Location: President Diosdado P. Macapagal Library and Museum, Lubao, Pampanga
Category: Personages
Type: Biographical marker
Status: Level II – Historical marker
Marker date: 1990
Installed by: National Historical Institute (NHI)
Marker text:
DIOSDADO P. MACAPAGAL
5TH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, A NATIVE SON OF LUBAO, PAMPANGA, WITH DELIBERATE PATIENCE, LIBERATED HIMSELF FROM AND TRANSCENDED ALL THE SHACKLING OBSTACLES ADHERENT TO THE POVERTY OF HIS BIRTH ON SEPTEMBER 28, 1910.
WORKING HIS WAY THROUGH SCHOOL, PARTLY WITH THE SUPPORT OF PHILANTROPHIST HONORIO VENTURA, HE EARNED THE DEGREES OF BACHELOR OF LAWS, MASTER OF LAWS, DOCTOR OF LAWS AND DOCTOR OF ECONOMICS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS. HE TOPPED THE BAR EXAMINATION IN 1936.
IN 1949, HE WAS ELECTED CONGRESSMAN FOR THE FIRST DISTRICT OF PAMPANGA, AFTER TWO TERMS IN CONGRESS, HE WAS ELECTED VICE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES IN 1957 AND WAS CHOSEN AS PRESIDENT OF THE LIBERAL PARTY. IN 1961, HE WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES.
AS PRESIDENT, HE HAD TWO OBJECTIVES: TO FIGHT MASS POVERTY AND TO STRENGTHEN AND MATURIZE DEMOCRACY IN THE PHILIPPINES. ON AUGUST 8, 1963, HE ENACTED THE AGRICULTURAL LAND REFORM CODE, WHICH ABOLISHED THE CENTURIES-OLD TENANCY IN THE PHILIPPINES. AFTER HIS RETIREMENT FROM POLITICS IN 1965, HE WAS ELECTED DELEGATE TO THE 1971 CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION WHICH ELECTED HIM AS ITS PRESIDENT.
DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL’S SERVICE TO HIS PEOPLE AND COUNTRY IS CHARACTERIZED BY HIS PERSONAL VIRTUES OF HONESTY, COMMITMENT AND INTEGRITY AND BY A DEEP LOVE AND FEAR OF GOD. ALL THESE MANIFESTATIONS OF HIS IDEALISM ARE SHARED BY HIS WIFE, EVANGELINA MACARAEG-MACAPAGAL, AND HIS CHILDREN CIELO MACAPAGAL-SALGADO, ARTURO MACAPAGAL, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO AND DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL, JR.
