
Two women have held the office: Corazon Aquino (1986–1992), who ascended to the presidency upon the successful People Power Revolution of 1986, and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001–2010), who, as vice president, ascended to the presidency upon Estrada's resignation and was elected to a full six-year term in 2004.
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Presidents
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Unofficial presidents
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Andrés Bonifacio is considered by some historians to be the first president of the Philippines. He was the third Supreme President (Spanish: Presidente Supremo; Tagalog: Kataastaasang Pangulo) of the Katipunan secret society. Its Supreme Council, led by the Supreme President, coordinated provincial and district councils. When the Katipunan went into open revolt in August 1896 (the Cry of Balintawak), Bonifacio transformed it into a revolutionary government with him as president. While the term Katipunan remained, Bonifacio's government was also known as the Tagalog Republic (Tagalog: Republika ng Katagalugan; Spanish: Republica Tagala). (Although the word Tagalog refers to a specific ethnicity, Bonifacio used it to denote all indigenous people in the Philippines in place of Filipino which had colonial origins.)[30][31][32][33][34]
Some historians contend that including Bonifacio as a past president would imply that Macario Sakay and Miguel Malvar should also be included.[35] Malvar continued Emilio Aguinaldo's leadership of the First Philippine Republic after the latter's capture until his own capture in 1902. Macario Sakay revived the Tagalog Republic in 1902 as a continuation of Bonifacio's Katipunan. They are still both considered by some scholars as "unofficial presidents". Along with Bonifacio, Malvar and Sakay are not recognized as presidents by the Philippine government.[36][37]
Emilio Aguinaldo is officially recognized as the first president of the Philippines, but this is based on his term of office during the Malolos Republic, later known as the First Philippine Republic. Prior to this Aguinaldo had held the presidency of several revolutionary governments which are not counted in the succession of Philippine republics.
Manuel L. Quezon delegated his presidential duties to José Abad Santos, the then-Chief Justice, when the former fled the Philippines amidst Japanese occupation of the islands to establish a government-in-exile. He is believed to have in effect become the acting president of the Philippine Commonwealth though no legal document has been retrieved detailing the official transfer of the title of President to Abad Santos.[38]
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List of presidents by age
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List of presidents by offices held before presidency
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Executive branch
Vice presidents
3 other former vice presidents (S. Laurel, Binay, and Robredo) all made unsuccessful runs for the presidency.
Cabinet secretaries
The following list includes only cabinet secretaries who served full-time. Vice presidents who served concurrently as cabinet secretaries are not included.
Other positions
Legislative
Senators
Congressman/Representatives/Assemblyman
Local government
Governors
Mayors
Municipal/City Councilors
Judiciary
International Affairs-related
Presidents who had not previously held elective office
Without previous experience in government, but served in the military
Without previous experience in government or in the military
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List of presidents by military service
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Notes
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- The president has three official residences, with the Malacañang Palace Complex as the principal abode and workplace.[1] The others are Mansion House in Baguio, the official summer residence,[2] and Malacañang of the South, the official residence in Davao City.
- In chronological order, the presidents started with Manuel L. Quezon,[7] who was then succeeded by Sergio Osmeña as the second president,[8] until the recognition of Emilio Aguinaldo[9] and José P. Laurel's[10] presidencies in the 1960s.[subnote 1][subnote 2] With Aguinaldo as the first president and Laurel as the third, Quezon and Osmeña are thus listed as the second and the fourth respectively.[3][17]
- Emilio Aguinaldo, the official first president, was elected indirectly by the Malolos Congress and not by popular vote.[20][21]
Subnotes
- The Malolos Republic, an independent revolutionary state that is actually the first constitutional republic in Asia,[11][12] remained unrecognized by any country[13][14] until the Philippines acknowledged the government as its predecessor,[15] which it also calls the First Philippine Republic.[11][9][16] Aguinaldo was consequently counted as the country's first president.[6][9]
Other notes
- Emilio Aguinaldo took an oath of allegiance to the United States on April 19, 1901, after being captured by American forces in Palanan, Isabela on March 23.
- Elected by the Malolos Congress.
- During this period, executive authority was held by American military governors from August 14, 1898 until July 1, 1902, and by American governors-general from July 4, 1901 until November 15, 1935. The president of the United States appointed both military governors and governors-general. Military governors were appointed using the president's powers as commander-in-chief, while governors-general were appointed with the advice and consent of the United States Senate.
- From October 14, 1943 until August 17, 1945, there were two presidencies of the Philippines: one for the Commonwealth of the Philippines under the United States and another for the Japanese-backed Second Philippine Republic. Two individuals served as president of the Commonwealth during this period: Manuel L. Quezon (until August 1, 1944) and Sergio Osmeña (from August 1, 1944). Jose P. Laurel was the only president of the Second Republic.
- Manuel L. Quezon's second term was supposed to end on December 30, 1943. However, Joint Resolution No. 95 of the United States Congress was approved on November 12, 1943, to extend Quezon's term due to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.
- Jose P. Laurel dissolved the Second Philippine Republic on August 17, 1945.
- Elected by the National Assembly.
- Ferdinand Marcos was removed from office on February 25, 1986, as a result of the People Power Revolution.
- Ferdinand Marcos' term was extended through a referendum.
- The 1973 Constitution was amended in 1981 to provide for a vice presidency. However, a vice presidential election was not called until 1986.
- In the 1986 presidential election, Ferdinand Marcos was declared the winner by the Batasang Pambansa based on the results from the Commission on Elections, while Corazon Aquino was declared the winner by the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections. The fraudulent conduct and disputed result of the election led to the People Power Revolution, resulting in Marcos' removal from office and Aquino's assumption of the presidency.
- Joseph Estrada was removed from office on January 20, 2001, as a result of the Second EDSA Revolution. The Supreme Court confirmed Estrada's resignation on March 2, 2001.[29]
- Gloria Macapagal Arroyo succeeded to the presidency on January 20, 2001, upon Joseph Estrada's removal from office as a result of the Second EDSA Revolution.
- Term began when Bonifacio declared the establishment of the Tagalog Republic.
- Term ended after the Tejeros Convention.
- Term was established at the Tejeros Convention; Aguinaldo took his oath of office the day after (March 23), but did not fully assume the office until late April 1897.
- Term ended with the establishment of the Republic of Biak-na-Bato.
- Term began after the establishment of the Republic of Biak-na-Bato.
- Term ended when Aguinaldo signed the Pact of Biak-na-Bato.
- Term began with the declaration of a revolutionary government replacing the dictatorship.
- Term ended with the inauguration of the First Philippine Republic.
- Term ended when Malvar surrendered in Batangas.
- Term began when Sakay declared the establishment of the Tagalog Republic (in the tradition of Bonifacio instead of Aguinaldo).
- The running-mate of former President Ferdinand Marcos in the February 1986 presidential election. Proclaimed himself as acting president in a coup attempt.
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