Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (born Maria Gloria
Macaraeg Macapagal on April 5, 1947) is a Filipina
politician. She is the fourteenth and current president of
the Philippines. Arroyo is the country's second female
president, and the daughter of late former Philippine
President Diosdado Macapagal. She is a direct descendant of
the Lakandula rulers of the ancient Luzon Empire.
A professor of economics, Arroyo entered government in 1987, serving as assistant secretary and undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry. After serving as a senator from 1992 to 1998, she was elected vice president of Philippines. She was sworn into the presidency on January 20, 2001 to replace the then President Joseph Estrada who was forced from office. She was elected to a full six-year presidential term in her own right and was sworn in on June 30, 2004.