A Holy Letter

True Love – Forever Love!

      Hi! It’s Me – Jesus! Oh, please don’t shut the door in my face! Please don’t turn around and walk away. I just want to talk to you but not about your problems or your sins. I don’t want to preach at you or make you feel guilty. I just want to tell you how much I love you.
      You know, I’m not far away, up in the sky, or in some distant place called Heaven. I’m right by your side, and if you’ll ask me to come into your heart, I can even live inside you there. I know all about you. I even know the things that you try to hide from everyone – including yourself.
       I know your heartaches and the pain that you suffer. I know what you worry about. I know your secret dreams and aspirations. I know what has disappointed you in the past, and I know your fears about the future. I know the times that you are jealous or compare yourself negatively with others. I understand how you can’t always be everything you would like to be, and that sometimes do or say things that you later regret.
      At times you wonder if anybody really understands you or truly cares. You wonder if love exists – true, unchanging, unending love. Sometimes you feel so alone, and existence seems so pointless. You ask yourself, “What am I here for? What am I supposed to do? Why am I alive? Is there a God? And if so, where is He? Who is He?”
       I’ve heard all these questions that are in your heart. I’ve felt your struggle. I understand your uncertainty, your heaviness, and your frustration. I know how disappointed you sometimes feel about yourself, wishing you could do better. But even when you try your best, things just don’t always seem to work out as you hope.
      So you look at life’s monotony and ask yourself, “Is this all there is? Isn’t there something deeper? Some reason, some purpose or goal for my life?”
      My dear friend, the answer to these questions and the satisfaction you are looking for will not be found in the world that you see with your eyes. It can only be found in the world of spirit, where love reigns supreme. God, the great Creator, the King of the Universe, is love. He is the invisible Spirit of Love – and to know, receive and share this love is the purpose for living.
      But it’s not something that you can work for or earn by your own goodness, by keeping the rules and trying so hard. This blessing of love – the greatest treasure anyone could ever receive is a gift. It can only be received by faith. You can’t work for it or prove yourself worthy of it.
      God loves you so much that he wanted to make it easy for you to understand Him and His love. He wanted to give you a picture, an illustration, an example of His love that would help you to see that he and his love are real. His love is not something that can just read about, discuss or debate but it’s something that you can experience in your life. It is power, it is warmth, and it is light and life! God’s love is all those things.
      Because God is so grand, so magnificent, so all encompassing. He knew it would be difficult for you to understand him and his love, and to understand how you could receive it. So he allowed me, Jesus, to be the illustration of his love for you.
      Now I am the connection between you and God. I am the go-between, the mediator, the staircase to Heaven. Through me you can pass from a life of emptiness or disappointment or turmoil and desperation into a life of peace and plenty and love. It’s all yours for the asking. Even the tiniest desire of your heart is important to me, and nothing gives me more pleasure than to take from the riches of heaven and give you what you need to make you happy.
       I love you with a love that is perfect and without end. I don’t look at your imperfections, mistakes and sins, and then get upset and stop loving you. No, I love you in spite of all of these things! I love you for who you really are, and for what you can be.
       I love you as no one else has ever loved you before, and as no one else will. There is nothing you can do that could cause me to turn my back on you. The only thing that could come between you and my love would be your refusal to receive it, for I cannot force it on you.
Open your heart to me, believe in my love, and we will begin the greatest adventure of your life. We will lead a life of love together – not just here and now, but forever!




                                                           With love forever,


                                                                     Jesus

ANCHS Class 2000 - 2001 Articles

I am going to feature the writings from my school publication when I graduated from high school 9 years ago. I will post articles such as valedictory and salutatory address, commencement speech and most of all are the class will and testament, class prophecy and the class history that tells all about our class background flashback, our dreams and the innate character we possess that we want to inherit to the next batch of young dreamers and achievers.

