I have written not too long ago in this column that rags-to-riches stories never fail to captivate an audience. The rise from penury to wealth, from ignominy to glory is a surefire formula to achieve fame in politics. But success comes only to people with exceptional gifts in business, acting, sports and other fields. In contemporary times, this is best exemplified by former Speaker and Senate President Manny Villar, Mayor Isko Moreno and Senator Manny Pacquiao.
They were all born and raised from the wrong side of the tract—Pacquiao in the slum of GenSan while Villar and Yorme in the squalid district of Tondo. They took different paths, but they all attained success. They became unbeatable in their game and they parlayed their popularity to get elected into public office. But this is not where their common narrative ends. They also shared the greatest dream of becoming the president of the Philippines. Villar had been there before but failed in his quest. Yorme and Pacman are still at it and only fate can tell if one of them can make Malacañang his home for the next six years. Can they follow the trail blazed by an exceptional man who had risen from poverty to become a president of our country?
Sixty years ago, Diosdado P. Macapagal, dubbed as the Poor Boy from Lubao, was elected as the 9th President of the Philippines. He was born in Bo. San Nicolas, Lubao, Pampanga exactly 111 years ago today to a peasant couple. Urbano Macapagal, his father, was an impoverished Pampango poet and playwright who traveled from town to town whenever he was not at the farm. Diosdado’s mother was a share tenant’s daughter who did laundry work and other odd jobs in the neighborhood to help put food on their table. But Diosdado’s abject poverty was compensated by a brilliant mind and a determined will to overcome his wretched existence. He graduated class valedictorian from the Lubao Elementary School and class salutatorian at the Pampanga High School. While working as a clerk at the Bureau of Lands, he earned his Associate in Arts degree at UP in 1932, which was still then located in Padre Faura, Manila. Awarded a scholarship grant, he supported his law studies at the Philippine Law School by working part time. Unfortunately, he got sick and was forced to quit school. He returned to Lubao to recuperate. To earn a living, he teamed up with his boyhood friend, Rogelio de la Rosa, in producing and acting in local zarzuelas that they showed around the province. De la Rosa became a famous actor in Philippine cinema and was later elected senator.
Diosdado returned to Manila to resume his interrupted studies with the help of a philanthropist from Pampanga, Don Honorio Ventura, who volunteered to finance his legal education. Ventura, his benefactor, asked him to transfer to his Alma Mater, the University of Santo Tomas, where he earned his law degree in 1936. That year, he topped the bar examination with a rating of 89.95 percent, the second UST law graduate to place No.1 after former Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion. His love for learning was insatiable. He completed his Master of Laws, Doctor of Civil Law and Doctor of Philosophy in Economics, all with distinctions. His doctoral dissertation dealt with the “Economic Development of the Philippines,” which served as his blueprint in undertaking economic reforms when he became president. He joined the leading law firm in the country and eventually set up his own law office after the war. He was a successful and respected practitioner that he was elected as the first president of the Philippine Lawyers Association, the forerunner of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, in 1947. He left his lucrative practice and joined the Department of Foreign Affairs to be of greater service to our nation. He became the Chief Negotiator in the transfer of the Turtle Islands from the United Kingdom to the Philippines. Turtle Islands, a group of more or less 400 small islands that are now part of Sulu Archipelago, added more than 200,000 hectares to our territory, with almost 300 hectares of land. Eventually he ran for Congress representing the 1st District of Pampanga in 1949. He bested Representative Amado Yuson of the Nacionalista Party by an overwhelming 20,000 votes, the largest margin of victory in the country’s congressional elections. He was reelected in 1953 despite the landslide victory of President Ramon Magsaysay, which swept the polls. He was consistently voted Most Outstanding Congressman by the Congressional Press Club during his entire term.
His records as a lawmaker marked him for a greater role in government. This came to fruition when he was tapped to be the running mate of LP presidential candidate Jose Yulo in the 1957 presidential election. Yulo lost to President Carlos P. Garcia but Macapagal trounced Speaker Jose P. Laurel, Jr. to be the first vice president of the Philippines who was not a partymate of the elected president. And the rest is history.
I will not dwell on his achievements as our president for much has been said about it by both his political friends and foes alike. But three things stood out until today: Macapagal loved the poor where he came from; he was a man of the masses whose welfare was primordial in his program geared to help the common man; and lastly, he was incorruptible. The defunct Philippine Free Press once called him “a ruthlessly honest public official.” He is a distinct species of a government official that has gone extinct after Macapagal vanished from our political scene.
Overcoming poverty and all its travails is always a compelling narrative. I have written before that being born poor is not a sin; dying one is. Many are born in deprivation and want; only very few are to a manor born. As Abraham Lincoln said: “God must love the poor that He created multitudes of them.” The poor soul must weave his dream and work hard to rise from his dire straits. Only a few succeed through honorable means and leave inspiration to others. They triumphed over adversities without losing their soul. Otherwise, their story is not worth a grain of salt. Instead of cultivating industry and honest work, they abet moral depravity and corruption. In their struggle to succeed, they should keep their moral compass, their honor and integrity intact. Otherwise, in peddling their fraudulent story, they have no moral ascendancy to weaponize poverty to enter into public service. In Matthew 16:26, Jesus tells the crowd: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” Let this be a reminder for us as we discern those who seek our mandate in the guise that they sprang from the bosom of the poor masses. Like Macapagal, they should attain success through hard work, sheer intelligence and unblemished integrity in order to deserve our trust.