Francisco Tongio Liongson
Encyclopedia
Francisco Tongio Liongson (1869–1919) belonged to a generation of Philippine colonial subjects who struggled to evolve a national identity for their homeland in the fringes of the Spanish Empire
. Late in the 18th century, the concept of being a Filipino
was still nebulous and infantile. The name did not even originally apply to all the inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago, but to a small group of Spaniards born there. Motivated by the injustices prevalent in the Philippines
, small colonies of native expatriate students in Europe involved themselves in the Propaganda Movement
with the purpose of exposing these abuses and in the process began to assume a consciousness articulating reforms of a national interest that was consequently distinct from Spain. Dr. Liongson was one of these Filipino students in Madrid
. He walked among peers who would one day become Philippine National Heroes
.
’s ancient capital, Villa de Bacolor to Emigdio Liongson and Eulalia Tongio. It was an exciting time in colonial Philippines
. The Suez Canal
opened a month earlier on November 17, 1869 establishing a regular steamship service between the Philippines
and Europe
. The implementation of the Education Decree of 1863 saw the establishment of a primary school for boys and girls in each town of the country. The resulting boom in trade and influx of new ideas gave rise to an emerging educated and moneyed elite.
After completing his primary education in Bacolor, Dr. Liongson studied at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran
in Manila
and earned his diplomas in Bachiller en Artes, Agrimensor and Profesor en Segundo Enseñasa. He arrived in Spain on August 24, 1889 on board the mail steamer Santo Domingo to study medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid where he obtained his Licenciado en Medicina y Cirujia in June 1894 and his Doctorado en Medicina y Cirujia on October 19, 1895. To broaden his medical knowledge further, he trained in different hospitals in Paris while studying at the famous Institut Pasteur.
During his sojourn in Spain, Dr. Liongson was actively involved with the Filipino colony in Madrid
interracting with fellow paisanos like his hero, Dr. Jose Rizal
. The death of La Solidaridad
's Jose Maria Panganiban affected him deeply. In a eulogy to the propagandist, he wrote, “From this tombstone, which safely guards your remains, will spring happy memories for a page in our history.” He became a member of the Grande Oriente Español
Masonic Lodge Solidaridad No. 53 of Madrid under Marcelo H. Del Pilar
as the Venerable Master. His love interest in the Spanish capital was centered on Maria Dolores Alonso y Castro, a native of Badajos whom he married in the chic Madrid
parish of San Martin on August 28, 1895.
was unleashed. Spanish Governor General Ramon Blanco y Erenas
declared 8 Philippine provinces to be under a state of war, and Pampanga
was one among them. Dr. Liongson joined the Katipunan
and offered his medical services to the Philippine Revolutionary Army
. He was commissioned Capitan del Cuerpo Sanidad. His Spanish wife died shortly leaving a son, Francisco Alonso Liongson
. The return of Emilio Aguinaldo
from his exile in Hong Kong highlighted a new phase of the revolution and Dr. Liongson’s marriage to the daughter of Balbino Ventura, Nunilon Ventura y Tison in May 1898. During the Philippine-American War
, he was promoted to Comandante and attached to the brigade of Gen. Tomas Mascardo
. His timely and diplomatic intervention amicably resolved the anticipated armed confrontation between his superior, Mascardo, and his friend from the Filipino colony in Spain, General Antonio Luna
. While in active duty, Dr. Liongson also served with other men of distinction in the faculty of medicine and surgery of the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas, the precursor of the University of the Philippines
established by President of the First Philippine Republic
, Emilio Aguinaldo
on October 19, 1898.
The surrender of Gen. Mascardo on May 15, 1901 officially ended hostilities in the province. Dr. Liongson’s work, however, was not over. Pampanga
was the scene of many armed conflicts and the province suffered severe physical and economic hardships. The proliferation and rise of diseases in epidemic proportions became a major concern of the United States military health board. The presence of a European trained Filipino physician added prestige and credibility to their efforts to combat disease. In acknowledgement of his valuable medical service, Dr. Liongson was appointed presidente of Pampanga’s Provincial Health Board as soon as the transition to civil control was effected. Under his able leadership and precedent-setting measures, much of the resistance to modern sanitary, quarantine and health practices, caused largely by superstition and ignorance, were overcome. Pampanga went on to control the cholera epidemic of 1902, to fully eradicate the incidence of small pox in the province by 1906, and to completely free the province of Hansen’s disease by 1909.