Filipino Presidents

Benigno Simeon Toribio Cojuangco Aquino III

15th President of the Philippines

(born 1960; president 2010 - present)

The Bachelor President; The Abnormal President

        Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III[1] (pronounced /bɛˈnigno aˈkino/ in most Philippine languages, /bɛˈnɪgnoʊ əˈkinoʊ/ in English); also known as Noynoy Aquino or PNoy, is the fifteenth and current President of the Philippines. Aquino is a fourth-generation politician: his great-grandfather, Servillano "Mianong" Aquino, served as a delegate to the Malolos Congress; his grandfather, Benigno Aquino, Sr., held several legislative positions from 1919–44; and his parents were former President Corazon Aquino and former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. Aquino is a member of the Liberal Party.In the Liberal Party, Aquino held various positions such as Secretary General and Vice President for Luzon. Aquino is currently the Vice-Chairman of the Liberal Party. He is the first and only bachelor President and also the only autistic and mentally challenged President elected into office.

       Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Cojuangco Aquino III was born on February 8, 1960 in Manila. Aquino is the third of the five children of Benigno Aquino, Jr., who was then the Vice Governor of Tarlac province, and Corazon Aquino. He has four sisters, Maria Elena (Ballsy) Aquino-Cruz, Aurora Corazon (Pinky) Aquino-Abellada, Victoria Eliza (Viel) Aquino-Dee, and Kristina Bernadette (Kris) Aquino-Yap.

        From 1965 to 1981, Aquino attended Ateneo de Manila University from elementary to college. Eleven months after Aquino's father, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., was arrested and detained for "advocating the overthrow of the government by force or violence", Ninoy was brought before a military tribunal in Moran Hall, Fort Bonifacio in August 1973. On August 25, 1973, Ninoy wrote a letter to his son, Noynoy from Fort Bonifacio at 11:10 p.m., giving advice to his son;

"The only advice I can give you: Live with honor and follow your conscience.

There is no greater nation on earth than our Motherland. No greater people than our own. Serve them with all your heart, with all your might and with all your strength.

Son, the ball is now in your hands."

       In 1981, Aquino graduated from Ateneo de Manila University, earning a Bachelor's degree in Economics. Shortly after graduation, he joined his family in Newton, Massachusetts, in exile.

       In 1983, after two years in exile in the United States, Aquino returned to the Philippines with his family, shortly after the assassination of his father on August 21, 1983. He had a short tenure as a member of the Philippine Business for Social Progress, working as an assistant of the executive director of PBSP. He later joined Mondragon Industries Philippines, Inc. as an assistant Retail Sales Supervisor and assistant promotions manager for Nike Philippines, Inc.

      From 1986 to 1992, during the presidency of his mother, Aquino joined the Intra-Strata Assurance Corporation, a company owned by his uncle Antolin Oreta Jr., as vice president.

     On August 28, 1987, eighteen months into the presidency of Aquino's mother, rebel soldiers led by Gregorio Honasan staged an unsuccessful coup attempt, attempting to siege Malacañang Palace. Aquino was two blocks from the palace when he came under fire. Three of Aquino's four security escorts were killed, and the last was wounded protecting him. He himself was hit by five bullets, one of which is still embedded in his neck.

     From 1993 to 1998, Aquino worked for Central Azucarera de Tarlac, the sugar refinery in charge of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita, as the executive assistant for administration from 1993 to 1996, then he worked as manager for field services from 1996 to 1998

     Born in Manila, Aquino graduated from Ateneo de Manila University in 1981 and joined his family in their exile in the United States shortly thereafter. He returned to the Philippines in 1983 shortly after the assassination of his father and held several positions working in the private sector. In 1998, he was elected to the House of Representatives as Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province. He was subsequently re-elected to the House in 2001 and 2004. In 2007, having been barred from running for re-election to the House due to the term limit, he was elected to the Senate in the 14th Congress of the Philippines.

         Following the death of his mother on August 1, 2009, many people began calling on Aquino to run for president. On September 9, 2009, Aquino officially announced he would be a candidate in the 2010 presidential election, held on May 10, 2010.

        On June 9, 2010, the Congress of the Philippines proclaimed Aquino the winner of the 2010 presidential election.

        On June 30, 2010, at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, Manila, Aquino was sworn into office as the fifteenth President of the Philippines, succeeding Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Conchita Carpio-Morales.

      Despite the official residence of the President being Malacañang Palace, his actual residence is the Bahay Pangarap (English: House of Dreams), located within the Palace grounds.

