The Philippines will hold national and local elections on Monday to select a president, a vice-president, half of the Senate, the entire House of Representatives,and all the local government officials and councilors.

Following is a chronology of the national elections of the Philippines since 1946:

July 4, 1946: The Philippines became an independent republic with Manuel Roxas as its president.

April 15, 1948: Manuel Roxas died suddenly and was succeeded byVice-President Elpidio Quirino.

November 1953: Ramon Magsaysay was elected president of the republic as candidate of the Nationalist Party. He was elected on a platform promising real reform in government.

March 1957: Magsaysay died in an air accident and was succeededby Vice-President Carlos Garcia.

Dec. 11, 1957: Carlos Garcia, a member of the Nationalist Party,was elected president. His vice-president was Diosdado Macapagal of the Liberal Party.

December 1961: In the presidential election, Garcia was defeated by the Liberal Party nominee, Diosdado Macapagal.

November 1965: In elections, Diosdado Macapagal was defeated byFerdinand Marcos of the Nationalist Party.

1969: Ferdinand Marcos was re-elected. His second term was marked by civil unrest and economic difficulties.

July 1973: A referendum approved Ferdinand Marcos' continuationin office beyond his elected term.

December 1977: Another referendum approved the extension of Marcos' presidential term.

April 1978: Elections to the interim National Assembly took place. New Society Movement, founded in 1978 by Marcos and former members of the Nationalist Party, won 151 of the assembly's 165 elective seats. The assembly was inaugurated in June when Marcos was also confirmed as prime minister.

June 1981: Marcos was re-elected president for a six-year term.

May 1984: In elections to the National Assembly, the oppositionwon 59 of the 183 elective seats.

November 1985: Marcos announced that a presidential election would be held in February 1986, 18 months earlier than scheduled. Corazon Aquino, the widow of assassinated opposition leader Benigno Aquino, was chosen as the presidential candidate of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization.

Feb. 16, 1986: The National Assembly declared Marcos the winnerof the presidential election, with 10.8 million votes, compared with 9.3 million for Aquino. According to figures of the election watchdog, National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (based on69 percent of the total votes), Aquino was in the lead.

Feb. 22, 1986: Acting Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Fidel Ramos and Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, along with about 300troops, stated that they no longer accepted Marcos' authority and asserted that Aquino was the rightful president.

Feb. 25, 1986: Rival ceremonies were held, at which both Macros and Mrs. Aquino were sworn in as president. Later in the same day, Macros yielded to pressure and left the Philippines for Hawaii of the United States. President Aquino received worldwide recognition upon her inauguration.

February 1987: A new constitution was approved by 76 percent of voters in a national plebiscite. The new constitution gave Aquino a mandate to rule until June 30, 1992 and established an executive presidency.

May 11, 1987: Elections to the bicameral Congress of the Philippines took place, in which more than 83 percent of the electorate participated. Aquino's Lakas ng Bayan (force of people)coalition secured 180 of the 200 elective seats in the House of Representatives and 22 of the 24 seats in the Senate.

May 11, 1992: Elections were conducted to select the president,vice-president, 24 senators, 200 members of the House of Representatives and 17,014 local officials.

June 22, 1992: Fidel Ramos was proclaimed president-elect and inaugurated on June 30. The opposition party, the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (Philippine Democratic Fight) won 16 of the24 seats in the Senate and 89 of the 200 elective seats in the House of Representatives.

May 11, 1998: Elections were held to choose the president, vice-president, 12 out of the senators, all the 260 members of the House of Representatives (including party-list representatives), and more than 17,000 local officials.

May 29, 1998: Vice-President Joseph Estrada of the main opposition party, the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino (Fight of Patriotic Filipino Masses), was proclaimed president-elect and sworn in on June 30. Estrada won the elections by a landslide 39 percent of the vote. Senator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the rulingparty won the vice-presidency overwhelmingly.

Jan. 20, 2001: Corruption-tainted Joseph Estrada was ousted in a military-backed popular uprising and replaced by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Arroyo was widely recognized by the international community, but her legitimacy has never been recognized by Estrada, no detained and facing trial for the capital charge of economic plunder.

Source: Xinhua