President Diosdado Macapagal

Macapagal was elected president in 1961 by a coalition of liberals and progressives, defeating the re-election bid of Carlos P. Garcia. He focused on fighting graft and corruption in the government. Seeking to stimulate economic development, he took the advice of wealthy supporters and allowed the Philippine peso to float on the free currency exchange market. This policy bled millions of pesos from the government's treasury each year during his administration. His reform efforts were blocked by the Nacionalistas, who dominated the House of Representatives and the Senate at that time. Nonetheless, the average GDP growth rate during the Macapagal presidency was 5.15%.

In 1962, when the United States made its final rejection of Philippine monetary claims for the destruction wrought by American forces in World War II, Macapagal changed the official celebration of Independence Day from July 4 (the date in 1946 that United States granted independence) to June 12 (the date in 1898 that Emilio Aguinaldo declared independence from Spain). Macapagal claimed that the timing of the decision to change the date of Independence Day was not out of resentment for the United States, but rather a judicious choice of timing for the taking of an action which had previously been decided upon. During his term, Macapagal also made the decision to recognize José P. Laurel, who was made President of the Philippines by the Japanese occupation forces, as having been an official President. Prior to this, Laurel's regime had not been recognized by post-World War II Filipino governments as having held any legal status whatever.

In 1965, he was defeated in the presidential election by Ferdinand Marcos, who had built a conservative coalition to block Macapagal's reforms in a landslide victory.