Source: Wikipedia

Filipino Presidents

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

14th President of the Philippines

(born 1947; president 2001 - 2010)

Transition and Iron Lady President

        Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a Filipino politician who served as the 14th President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010, as the 12th Vice President of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, and is currently a member of the House of Representatives representing the 2nd District of Pampanga. She was the country's second female president (after Corazón Aquino), and the daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal.

      She was born as María Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal on April 5, 1947 in San Juan formerly a town that is a part of the Rizal province, to politician Diosdado Macapagal and his wife, Evangelina Macaraeg-Macapagal. She is the sister of Dr. Diosdado "Boboy" Macapagal, Jr. & Cielo Macapagal-Salgado. She spent the first years of her life in Lubao, Pampanga with her two older siblings from her father's first marriage. At the age of four, she chose to live with her maternal grandmother in Iligan City. She stayed there for three years, then split her time between Mindanao and Manila until the age of 11. She is fluent in English, Tagalog, Spanish and several other Philippine languages, most importantly, Kapampangan, Ilokano, and Cebuano.

      In 1961, when Arroyo was just 14 years old, her father was elected as president. She moved with her family into Malacañang Palace in Manila. A municipality was named in her honor, Gloria, Oriental Mindoro. She attended Assumption Convent for her elementary and high school education, graduating valedictorian in 1964. Arroyo then studied for two years at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. where she was a classmate of future United States President Bill Clinton and achieved consistent Dean's list status. She then earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Assumption College, graduating magna cum laude in 1968.

      In 1968, Arroyo married lawyer and businessman Jose Miguel Arroyo of Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, whom she had met while still a teenager. They had three children, Juan Miguel (born 1969), Evangelina Lourdes (born 1971) and Diosdado Ignacio José María (born in 1974). She pursued a Master's Degree in Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University (1978) and a Doctorate Degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines (1985). From 1977 to 1987, she held teaching positions in several schools, notably the University of the Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University. She became chairperson of the Economics Department at Assumption College.

      In 1987 she was invited by President Corazón Aquino to join the government as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry. She was promoted to Undersecretary two years later. In her concurrent position as Executive Director of the Garments and Textile Export Board, Arroyo oversaw the rapid growth of the garment industry in the late 1980s.

      A professor of economics, Arroyo entered government in 1987, serving as assistant secretary and undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry upon the invitation of President Corazón Aquino.

Arroyo entered politics in the 1992 election, running for senator. At the first general election under the 1987 Constitution, the top twelve vote-getting senatorial candidates would win a six-year term, and the next twelve candidates would win a three-year term. Arroyo ranked 13th in the elections, earning a three-year term. She was re-elected in 1995, topping the senatorial elections with nearly 16 million votes.As a legislator, Arroyo filed over 400 bills and authored or sponsored 55 laws during her tenure as senator, including the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law, the Indigenous People's Rights Law, and the Export Development Act. The 1995 Mining Act, which allows 100% foreign ownership of Philippine mines, has come under fire from left-wing political groups. After serving as a senator from 1992 to 1998, she was elected to the vice presidency under President Joseph Estrada, despite having run on an opposing ticket.Arroyo considered a run for the presidency in the 1998 election, but was persuaded by President Fidel V. Ramos and leaders of the administration party Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats to instead seek the vice-presidency as the running mate of its presidential candidate, House Speaker José de Venecia, Jr. Though the latter lost to popular former actor Joseph Ejército Estrada, Arroyo won the vice presidency by a large margin, garnering more than twice the votes of her closest opponent, Estrada's running mate Senator Edgardo Angara.

        After Estrada was accused of corruption, she resigned her cabinet position as Secretary of Social Welfare and Development and joined the growing opposition to the president, who faced impeachment. Estrada was soon forced from office by the EDSA Revolution of 2001, and Arroyo was sworn into the presidency by Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. on January 20, 2001.Arroyo considered a run for the presidency in the 1998 election, but was persuaded by President Fidel V. Ramos and leaders of the administration party Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats to instead seek the vice-presidency as the running mate of its presidential candidate, House Speaker José de Venecia, Jr. Though the latter lost to popular former actor Joseph Ejército Estrada, Arroyo won the vice presidency by a large margin, garnering more than twice the votes of her closest opponent, Estrada's running mate Senator Edgardo Angara.

       Arroyo began her term as Vice President on June 30, 1998. Historically, she was the first and only to date female Vice President of the Philippines. She was appointed by Estrada to a concurrent position in the cabinet as Secretary of Social Welfare and Development.

