The following is a list of firsts attained by various presidents of the Philippines. Distinctions were achieved while at office unless otherwise stated.
First president to outlive a successor upon the death of Manuel Quezon.
First president to outlive more than one successor, namely Manuel Quezon, Jose Laurel, Sergio Osmeña, Manuel Roxas, Elpidio Quirino and Ramon Magsaysay.
First president to run against a former president. (Emilio Aguinaldo)
First president to win the presidency by direct election. (1935)
First president to ride an aircraft while in office.[9]
First president to use Filipino on the State of the Nation Address. (Mainly delivered in English, Quezon mentioned the word kasamas (tenants) in his 1936 State of the Nation Address.)[10]
First president to celebrate his 60th birthday while in office, turning 60 on August 19, 1938.
First and only president to concurrently serve as mayor, serving as the acting mayor of the newly-established Quezon City in 1939.
First president to have secured a second term in office. (1941)[11]
First president to be elected to another government position in his post-presidency upon winning his second term in the Senate in 1951 (he first served in the Senate during the Philippine Commonwealth).
First president whose term in office was first ruled unofficial and was legitimized later. He was recognized as a legitimate Philippine president during the administration of Diosdado Macapagal.[citation needed]
First president who is a member of the Liberal Party.
First president to have held three of the highest positions in the government, or the first one to have headed both legislative houses and the executive branch. He was a Senate president and a House Speaker before he became president.
First president to die before more than one predecessors. Upon his death, his living predecessors are Emilio Aguinaldo, Sergio Osmeña and Jose Laurel.
First president to have won a full term in office after completing the rest of his late predecessor's term.
First president to meet the Pope while in office when he met Pope Pius XII on October 9, 1951.
First president to be inaugurated at the Independence Grandstand (now known as Quirino Grandstand).
First president to face an impeachment complaint in 1949 over the alleged usage of government funds in refurbishing the Malacañang Palace and alleged involvement in diamond smuggling.[15][16]
First president to be buried at the Manila South Cemetery (His remains were later exhumed from the cemetery in 2016 to be transferred to Libingan ng mga Bayani).
First president whose remains were cremated. His remains were cremated after exhumation in 2016, 60 years after his death.[18]
First president to die apart from natural causes as he was killed in an aircraft disaster.
First president to die before reaching the age of 50. He died at the age of 49 on March 17, 1957.
First president to have both living parents during his incumbency.
First president to predecease his parents. His father died on January 24, 1969, at the age of 94, while his mother died on May 5, 1981, at the age of 95.
First president to have a child who would later become president when his daughter Gloria assumed the presidency following the resignation of Joseph Estrada in 2001.
First president to legitimize the presidency of a predecessor. Jose Laurel was only recognized as a legitimate president under his administration, some twenty years after.[citation needed]
First and only president to be elected for a second term in the post-war era (1969).[21]
First and only president to have been prime minister (1978–1981).
First president to meet two Popes while in office, meeting with Popes Paul VI and John Paul II during their respective visits to the country (1970 and 1981).
First president whose spouse would also run for president when his widow Imelda ran during the 1992 elections.
First and only president to hold office for two decades (1965–1986).
First president to switch political parties while in office. Marcos left Nacionalista to become an independent politician during his term in 1972; he would later establish Kilusang Bagong Lipunan in 1978.
First president to falsely claim to be a distinguished war hero: Claims were discredited by released CIA documents and further investigations.[25][26][27]
First and only president who has undergone an impeachment trial.
First and only president to resign from office.
First president to be elected mayor post-presidency. He served as Mayor of Manila from 2013 to 2019.
First president to have served as Mayor in two cities. (San Juan, 1969–1986 and Manila, 2013–2019)
First president whose wife was elected to the Senate. The former first lady Luisa became senator in 2001.
First president to contract COVID-19. (His fourth successor, Bongbong Marcos, earlier contracted COVID-19 in 2020, two years before being elected president and one year before Estrada contracted the disease.)
First presidential child (and daughter) to become president. Her father was President Diosdado Macapagal.
First president to be elected and inaugurated in the 21st century following the resignation of Joseph Estrada. She was later elected to a full term in May 2004.
First and only president to have two vice presidents. Her first vice president is Teofisto Guingona whom she appointed months into her presidency, while her second vice president is Noli de Castro who was elected in 2004.
First and only local chief executive (city mayor) to be elected president. (Aguinaldo held an office equivalent to town mayor at the start of the 1896 Revolution, and he was first elected president of a government in 1897, but his officially recognized tenure as the first president began in 1899).
First and only president to win the presidency after losing in a vice presidential election. He lost the vice presidential election in May 2016.
First and only president who is a namesake of a former president. His given name is Ferdinand (with the suffix Jr.), while he is the son of President Ferdinand Marcos. Also the first to have a former president parent with the same gender.
First president to be elected by a majority in a presidential election since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1986, the year when his father left the presidency due to People Power Revolution.
First and only president to have a mother witness the inauguration of both her husband and son as president, respectively. His mother Imelda is a former first lady and the wife of President Ferdinand Marcos.
First and only president to be a YouTube vlogger before his election as president.
First and only president who has previously served as a vice governor. He served as vice governor of Ilocos Norte from 1980 to 1983.
First and only president to address the joint session of the Parliament of Australia, and the 17th head of state and government overall, to do so.[38][39]
First and only president to address the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. (as a keynote speaker) [40]
^Gerth, the Following Article Is Based On Reporting By Jeff; Brinkley, Joel; Times, Was Written By Mr Gerth special To the New York (January 23, 1986). "MARCOS'S WARTIME ROLE DISCREDITED IN U.S. FILES". The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
^Flores, Helen (February 25, 2024). "Marcos to visit Australia, address Parliament". The Philippine Star. Archived from the original on February 29, 2024. Retrieved March 10, 2024. He will join the distinguished list of 16 world leaders who have addressed the Australian parliament starting from the late US president George H.W. Bush in 1992, then US president Bill Clinton in 1996, then US president George W. Bush in 2003, then Chinese president Hu Jintao in 2003, then British prime minister Tony Blair in 2006 and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014.
^"We will not yield – PBBM". Philippine Information Agency. February 29, 2024. Archived from the original on February 29, 2024. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
