Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was born into a political family in 1947. Her father was president of the Philippines during her teenage years. She is the fourteenth Philippine president and the country's second female president. She has governed her country during very stormy times and has survived many attempts to remove her from office. She is fluent in English, Tagalog and Spanish.

 

Arroyo’s father became president when she was 14. The family moved into the Malacanang Palace in Manila. She studied economics at university in Washington D.C. where she was a classmate of former US President Bill Clinton. She returned to the Philippines and married her childhood sweetheart. They had three children and then Gloria returned to her studies to get her Master’s degree and Ph.D.

 

In 1987, she joined the government as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry. She entered politics in 1992 and was elected as Senator in the national elections. She wrote or sponsored 55 laws including anti-sexual harassment and indigenous people's rights laws. She became vice president in 1998 but quit in 2000 because of accusations of corruption against President Estrada.

 

Arroyo became Philippine president in January 2001, on the same day that US President George W. Bush assumed office in the USA. Arroyo outlined her vision of “building a strong republic”. She won the 2004 election by more than a million votes over her nearest rival. She has been praised for making “tough decisions” but is constantly dogged by allegations of corruption.