Philippine Presidents and Administrations Through History — A Reference Guide

As of 2026-09-08 · Updated 2026-09-08 · Section: Politics, Governance & Judiciary · 日本語版

0. This Article's Sourcing Policy, and Which Primary Sources Could and Could Not Be Reached

This article is built by prioritizing primary sources that could actually be reached — statutory texts, court rulings, original survey tables. Access status is as follows.

注 As a result, this article could not reach the official government biographical databases (Official Gazette / NHCP) today for each president's date of birth, age at inauguration, home province, or party. Those fields carry the note "注 Primary source not reached (needs re-verification)." Dates, vote counts, constitutional provisions, and survey figures drawn from sources marked "Yes" in the table above have been verified against the original text.

注 Wikipedia has not been used as a source anywhere in this article.

1. How to Count the "Nth Republic" — The Most Common Mistake to Avoid

注 The numbering of Philippine "Republics" is the single most frequently mis-explained point in Japanese-language commentary. The number tracks changes of constitution, not changes of administration.

The constitutional governing structure changed as follows (all verified against the text via LawPhil):

• Malolos Constitution, Article 58: "The President shall be elected by an absolute majority of a joint assembly of the Assembly and special delegates. The term of office shall be four years, with re-election possible." — This was an assembly-election system, not direct popular vote.
• 1935 Constitution (the amended text as archived by LawPhil): Section 2, "The President shall hold office for four years... and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same term, shall be elected by direct vote of the people"; Section 5, "No person shall serve as President for more than eight consecutive years." 注 The original 1935 text set a six-year term with no re-election; the 1940 amendment changed this to a four-year term with one re-election allowed (an eight-year consecutive cap). Some Japanese-language sources cite only the original text's figures, which is a trap to watch for.
• 1943 Constitution (Second Republic): Article II, Section 2 provided that the President was elected by a majority of the full membership of the National Assembly; Section 4 stated, "The President shall hold office for a term of six years and shall not be eligible for re-election." This was not direct popular vote.
• 1973 Constitution (original text): Executive power was exercised by the Prime Minister (Article IX, Section 1), and the President was elected by the National Assembly from among its own members (Article VII, Section 2; six-year term). 注 In other words, the original 1973 Constitution established a parliamentary system. The 1981 amendments restored a directly-elected presidency, and it is this arrangement that is called the "Fourth Republic."
• 1987 Constitution, Article VII, Section 4: The President and Vice President are elected by direct vote of the people for a six-year term, and the President is not eligible for any re-election whatsoever ("The President shall not be eligible for any re-election."). The term begins at noon on 30 June of the year following the election and ends at noon on the same date six years later.

2. List of Presidents Through History

注 "Party / age at inauguration / home province" could not be reached today at the Official Gazette or NHCP, so these are marked 注 primary source not reached (needs re-verification). Where the term of office or reason for leaving office could be corroborated by a constitution, proclamation, or court ruling, the source is cited alongside.

2-1. The First Republic, the Commonwealth, and the Second Republic

注 Whether to count Laurel (Second Republic) among the numbered presidents has long been disputed. Current government publications generally do include him, but the primary source (Official Gazette) establishing that treatment could not be reached today. Also note that from 1943–45, the Laurel government coexisted with the Quezon/Osmeña administration — i.e., there were simultaneously a government-in-exile and an occupation-era government.

注Even the ordinal numbering ("Nth president") is not applied consistently (note added in the 2026-08-26 verification pass). This table lists Osmeña as the 3rd and Laurel as the 4th, following inauguration order, but since Laurel's inauguration (14 October 1943) actually preceded Osmeña's (1 August 1944), numbering Laurel as the 3rd and Osmeña as the 4th is also widely used. 注 Which numbering is the government's official one could not be settled today, as the Official Gazette and NHCP could not be reached (primary source not reached). However, from Roxas onward the numbering is identical under either scheme (Roxas as the 5th through Marcos Jr. as the 17th), so nothing in the rest of this article is affected.

2-2. The Third and Fourth Republics

Legal milestones of the Marcos administration (all verified for title and date via LawPhil):

注 Martial law was formally lifted by proclamation on 17 January 1981, but the governing structure that came with it (such as legislative power exercised through presidential decrees) continued until 1986. The common description "martial law 1972–1986" is inaccurate at the level of the proclamations themselves.