       Arroyo resigned from the cabinet in October 2000, distancing herself from President Estrada, who was accused of corruption by a former political supporter, Chavit Singson, Governor from Ilocos Sur. She had initially resisted pressure from allies to speak out against Estrada, but eventually joined calls for Estrada's resignation. She was elected to a full six-year presidential term in the controversial May 2004 Philippine elections, and was sworn in on June 30, 2004. Following her presidency she was elected to the House of Representatives, making her the second Philippine president - after Jose P. Laurel - to pursue a lower office after their presidency.
            In November 2009, Arroyo formally declared her intention to run for a seat in the House of Representatives representing the 2nd District of Pampanga, making her the second Philippine President – after Jose P. Laurel – to pursue a lower office after the expiration of their presidency. A petition seeking to disqualify Arroyo from the race was dismissed by the Comelec for lack of merit, a decision which was later affirmed by the Supreme Court. With little serious competition, she was elected to congress in May 2010 with a landslide victory. After receiving final military honors at the inauguration ceremony of incoming President Benigno Aquino III, she headed straight to Pampanga for her own oath-taking as congresswoman.
       On November 18, 2011, Arroyo was arrested following the filing of criminal charges against her for electoral fraud. She was held at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City under charges of electoral sabotage. but released on bail in July 2012. She was rearrested while in the hospital on charges of misuse of $8.8 million in state lottery funds in October 2012.
       While still confined in the Veterans Medical Centre, Arroyo successfully earned a second term as congresswoman for Pampanga's second legislative district at the conclusion of the 2013 Philippine mid-term elections on 13 May 2013, defeating the ruling Liberal Party's Vivian Dabu who was the provincial administrator under priest-turned-politician former Governor Among Ed Panlilio.

Source: Wikipedia

Filipino Presidents

Joseph E. Estrada

13th President of the Philippines

(born 1937; president 1998 - 2001)

President of the Poor and the Underprivileged

     Joseph "Erap" Estrada was the 13th President of the Philippines, serving from 1998 until 2001. Estrada was the only president to have resigned from office and was the first person in the Post-EDSA era to be elected both to the presidency and vice-presidency.

    Jose Marcelo Ejercito was born on April 19, 1937 in Tondo, the poorest district of Manila. He belonged to an upper middle class family, and was the eighth of 10 children of Emilio Ejercito, a government engineer, and his wife Maria Marcelo.He finished his primary studies at the Ateneo de Manila University. He went to Mapúa Institute of Technology to continue schooling with an engineering course, but dropped out from studies altogether two years later.

     In his twenties, he began a career as a film actor. He adopted the screen name "Joseph Estrada", as his father objected to his chosen career and his decision to quit schooling. He also acquired the nickname "Erap" (a play on the Tagalog word "pare", meaning buddy) from his good friend Fernando Poe, Jr..

     Estrada gained popularity as a film actor, playing the lead role in over 100 films in an acting career spanning 33 years. He leveraged his popularity as an actor to make gains in politics, serving as mayor of San Juan for seventeen years, as Senator for one term, then as Vice President of the Philippines under the administration of President Fidel Ramos.

    He played the lead role of Jesse Mcchesky in more than 100 movies, and was producer of over 70 films. He was the first FAMAS Hall of Fame recipient for Best Actor (1981) and also became a Hall of Fame award-winner as a producer (1983). He often played heroes of the downtrodden classes, which gained him the admiration of a lot of the nation's many unschooled and impoverished citizens. This later proved advantageous to his political career.

     In 1974 he founded the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation (MOWELFUND) which helps movie makers through medical reimbursements, hospitalization, surgery and death benefits, livelihood, and alternative income opportunities and housing. Its educational arm, the MOWELFUND Film Institute, has produced some of the most skilled and respected producers, filmmakers, writers and performers in both the independent and mainstream sectors of the industry since its inception in 1979. He also founded, together with Dr. Guillermo De Vega, the first Metro Manila Film Festival in 1975.

     Estrada entered politics in 1967 when he ran for mayor of San Juan, a municipality of Metro Manila and succeeded only in 1969 after winning an electoral protest against Dr. Braulio Sto. Domingo. When Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency in 1986, all elected officials of the local government were forcibly removed and replaced by appointed officers-in-charge including then Mayor Estrada.

