Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal-Arroyo (Tagalog: [ˈɡloɾja makapaˈɡal ʔaˈɾojo]; born April 5, 1947^[3]), often referred to as PGMA or GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician who served as the 14th president of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010. She is the longest-serving president since Ferdinand Marcos. Before her presidency, she was the 10th vice president of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001 under President Joseph Estrada, becoming the first female vice president. She was also a senator from 1992 to 1998. After her presidency, she was elected as the representative of Pampanga's 2nd district in 2010 and continues to serve in this role. She also served as the speaker of the House from 2018 to 2019, and as deputy speaker from 2016 to 2017 and 2022 to 2023. Alongside former president Sergio Osmeña, she is one of only two Filipinos to hold at least three of the four highest offices: vice president, president, and house speaker.^[4]

Arroyo is the first president to succeed the presidency as the child of a previous president; her father was Diosdado Macapagal, the country's ninth president from 1961 to 1965.^[5] She studied economics at Georgetown University in the United States, where she became friends with her classmate and future U.S. president Bill Clinton.^[6] She then became a professor of economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, where her eventual successor, President Benigno Aquino III, was one of her students. She entered government in 1987 as assistant secretary and undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry under President Corazon Aquino, Benigno's mother.

After Estrada was accused of corruption, Arroyo resigned from her cabinet position as secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and joined the opposition against the president. Estrada was ousted by the Second EDSA Revolution in 2001, and Arroyo was sworn in as president by Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. on January 20. The Oakwood mutiny occurred in 2003 during her administration.^[7][8] She was elected to a full six-year term in the controversial 2004 presidential election and was sworn in on June 30, 2004. A long-time opponent of the death penalty,^[9] she abolished capital punishment in 2006 after commuting the death sentences of over 1,200 prisoners.^[10][11]

On November 18, 2011, Arroyo was arrested and held at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on charges of electoral sabotage^[12][13] but released on bail in July 2012. These charges were later dropped for lack of evidence. She was rearrested in October 2012 on charges of misuse of $8.8 million in state lottery funds.^[14] She was given hospital arrest due to life-threatening health conditions.^[15] During the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, the Supreme Court acquitted her by a vote of 11–4.^[16] Also, the Supreme Court declared the Department of Justice's 'hold departure orders' unconstitutional.^[17][18] Arroyo's lawyers stated afterward that she no longer needed her medical paraphernalia.^[19]

Arroyo is a member of the Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language^[20] and supported the teaching of Spanish in the country's education system during her presidency.^[21]

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