Short biography of gloria macapagal arroyo

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo served as president of the Republic of the Philippines from 2001 to 2009, the country's second female president. She was also the country's first female vice president.

Macapagal was born April 5, 1947. Her father was Diosdado Macapagal, who later served as Philippine president from 1961 to 1965. She studied at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and graduated magna cum laude from Assumption College with a bachelor's degree in commerce. She earned a master's degree in economics from the Ateneo de Manila University, and a master's degree and Ph.D. in economics from the University of the Philippines. She began her professional career as a teacher at Assumption College. She later became an assistant professor at the Ateneo de Manila University and a senior lecturer at the UP School of Economics.

Macapagal-Arroyo entered government service as an assistant secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry during the Aquino Administration in 1987. She also became executive director of the Garments and Textile Export Board and rose to the rank of undersecretary of Trade and Industry. During her tenure in the Philippines Senate (1992 to 1998), she authored 55 laws on economic and social reform and was named Outstanding Senator several times. In 1998, she became the country's first female vice president, and was concurrently appointed as secretary of social welfare and development, a post she held until her resignation from the Cabinet on October 12, 2000. She was sworn in as president on January 20, 2001, during the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada.

After her second term as president, Macapagal-Arroyo was elected to the House of Representatives in the Philippines, the first person to hold elective office in the Philippines after serving as president.

Sources:

Council of Women World Leaders (n.d.). “GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO” Council of Women World Leaders. Retrieved December 5, 2022. https://www.

(b. San Juan, Rizal Province, 5 April 1947)

Filipino; Vice-President 1998–2001, President 2001–  Daughter of Diosdado Macapagal, President of the Philippines 1961–5, she was educated in the Philippines and at Georgetown University in the USA. Trained as an economist, she first became involved in government in 1986 when Corazon Aquino appointed her as an Assistant Secretary for Trade and Industry. She was elected as a senator in 1992 and as Vice-President in 1998, defeating the candidate of Joseph Estrada, who won the presidential election. In 2001 Estrada was ousted by street protests and a loss of support from the army, and Macapagal Arroyo became president. As a technocrat it was hoped that her government would restore stability to the country. While the economic position certainly improved, her administration was surrounded by allegations of corruption. She survived an attempted coup in 2003 and went on to win presidential elections in 2004 (the following year a scandal emerged over whether she had attempted to rig the elections; she survived a move to impeach her). In 2007 Estrada was found guilty of corruption and jailed for life, and then received a presidential pardon. Opposition to her rule continued, with both Estrada and Aquino calling on her to resign. During her time as President there had been a number of attempts to bring peace to Mindanao in the southern Philippines, where there was a Muslim insurgency. In August 2008 the government and the Muslim Islamic Liberation Front reached an agreement, but there was much local opposition and the deal collapsed, with a resurgence of violence. The global economic crisis caused the price of rice to double in 2008, causing further strain to the economy. Macapagal Arroyo is required to step down as president in 2010.