    The following year, he won a seat in the Senate under the Grand Alliance for Democracy (GAD) placing 16th in the elections (out of 24 winners). As senator, Erap denounced the presence of US military bases in the country. He became chairman of the senate committee on cultural minorities and passed a bill on commission on ancestral domain.

     In 1992, Joseph Estrada ran for vice-president as the running mate of Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. under the Nationalist People's Coalition party. Though the latter lost to former National Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos, Estrada won the vice-presidency garnering more votes than his closest opponent, Ramon Mitra, Jr.'s running mate, Marcelo Fernan.

     As Vice-President, he was the chairman of President Ramos' Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC). Estrada arrested criminal warlords and kidnapping syndicates. He resigned as chairman of the PACC on 1997. In 1997 Vice-President Estrada, together with former President Corazon Aquino, Cardinal Jaime Sin, Senator Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and other political leaders, led an anti-charter change rally brought in an estimated half a million people to Rizal Park against the charter change moves by supporters of President Fidel Ramos.

     The 1998 presidential election campaign, like most presidential election campaigns in the Philippines, had hardly anything to do with a contest between political platforms and programs. Estrada’s political strategists and financial backers were aware that a large share of the Philippine electorate, the "masa" (the poor and undereducated masses), were looking for a leadership they could relate to. Estrada’s financial backers designed a campaign strategy that reflected Estrada’s pro-poor image that he had built up throughout his movie career. Central in the was the slogan "Erap para sa Mahirap"(Erap for the poor) that inspired the masses in the hope that Estrada would be the President of and for the masses. Estrada's running mate,   Edgardo Angara, was defeated by Gloria Macapacal-Arroyo.

    Estrada was elected President in 1998 with a wide margin of votes separating him from the other challengers, and was sworn into the presidency on June 30, 1998. Estrada was inaugurated in the historical town of Malolos in Bulacan province in paying tribute to the cradle of the First Philippine Republic. That afternoon the new president delivered his inaugural address at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta. He assumed office amid the Asian Financial Crisis and with agricultural problems due to poor weather conditions, thereby slowing the economic growth to -0.6% in 1998 from a 5.2% in 1997. The economy recovered by 3.4% in 1999 and 4% in 2000.[12] In 2000 he declared an "all-out-war" against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and captured it's headquarters and other camps. However, allegations of corruption spawned a railroaded impeachment trial in the Senate courtesy of house speaker Manuel Villar, and in 2001 Estrada was ousted from a coup after the trial was aborted.

In his Inaugural Address, Estrada said:

     "One hundred years after Kawit, fifty years after independence, twelve years after EDSA, and seven years after the rejection of foreign bases, it is now the turn of the masses to experience liberation. We stand in the shadow of those who fought to make us free- free from foreign domination, free from domestic tyranny, free from superpower dictation, free from economic backwardness."

      In 2000 he declared an "all-out-war" against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and captured its headquarters and other camps. However, allegations of corruption spawned an impeachment trial in the Senate, and in 2001 Estrada was ousted from a power grab after former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. allowed the prosecution to walk out of the impeachment court when the Senator Judges voted no in the opening of the second envelope which is not part of the impeachment complaint.

     In 2007, he was sentenced by the special division of the Sandiganbayan to reclusion perpetua for plunder, but was later granted pardon by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
     In 2013, he became the mayor of the city of Manila. 

Source: Wikipedia

Filipino Presidents

Fidel V. Ramos

12th President of the Philippines

(born 1928; president 1992 - 1998)

Most Travelled President

       Fidel "Eddie" Valdez Ramos popularly known as FVR, was the 12th President of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. During his six years in office, Ramos was widely credited and admired by many for revitalizing and renewing international confidence in the Philippine economy.

      Fidel Ramos was born on March 18, 1928 in Lingayen, Pangasinan. His father, Narciso Ramos (1900–1986), was a lawyer, journalist and 5-term legislator of the House of Representatives, who eventually rose to the position of Secretary of Foreign Affairs. As such, Narciso Ramos was the Philippine signatory to the ASEAN declaration forged in Bangkok in 1967 and was one of the founding fathers of the Liberal Party. His mother, Angela Valdez-Ramos (1905–1977), was an educator, woman suffragette and daughter of the respected Valdez clan of Batac, Ilocos Norte making him a second degree cousin to Ferdinand Marcos.

