(1957-1961)8th Philippine President
3rd Republic
Carlos P. Garcia was the fourth President of the Third Philippine Republic.
He was born in Talibon, Bohol on November 4, 1896 to Policronio Garcia and Ambrosia Polistico.
He studied at the Siliman University in Dumaguete and later transferred to the Philippine Law School now the Philippine College of Criminology where he finished his law degree in 1923. he took the bar examination and was among the top ten who passed it.
In 1925, he was elected as Representative of the Third District of Bohol to the National Assembly. He was one of the 24-elected to the senate in 1940 but the outbreak of the war prevented him from
assuming office. He resumes his term as senator in 1945 and was re-elected in 1946. he was elected as vice president during the Magsaysay administration in 1953. He was appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs in his concurrent capacity as vice president. Garcia took over the presidency when Magsaysay died in an airplane accident in Cebu on March 1957.
Garcia presided over the remaining nine months of Magsaysay’s term. He then ran and won the 1957 presidential election. As president, he was instrumental in pursuing and implementing the “Filipino First” policy, which was conceived to initiate economic independence and also bring back the pride of Filipinos in their country. Furthermore Garcia was the first president to promote Philippine culture through dances and costumes.
Carlos P. Garcia died after a heart attack in Quezon City on June 14, 1971 while he was serving as president of the Constitutional Convention. He was married to Leonila Dimataga.
