Diosdado

Macapagal(1961-1965)

Short Biography
Of
Diosdado Macapagal
Macapagal was very popular: he was
articulate, charismatic, and he inspired great
expectations of economic, political, and
ethical reforms.

Short Biography
Born on September 28 1910, in Lubao,
Pampanga
He was the second of four in a poor family
His parent were Urbano Macapagal (a poet)
and Romana Pangan Macapagal (a
schoolteacher)
Because of his roots in poverty, he was
known as the Poor boy from Lubao
In 1938, he married Purita dela Rosa with
whom he had two children: Cielo and Arturo
until Purita's death in 1943.

 On May 5, 1946 he married Dr. Evangelina

Macaraeg, with whom he had two children,
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who became
President of the Philippines and Diosdado
Macapagal, Jr.
Macapagal was able to raise enough money
to continue his studies at the University of
the Santo Tomas
In 1936, he topped the Bar Exam with
pasiing score of 89.95%
He earned his Master of Law degree in
1941, Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1947,
and PhD in Economics in 1957

Foreign Policies
Of
Diosdado Macapagal

The MAPHILINDO
In July 1963, President Diosdado Macapagal convened a
summit meeting in Manila in which a nonpolitical
confederation for Malaysia, the Philippines, and
Indonesia, MAPHILINDO, was proposed as a realization of
Jos Rizal's dream of bringing together the Malay
peoples, seen as artificially divided by colonial frontiers.
MAPHILINDO was described as a regional association that
would approach issues of common concern in the spirit of
consensus. However, it was also perceived as a tactic on
the parts of Jakarta and Manila to delay, or even prevent,
the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.
Manila had its own claim to Sabah (formerly British North
Borneo), and Jakarta protested the formation of Malaysia
as a British imperialist plot.

 The plan failed when Sukarno adopted his plan

of "konfrontasi" with Malaysia. The Konfrontasi,
or Confrontation basically aimed at preventing
Malaysia from attaining independence
The idea was inspired onto President Sukarno
by the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI), or
literally the Indonesian Communist Party. The
party convinced President Sukarno that the
formation of Malaysia is a form of neocolonization and would affect tranquillity in
Indonesia.
The subsequent development of ASEAN almost
certainly excludes any possibility of the project
ever being revived

North Borneo claim(Sabah)

On September 12, 1962, during President
Diosdado Macapagal's administration, the
territory of eastern North Borneo (now Sabah),
and the full sovereignty, title and dominion over
the territory were ceded by the then reigning
Sultan of Sulu, HM Sultan Muhammad Esmail E.
Kiram I, to the Republic of the Philippines.
The cession effectively gave the Philippine
government the full authority to pursue their
claim in international courts. The Philippines
broke diplomatic relations with Malaysia after
the federation had included Sabah in 1963.

 It was revoked in 1989 because succeeding

Philippine administrations have placed the
claim in the back burner in the interest of
pursuing cordial economic and security
relations with Kuala Lumpur.
To date, Malaysia continues to consistently
reject Philippine calls to resolve the matter of
Sabah's jurisdiction to the International Court
of Justice.
Sabah sees the claim made by the
Philippines' Moro leader Nur Misuari to take
Sabah to International Court of Justice (ICJ)
as a non-issue and thus dismissed the claim.

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