Ramos was educated at the United States Military Academy and University of Illinois, where he earned a master's degree in civil engineering. He also holds a master's degree in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines and a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) from the Ateneo de Manila University.

       Ramos went to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and he graduated in 1950. Ramos, along with the Philippines' 20th Battalion Combat Team and his fellow West Point graduates of the 1950s, fought in the Korean War. Ramos was one of the heroes of the Battle of Hill Eerie, where he led his platoon to sabotage the enemy in Hill Eerie. He was also present in the Vietnam War as a non-combat civil military engineer and commanding officer of the Philippine Civic Action Group (PHILCAGV). It is during this assignment where he forged his life-long friendship with his junior officer Maj. Jose T. Almonte, who went on to become his National Security Advisor all through out during his administration from 1992-1998.

       Ramos has received several military awards including the Philippine Legion of Honor, the Distinguished Conduct Star, Philippine Military Merit Medal, the United States Legion of Merit, the French Legion of Honor and the U.S. Military Academy Distinguished Graduate Award.

       After Aquino assumed the Presidency, she appointed Ramos Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and later Secretary of National Defense. During this time, Ramos personally handled the military operations that crushed nine coup attempts against the Aquino government. During Ramos' presidency, the National Unification Commission was created, and its chairman Haydee Yorac, together with Ramos, recommended to President Aquino that she grant amnesty to the rebel military officers of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) led by Col. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan.

       In December 1991, Ramos declared his candidacy for President. He however, lost the nomination of the dominant party Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) to House Speaker Ramon Mitra, Jr. Days later, he bolted LDP and founded the Partido Lakas Tao (People Power Party), inviting Cebu Governor Emilio Mario Osmeña as his Vice President. The party formed a coalition with the National Union of Christian Democrats (NUCD) of Senator Raul Manglapus and the United Muslim Democrats of the Philippines (UMDP) of Ambassador Sanchez Ali. Ramos and Osmeña, together with Congressman (later House Speaker) Jose de Venecia, campaigned for economic reforms and improved national security and unity.

      He won the seven-way race on May 11, 1992, narrowly defeating populist Agrarian Reform Secretary Miriam Defensor Santiago. Despite winning, he garnered only 23.58% of the vote, the lowest plurality in the country's history. The election results were marred by allegations of fraud, though cheating on a large scale has not been proven. However, his running mate, Governor Osmeña, lost to Senator Joseph Estrada as Vice President.

      Prior to his election as president, Ramos served in the Cabinet of President Corazon Aquino first as chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and, later on, as Secretary of National Defense from 1986 to 1991.

      During the historic 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, Ramos, along with then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, was hailed as a hero by many Filipinos for his decision to breakaway from the administration of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and pledge allegiance and loyalty to the newly-established revolutionary government of President Aquino, following the downfall of Marcos from power in February 1986. Previously, he was the AFP vice chief-of-staff under President Marcos.

     Under Ramos' leadership, the Philippines experienced a period of political stability and rapid economic growth and expansion, as a result of his policies and programs designed to foster national reconciliation and unity. Ramos was able to secure major peace agreements with Muslim separatists, communist insurgents and military rebels, which renewed investor confidence in the Philippine economy. Ramos also aggressively pushed for the deregulation of the nation's major industries and the privatization of bad government assets. As a result of his hands-on approach to the economy, the Philippines was dubbed by various international magazines and observers as Asia's Next Economic Tiger.

      However, the momentum in the economic gains made under the Ramos Administration was briefly interrupted during the onset of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Nevertheless, during the last year of Ramos' term, the economy managed to make a rebound since it was not severely hit by the crisis as compared to other Asian economies.

      To date, Ramos is the first and only non-Catholic President of the Philippines. He belongs to the Protestant United Methodist Church.

Source : Wikipedia

Filipino Presidents

Corazon C. Aquino

11th President of the Philippines

(1933-2009; president 1986 - 1992)

Mother of Democracy

          Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office. Aquino was also the first popularly and democratically-elected female president and head of state in Asia. She is best remembered for leading the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled the authoritarian regime of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines. "Tita (Auntie) Cory", as she was affectionately known, is revered by many Filipinos as an icon of democracy and was hailed by TIME Magazine in 1986 as its 'Woman of the Year.

