Eva Macapagal

Evangelina "Eva" Macaraeg-Macapagal (; born Evangelina Guico Macaraeg; November 1, 1915 – May 16, 1999) was the second wife of Diosdado Macapagal, the ninth President of the Philippines. She was the ninth First Lady of the Philippines, and the mother of the fourteenth President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Biography Eva Macapagal completed her medical studies at the University of Santo Tomas and passed the medical board in 1938. A physician by profession, she founded several health and education centers for the poor throughout the country such as the Elsie Gaches Village, a center for the underprivileged in the south of Manila, and financially supported the Medical Research Foundation of the Philippines. She campaigned for quality films and TV shows and promoted the use of the patadyóng kimona and the terno among women. In events in the Malacañang Palace, she sought to display simplicity, elegance, punctuality and cordiality. Eva Macapagal was known for frequently wearing the national dress. She wore ternos as well as María Claras for formal occasions or state functions, but preferred to wear the patadyóng kimona for simplicity and ease of movement. She favored a handful of Filipino couturiers, including Pitoy Moreno, who adhered to her preferred style of simple but elegant lines. Among Eva's projects as First Lady was the promotion of a Philippine-made and durable textile called the “Pag-asa cloth”, with an emphasis on its affordable price. Eva Macapagal and her daughter Gloria, then in her teens, sometimes wore dresses fashioned from the Pag-asa cloth.