List of presidents of the Philippines

Politics of the Philippines
Government Constitution of the Philippines Charter Change Laws Legal codes Taxation
Executive President of the Philippines Bongbong Marcos (PFP) Vice President of the Philippines Sara Duterte (HNP) Cabinet (lists) Executive departments Local government
Legislature Congress of the Philippines 19th Congress Senate President Francis Escudero (Independent) House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez (Lakas) Districts Party-list representation Bangsamoro Parliament Provincial boards City councils Municipal councils Barangay councils
Judiciary Supreme Court of the Philippines Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo Court of Appeals Court of Tax Appeals Sandiganbayan Ombudsman Regional Trial Courts Barangay justice
Constitutional commissions Civil Service Commission Chairperson Marilyn Barua-Yap Commission on Audit Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba Commission on Elections Chairperson George Garcia
Elections General 2019 2022 2025 Barangay 2013 2018 2023 Referendums
Political parties Akbayan Aksyon Lakas LDP Liberal Nacionalista NPC NUP PFP Reporma PDP UNA
Administrative divisions Capital Regions Autonomous regions Provinces Cities Municipalities Barangays Poblacions Sitios Puroks
Related topics Foreign relations Human rights
Philippines portal Other countries
v t e

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]

Emilio Aguinaldo became the inaugural president of the Philippines under the Malolos Republic, 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 (1935–44) 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] A change in government occurred three years later when the Second Philippine Republic was organized with the enactment of the 1943 Constitution, which Japan imposed after it 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 Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945; the Commonwealth was restored in the Philippines in the same year with Sergio Osmeña (1944–46) as president.^[3]

Manuel Roxas (1946–1948) 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 (1965–86),^[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, 1953–57^[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 (1986–92), who ascended to the presidency upon the successful People Power Revolution of 1986, and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001–10), who, as vice president, ascended to the presidency upon Estrada's resignation and was elected to a full six-year term in 2004.

No.	Portrait	Name (Lifespan)	Party		Term	Election	Vice president	Era
1		Emilio Aguinaldo (1869–1964)		None	January 23, 1899 – April 19, 1901[a] (2 years, 86 days)	1899[b]	None[c]	First Republic
None[d]						–[e]	None	U.S. Military Government
						–[f]		U.S. Insular Government
2		Manuel L. Quezon (1878–1944)		Nacionalista	November 15, 1935 – August 1, 1944[g] (8 years, 260 days)	1935	Sergio Osmeña	Commonwealth
						1941
3		Jose P. Laurel (1891–1959)		KALIBAPI	October 14, 1943 – August 17, 1945[h] (1 year, 307 days)	1943[i]	None[j]	Second Republic
4		Sergio Osmeña (1878–1961)		Nacionalista	August 1, 1944 – May 28, 1946 (1 year, 300 days)	1941	Vacant[k]	Commonwealth
5		Manuel Roxas (1892–1948)		Liberal	May 28, 1946 – April 15, 1948[g] (1 year, 323 days)	1946	Elpidio Quirino
								Third Republic
6		Elpidio Quirino (1890–1956)		Liberal	April 17, 1948 – December 30, 1953 (5 years, 257 days)		Vacant[k]
						1949	Fernando Lopez[l]
7		Ramon Magsaysay (1907–1957)		Nacionalista	December 30, 1953 – March 17, 1957[g] (3 years, 77 days)	1953	Carlos P. Garcia
8		Carlos P. Garcia (1896–1971)		Nacionalista	March 18, 1957 – December 30, 1961 (4 years, 287 days)		None[k]
						1957	Diosdado Macapagal[m]
9		Diosdado Macapagal (1910–1997)		Liberal	December 30, 1961 – December 30, 1965 (4 years)	1961	Emmanuel Pelaez[n]
10		Ferdinand Marcos (1917–1989)		Nacionalista (until 1978)	December 30, 1965 – February 25, 1986[o] (20 years, 57 days)	1965	Fernando Lopez
						1969
								Martial Law
							None[p]
						1973[q]
						1977[q]
				KBL (from 1978)
						1981		Fourth Republic
							Vacant[r]
11		Corazon Aquino (1933–2009)		UNIDO (until 1988)	February 25, 1986 – June 30, 1992 (6 years, 126 days)	1986[s]	Salvador Laurel[t]	Provisional Government
								Fifth Republic
				Independent (from 1988)
12		Fidel V. Ramos (1928–2022)		Lakas–NUCD	June 30, 1992 – June 30, 1998 (6 years)	1992	Joseph Estrada[u]
13		Joseph Estrada (born 1937)		LAMMP	June 30, 1998 – January 20, 2001[v] (2 years, 204 days)	1998	Gloria Macapagal Arroyo[w]
14		Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (born 1947)		Lakas–CMD	January 20, 2001 – June 30, 2010 (9 years, 161 days)		Vacant[x]
							Teofisto Guingona Jr.[y]
						2004	Noli de Castro[z]
15		Benigno Aquino III (1960–2021)		Liberal	June 30, 2010 – June 30, 2016 (6 years)	2010	Jejomar Binay[aa]
16		Rodrigo Duterte (born 1945)		PDP–Laban	June 30, 2016 – June 30, 2022 (6 years)	2016	Leni Robredo[m]
17		Bongbong Marcos (born 1957)		PFP	June 30, 2022 – present (2 years, 123 days)	2022	Sara Duterte[ab]

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 y Carpio should also be included.^[35] Miguel Malvar y Carpio 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 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]

Portrait	Name Lifespan	Party		Term		Vice President	Government
				Took office	Left office
	Andrés Bonifacio (1863–1897) [34][39][40][41]		None	August 24, 1896[ac]	March 22, 1897[ad] or May 10, 1897[ae]	None	Sovereign Tagalog Nation
	Emilio Aguinaldo (1869–1964)		None	March 22, 1897[af]	November 1, 1897[ag]	Mariano Trias	Tejeros revolutionary government
				November 2, 1897[ah]	December 14, 1897[ai]		Republic of Biak-na-Bato
				May 24, 1898	June 23, 1898[aj]		Dictatorial Government
				June 23, 1898[ak][42]	January 23, 1899[al]		Revolutionary Government
	Francisco Makabulos (1871–1922)		None	April 17, 1898	May 19, 1898[am]	None	Central Executive Committee
	Miguel Malvar (1865–1911) [43]		None	April 19, 1901[an]	April 16, 1902[ao]	None[ap]	First Republic
	Macario Sakay (1870–1907) [44][45][46]		Katipunan (holdout/revival)	May 6, 1902[aq]	July 14, 1906[ar]	Francisco Carreón	Tagalog Republic
	José Abad Santos (1886–1942) [38]		Independent	March 17, 1942	May 2, 1942	None	Commonwealth
	Jorge B. Vargas (1890–1980)		KALIBAPI Association for Service to the New Philippines	January 23, 1942	October 14, 1943	None	Philippine Executive Commission
	Arturo Tolentino (1910–2004) [47][48]		Kilusang Bagong Lipunan New Society Movement	July 6, 1986[as]	July 8, 1986	None	Fourth Republic

3 other former vice presidents (S. Laurel, Binay, and Robredo) all made failed runs for the presidency.

The following cabinet secretaries are only served for fulltime. Vice Presidents served as cabinet secretary concurrently are not included.

Subnotes

Other notes

• List of vice presidents of the Philippines

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Presidents of the Philippines.

• Presidential Website
• Office of the President of the Philippines
• Presidential Museum and Library
• Philippines at worldstatesmen.org+