Title: The President of the Philippines

Date of birth: April 5 1947

Education: Georgetown University in Washington, Master of Arts degree in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University, Ph.D. in Economics from the University of the Philippines

Background information: The daughter of the late President Diosdado Macapagal whose rule ensured that the Philippines was second only to Japan in economic progress in Asia. Gloria Macapagal was elected senator in 1991 and won re-election in 1995 in a landslide with nearly 16 million votes, the highest number of votes in Philippine history. She assumed the presidency in January 2001 when violent street demonstrations forced Joseph Estrada, who faced serious corruption allegations, from office. One of her main objectives is to help the poor and one of her first acts as president was to arrange mortgages for 200,000 families to purchase land on which they were squatting. The future looks more stable as the Philippine economy grew by a higher-than-expected 3.4 per cent in 2001 as falling interest rates and higher farm output pushed up consumer spending. The better than expected economic numbers could help deliver on her promise to create jobs and help the poor, many of whom still support former President Joseph Estrada.