Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was president of the Philippines from January 20, 2001 to June 30, 2010. She is the daughter of the late Diosdado Macapagal, who was president of the Philippines for the term 1961-1965.

When her father was a member of the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1957, was chairman of the house committee on foreign affairs for the term 1949 to 1953, the Philippines was one of the nations that provided troops to defend South Korea during the Korean war, in accordance with a Congress resolution sponsored by then Congressman Macapagal. For that resolution, when he retired as president, he was given an award of appreciation by the Korean government in Seoul.

President Macapagal-Arroyo began her career as an economist. She studied as an undergraduate at Georgetown University and earned her doctorate in the University of the Philippines. It seemed natural that at some point, some of the senior politicians in the Philippines recruited her to run for senator in 1992, and that launched her political career.

During the two decades that preceded her presidency, the Latin American debt crisis of 1982-1989 and the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 seriously damaged the Philippine economy. She restored the country’s viability though her fiscal macroeconomic reforms which provided the platform for two decades of economic growth that continues to this day, weathering even the international subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-2008.

She was elected member of the House of Representatives for three terms in 2010-2019, serving as speaker of the House in 2018-2019. She was again elected as member of the House for the term 2022-2025, and is running unopposed for re-election.