PANGASINAN

Evangelina Macaraeg-Macapagal was born in Binalonan, Pangasinan on 1 November 1915. Her father was Juan Macaraeg, a United States-educated engineer from Binalonan, who built the first Ayala bridge in Manila. His wife was Irenea de la Cruz of San Carlos, Pangasinan.

Juan Macaraeg’s work as an engineer demanded frequent sojourns in the various provinces. Thus the Macaraeg family traveled from time to time and lived in many different places of the country. Evangelina went to kindergarten in Lucena when the family moved to Tayabas province (now Quezon province). She finished her intermediate schooling at the Normal School of Zamboanga (now Western Mindanao State University) at the head of her class.

From her high school studies, Evangelina was enrolled in the Philippine Women’s College (now the Philippine Women’s University) in Manila where she graduated with the class of 1931. She was one of the youngest of the 99 members of her class, graduating at the age of 16.

After her high school graduation, Evangelina’s first choice for a career was law. However, because her mother was very sickly, her parents expressed the wish that she take medicine instead, so she “might be able to minister to them in their old age. “The considerate teenager and only child thus enrolled at the Junior College of the University of the Philippines in Cebu City, where her father accepted an appointment from the American administration as district engineer. She took the two-year course in preparatory medicine in Cebu before going to Manila for her medicine proper.

During her residence in this southern metropolis, Evangelina celebrated her debut at the clubhouse of the Cebu Chinese Chamber of Commerce. She was also the cadet battalion sponsor of the reserve officers. She was most known in Cebu City for being elected by popular vote the queen of the Cebu Provincial Carnival and Industrial Fair in April 1932 and was crowned Her Majesty Evangelina I. Two years later, or sometime in 1934, Evangelina bade Cebu goodbye when her father was transferred to a new post in Luzon. Friends saw her reluctantly leave the Cebu that she had come to love.

In Manila, Evangelina pursued the course for medicine proper in the University of Santo Tomas. It was during her medical studies that the shorter nickname Eva was used by her classmates. In 1938 she received the degree of doctor of medicine, and then took and successfully passed the examination given by the Board of Medical Examiners to entitle her to the practice of medicine in the Philippines. Eva practiced general medicine from 1938 to the outbreak of the Pacific war in 1941. During the liberation period in 1945, she joined the medical staff of the PCAU and assisted in the speedy rehabilitation work of the country. It was also during this time that she met another outstanding alumnus of UST, Diosdado Macapagal, who topped the bar examinations and was already a practicing lawyer.

Eva was in her sophomore year at the University of Santo Tomas when one day all the classes were suddenly dismissed much to the surprise of the student body. That was sometime in 1936, when the Supreme Court release the results of the bar examinations of that year and the topnotcher turned out to be from the university’s law school.

To Eva it was still “” unnecessary nonsense” until she was told that another UST law graduate had topped the bar examination for only the second time in history, the first one achieved in 1924. This time the topnotcher was Diosdado Macapagal, of Pampanga, who obtained a rating of 89.35%.

In the course of the years, Eva, who was a conscientious student in college, remembered how she grumbled over the dismissal of her class and the fuss created “”over one guy, whoever he is.”

Macapagal was then an unknown and penniless lawyer. He was also a widower with two children by his first wife, Purita de la Rosa, who died during the Japanese occupation years. He met Eva when he was picked to handle the estate of the late Juan Macaraeg, Eva’s father. After some months of persistent courtship, Macapagal won her heart. It was on his 35th birthday on 28 September 1945 that the fair lady accepted his proposal as a most treasured birthday gift. Indeed, it was an auspicious occasion for Macapagal to have the “happiest birthday in my life.”

Diosdado and Evangelina were married on 5 May 1946. After her marriage, Eva limited her practice to her family. Despite her excellent academic achievements and professional preparation, she gave up her career to become a devoted full-time wife and mother.