2-3. The Fifth Republic (Under the 1987 Constitution)

Arroyo's unusually long nine-year-and-five-month tenure came in two stages: serving out Estrada's unexpired term (2001–2004), then winning election in her own right in 2004 (2004–2010). This rests on Article VII, Section 8 of the 1987 Constitution: "In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of the President, the Vice-President shall become the President and serve the unexpired term" (LawPhil).

3. Key Policies and Assessments of Each Administration

3-1. Policy Themes at a Glance

注 Of the laws in the table above, RA 1400 and RA 3844 were not verified against their full text on LawPhil today (the act numbers follow the conventional account but should be re-checked). The titles and approval dates of the other RAs have been verified against LawPhil's annual index.

3-2. Approval Ratings at the End of Term / As of Now

注 Pulse Asia's "approval/trust in the President personally" and SWS's "satisfaction with the (National) Administration" are separate series. News coverage often conflates the two, so always match series when comparing. SWS is also reported to have found that Marcos's personal net satisfaction hit an all-time low of −15 in March 2026 (Inquirer, 26 May 2026) — but that, too, is a different series from the administration-wide figures above.

注 Regional differences are extreme. In the July 2026 Pulse Asia survey, Marcos's approval in Mindanao was just 6% (79% disapproval), while Sara Duterte's approval in Mindanao was 89%, with 95% trust. Looking only at the national average will lead you to misread the political dynamics.

注 The original SWS/Pulse Asia quarterly tables giving past presidents' "approval rating on leaving office" could not be reached today. Figures do circulate (for example, that Duterte left with the highest net satisfaction on record, and Arroyo with the lowest), but this article does not state figures for them because the primary sources could not be reached (primary source not reached).

4. Presidential Families and Kinship Ties

4-1. The Four Main Lineages

The key point: in the Philippines, "a family that has produced a president" tends to become "a family that keeps producing presidents." All three patterns exist in practice: father–son (Marcos), father–daughter (Macapagal, Duterte), and husband-and-wife-plus-child (Aquino).

注 On 3 June 2026, the House of Representatives passed on third reading a bill (House Bill No. 8389) that would bar relatives within the second degree of consanguinity from simultaneously running for or holding office within the same jurisdiction (per the current-affairs roundup in Pulse Asia's July 2026 release). The Senate version is stricter, and is under second-reading deliberation to also bar simultaneous officeholding across jurisdictions and levels of government. If enacted, this would be the first law with real teeth against political dynasties, but as of 26 August 2026 it had not yet been passed.

5. List of Vice Presidents, and the Institutional Consequence of "President and Vice President From Different Parties"

Under Article VII, Sections 3 and 4 of the 1987 Constitution, the President and Vice President are elected separately (direct votes cast on the same ballot, but in separate columns). Because this is not a US-style single vote for a "running-mate ticket," each election can produce a combination in which "the President is from Party A and the Vice President is from Party B."

Institutional consequences: 1. The Vice President often becomes the de facto opposition leader (Binay, Robredo, and now Sara Duterte). 2. The Vice Presidency carries almost no constitutional duties of its own (it depends on whether the President assigns a cabinet portfolio), so it easily becomes a rallying point for criticizing the administration for the four-to-six years until the next presidential election. 3. If the President dies, resigns, or is removed, a person with the opposite policy stance can automatically be elevated (Article VII, Section 8). Arroyo in 2001 is the textbook example. 4. Right now (2026), there is a reversal — "President approval 29%, Vice President approval 56%" (Pulse Asia, July 2026). This is what turns the impeachment trial from a mere legal procedure into a preview of 2028.

6. The History of Impeachment

6-1. The Constitutional Framework (1987 Constitution, Article XI — verified via LawPhil)

It was Francisco, Jr. v. The House of Representatives, G.R. No. 160261 (decided 10 November 2003, verified via LawPhil), that defined when the "one-year rule" clock starts. For a complaint accompanied by the signatures of one-third of all House members, it is deemed "initiated" at the moment it is filed with the Secretary-General of the House.