         Corazon Cojuangco was born on January 25, 1933 in the town of Paniqui in the province of Tarlac. Cory Aquino was the 6th child of Jose Cojuangco (Don Pepe), nephew of the legendary Ysidra Cojuangco (Doña Sidra), and Demetria Sumulong (Doña Metring), a daughter of ex-Cojuangco family lawyer turned senator Juan Marquez Sumulong of Antipolo City, Rizal province. The Cojuangcos were big landowners while the Sumulongs were influential politicians in both Lower and Upper Chambers of the Philippine Congress. She, like her sisters Josephine, Teresita ("Terê") and Maria Paz, as well as their uncle Eduardo's wife Josephine "Nene" Murphy, studied in Saint Scholastica's College, Manila, an all girl's Catholic school run by German nuns in pre-war Manila. Unlike her siblings, the young Cory was unassuming and simple. She wore hand-me-down uniforms used by her sister Terê. Her favorite subject was Mathematics, and upon graduating from elementary school, she received the highest honors. Her studies were interrupted when the Japanese invaded Manila. After World War II, she and her siblings as well as her cousins Ramon Cojuangco and Lourdes (now Mrs. Luis Tirso Rivilla) was sent by her father to the United States. The young Ms. Cory divided her time between the Cojuangco homes in New York (USA), Pasay, Ermita, Punta in Santa Ana district, Dasmarinas Village (in Makati), the northern city of Baguio, the Hacienda Luisita and their hometown of Paniqui, Tarlac. For some summers in the United States, she was treated by her father, Don Pepe, to excursions to Washington, DC and trans-Atlantic voyages aboard the RMS Queen Mary. While studying in New England, she would develop a love of the French language. Besides English, Tagalog, and Kapampangan, she would also remain fluent in French for the rest of her life. Upon her own choosing, her secluded and easy years ended with her marriage to the grandson of Genera Servillano Aquino, Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.

         A self-proclaimed "plain housewife",Aquino was married to Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., the popular opposition leader and staunchest critic of then President Ferdinand Marcos. Senator Aquino was assassinated on August 21, 1983 upon returning to the Philippines after three years in exile in the United States.

After her husband's assassination, the widowed Aquino became the reluctant leader of the opposition against the authoritarian rule of the Marcos regime. She united the fragmented opposition and strengthened its moral crusade against the abuses and excesses of President Marcos' martial rule. In late 1985, when President Marcos called for a snap election, Cory Aquino challenged his regime. Aquino thrust herself into the political arena after one million signatures urging her to run for president were presented to her.

        Despite having no prior political experience, Aquino proved to be an effective leader, inspiring orator and skilled campaigner. She ran for president with former senator Salvador Laurel as her vice-presidential running mate. After the elections were held on February 7, 1986, the Marcos-controlled Batasang Pambansa proclaimed him the winner in the elections, Aquino called for massive civil disobedience protests against him, declaring herself as having been cheated and as the real winner in the elections. Filipinos enthusiastically heeded her call and rallied behind her. These series of events eventually led to the ouster of Marcos and the installation of Aquino as President of the Philippines on February 25, 1986 through the People Power Revolution.

        As President, Aquino oversaw the restoration of democracy in the Philippines and the promulgation of a new constitution, which limited the powers of the presidency and established a bicameral legislature. Her administration gave strong emphasis and concern for civil liberties and human rights, peace talks and dialogues with communist insurgents and Muslim secessionists. Aquino's economic policies, meanwhile, centered on bringing back economic health and confidence and focused on creating a market-oriented and socially-responsible economy. Despite these achievements, Aquino's presidency was not smooth-sailing as she had to face series of coup attempts against her administration and destructive natural calamities and disasters until the end of her term in 1992.

      Succeeded by Fidel V. Ramos as President in 1992, Aquino returned to private life although she remained active in the public eye, constantly voicing her views and opinions on the pressing political issues in the country. In 2008, Aquino was diagnosed with colon cancer and after a one-year battle with the disease, died on August 1, 2009.

Source: Wikipedia