Honorific-Prefix: | The Honorable |
Leonila Dimataga Garcia | |
Order: | 8th First Lady of the Philippines |
Term Label: | In role |
Term Start: | March 18, 1957 |
Term End: | December 30, 1961 |
President: | Carlos P. Garcia |
Predecessor: | Luz Magsaysay |
Successor: | Eva Macapagal |
Office1: | Second Lady of the Philippines |
Term Label1: | In role |
Term Start1: | December 30, 1953 |
Term End1: | March 18, 1957 |
Vicepresident1: | Carlos P. Garcia |
Predecessor2: | Maria Salvacion Javellana |
Successor2: | Eva Macapagal |
Birth Name: | Leonila de la Serna Dimataga |
Birth Date: | 17 July 1906 |
Birth Place: | Opon, Cebu, Philippine Islands |
Death Place: | Quezon City, Philippines |
Children: | Linda Garcia-Campos |
Profession: | Pharmacist |
Party: | Nacionalista |
Alma Mater: | University of Santo Tomas |
Leonila "Inday" de la Serna Dimataga Garcia (July 17, 1906 – May 17, 1994) was a Filipino pharmacist who was the eighth First Lady of the Philippines. She was the wife of Philippine President Carlos P. Garcia. She assumed the title on March 18, 1957, upon the accession of her husband, who was then-Vice President, shortly after the death of President Ramon Magsaysay.
Fondly called "Inday", the native of Opon (now Lapu-Lapu City), Cebu was a pharmacist graduate of the University of Santo Tomas. She met her future husband Carlos while working at a drug store in Tagbilaran, Bohol that he had frequented.[1] They married on May 24, 1933, and had a daughter together, Linda Garcia-Campos.[2]
As First Lady, Garcia became active in cultural and social activities in line with her husband's Filipino First Policy.
She vied for a Senate seat in 1971, but lost.