6-2. Major Cases

6-3. The Sara Duterte Impeachment (2025–2026) — As of 26 August 2026

How to read the stakes: - Conviction requires two-thirds of all Senate members (Article XI, Section 3(6)). - A guilty verdict results in removal from office plus disqualification from holding any public office (Article XI, Section 3(7)). In other words, conviction means she could not run in the 2028 presidential election. This is the main reason this trial is being treated as a "preview of 2028." - 注 Even if convicted, criminal liability is a separate matter. Indeed, the DOJ has taken the position that impeachment does not bar prosecution of the grave-threats case (Inquirer, 25 August 2026). - 注 Social-media posts to the effect that "the Supreme Court halted the impeachment" have repeatedly gone viral in 2026, but fact-checks by both Rappler and VERA Files have judged them false or misleading (6 April, 24 June, and 18 August 2026). The 2025 ruling concerned the first complaint; it does not halt the second complaint and trial from 2026.

7. A Map of the 2028 Presidential Race

注Everything below is simply a snapshot of observations as of 26 August 2026. Election day is in May 2028 (the second Monday, per Article VII of the 1987 Constitution), with candidacy filing (COC filing) expected in the latter half of 2027. The picture could change fundamentally depending on the outcome of the impeachment trial, how the corruption investigations unfold, or any realignment of parties.

7-1. The Pulse Asia July 2026 Survey (verified from the original PDF)

Fieldwork: 28 June–3 and 6 July 2026. Face-to-face survey, n=2,400, margin of error ±2% (95% confidence), ±4% by region.

Presidential preference (6-name list shown)

By matchup (Sets 1–5)

Vice-presidential preference (7-name list): Christopher "Bong" Go 27% / Robin Padilla 21% / Bam Aquino 14% / Grace Poe 14% / Erwin Tulfo 9% / Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan 4% / Nic Torre 0.5%. In NCR, Bam Aquino leads at 23%; in the rest of Luzon it is a close race — Poe 19% / Go 17% / Padilla 17% / Aquino 16%.

Voter interest is high: 89% say they are "interested" in the 2028 election (59% "very interested"). 注 On the other hand, only 19% of respondents can name a complete list of the 12 senatorial candidates.

7-2. Other Pollsters (secondary sources; figures are as reported in the press)

注The rankings themselves agree across pollsters, but the size of the gap varies widely. Note that results differ depending on whether respondents are shown a single-name list or a president-VP tandem.

7-3. Names Currently in Play (as observed)

注 In May 2026, Vice President Sara Duterte made remarks to the effect that "it is doubtful the 2028 election will even be held," to which the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) responded flatly that "the 2028 election will proceed as scheduled" (PNA, 7 May 2026). There is no primary-source basis for speculation that the election will be postponed.

7-4. The Political Environment in 2026 (Factors That Will Shape 2028)

8. A Roundup of Common Mistakes (注 Checklist)

9. Main Sources for This Article

• Original legal texts: LawPhil Project (Arellano Law Foundation) — the 1987 Constitution (Article VII, Sections 4, 8, 9; Article XI, Sections 2, 3), the 1973 Constitution, the 1943 Constitution, the 1935 Constitution, Malolos Constitution Article 58, Proclamation No. 1081 (21 September 1972), Proclamation No. 2045 (17 January 1981), Proclamations No. 1 and No. 3 (1986), and RA 6657 / 9136 / 10351 / 10354 / 10963 / 11479 / 11494 / 11954 / 11966 / 12009 / 12066
• Supreme Court rulings: Estrada v. Desierto, G.R. Nos. 146710-15 (2 March 2001) / Francisco, Jr. v. The House of Representatives, G.R. No. 160261 and others (10 November 2003) — both via LawPhil
• Original survey tables: Pulse Asia Research, Inc., two "July 2026 Ulat ng Bayan" media releases (20 and 22 July 2026, original PDFs) / Social Weather Stations, "Net satisfaction with the National Administration rises to +1 in June 2026 from -13 in March 2026" (12 August 2026)
• News coverage (secondary): Inquirer.net, Philstar.com, GMA Network, ABS-CBN, Rappler, VERA Files, BusinessWorld, Manila Bulletin, The Manila Times, Philippine News Agency, SunStar, Al Jazeera, South China Morning Post, CSIS
• ✕ Wikipedia was not used. The Official Gazette, PCO, NHCP, the Senate's official site, and the ICC's official site were all inaccessible today, and the places in the text where this left a primary source unreached are marked accordingly.

日本語の詳細版: 分野「政治・統治・司法」「歴代大統領と各政権」（本サイト日本語版）。