SAN NARCISO, Zambales — The Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA) unveiled on April 21 a monument honoring the late President Diosdado P. Macapagal at the PMMA Complex here.

The late president’s daughter, Congress Senior Deputy Speaker and former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was guest of honor in the unveiling ceremony, along with some members of the Macapagal clan.

They were welcomed by PMMA head Capt. Joel Abutal and Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.

The monument remembered the ninth President of the Philippines and extolled his achievements.

Diosdado Macapagal served as a reformist president from 1961 to 1965. Prior to that, the lawyer worked as second secretary to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. in 1948, and was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives, serving from 1949 to 1956.

In 1957, the Liberal Party lawmaker was elected Vice President under Nacionalista President Carlos Garcia. In 1961, he won over Garcia by a wide margin.

Macapagal is remembered as a president who worked to suppress graft and corruption and to stimulate the Philippine economy. In 1972, he chaired the convention that drafted the 1973 Constitution.

He died in 1997 at the age of 86. — ALEX GALANG