, which was subsequently created to replace the former institution in 1916. Tariffs were gradually phased out beginning with the Payne Aldrich Act of 1909 until its complete removal in 1913 with the Underwood Tariff Act. The consequent prosperity resulted in a robust economy leading to among others the expansion of sugar crop production and milling capacities.
On January 1918, a group of large-scale sugar planters gathered in San Fernando, Pampanga to organize a central sugar mill financed from native capital. The group included Jose de Leon, Augusto Gonzalez, Francisco Liongson, Honorio Ventura, Tomas Lazatin, Tomas Consunji, Francisco Hizon, Jose P. Henson, and Manuel Urquico. At that time, foreign capital financed the construction of new centrals, and the conservative Pampanga planters considered it risky to mortgage their lands to the Philippine National Bank in order to finance the mill. Biting the bullet, the Pampanga Sugar Development Company (PASUDECO) was incorporated in April 1918 and began its first full milling operations in 1922. However, “on the first milling season in 1920 the planters paid up not only their crop loan but their original debt to the Bank.”
and Felipe Agoncillo
and the Partido Independista Imediatista of Manuel Quezon and Sergio Osmeña
.
Dr. Liongson was a member of the Imediatista negotiating team and his friend of the Filipino Colony days in Spain, Galicano Apacible
, was a member of the other party’s team. After long drawn negotiations, the two parties merged on March 12, 1906 to pursue “immediate, absolute and complete independence.” All the various pro-independence parties united to form the Partido Nacionalista on April 29, 1907 to contest the seats in the First Philippine Assembly with Dr. Liongson as one of the founding members. Historian Onofre Corpuz implied that unification was attained in no small measure through the efforts of those with fraternal ties incubated in Madrid. The newly organized Nacionalistas won 31 seats (plus one seat as Manuel Quezon chose to run as an independent), the Independientes, 20; the Progresistas, 16; Imediatistas, 7; and other minor political parties, 5, out of 80 seats in the elections held in July 1907.
, the Progresistas held on to gubernatorial post until 1912 when Gov. Macario Arnedo lost to the Nacionalista candidate, Francisco Liongson. Four years earlier, Dr. Liongson won the election but the victory was subsequently lost in a protracted legal battle due to a technicality occasioned by a series of conflicting court decisions. Manuel Quezon highlighted Liongson’s victory in 1912 as “a vindication and that he was the real governor all along in spite of what the courts have decreed.”
The Liongson gubernatorial term 1912-1916 were years of change, prosperity, and tranquility for Pampanga
. It was the time when the first automobile and the first silent movie houses appeared in the province. It was a time when Francis Burton Harrison
became the American Governor General who ushered in an “era of good feelings” characterized by the exodus of American colonial officials and intensive Filipinization of the government. Politically, Pampanga
gained more freedom to shape its own destiny but became more dependent on the central government for its needed economic and educational infrastructures. Governor Liongson spent a fair share of his time calling in favors and pulling strings to facilitate legislative and bureaucratic action that favored Pampanga’s interests. Economically, Pampanga benefited from the improved market conditions and the growth of commercial agriculture. The length of roads grew significantly, and the railroad began to ply from San Fernando East via Santa Ana and Arayat. Except for a threatened revival of the disgruntled Santa Iglesia cult which the governor peacefully resolved, the Liongson years were probably among the more peaceful and progressive times in Pampanga’s history.
in San Francisco and the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego to be held in the same year. These events were considered battlegrounds between the retentionist's and the pro-independence factions in the politics for Philippine independence.
The struggle for Philippine independence had its supporters and detractors in the United States. Historically, the Democratic Party supported independence while the Republican Party opposed it and favored retention. The Republicans would paint the image of the Philippines as uncivilized, backward and unprepared for self-rule, while the Democrats thought otherwise and implemented measures to effect the rapid transition to self-rule and independence. The perception of the Philippines by the American people was therefore critical in soliciting support for either side. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition
of 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri
showcased a reservation filled with Philippine minority tribes. The Philippine exhibit was very successful and popular but projected a grossly wrong impression that the country was a nation of primitive savages. The perception that Filipinos lived in trees remained in the American memory for generations.
The task of changing and improving the Philippine’s image was placed on the country’s organizing board of the Panama-Pacific and Panama-California events. This board was composed of Leon Maria Guerrero, president; William W. Barclay, director general and Dr. Francisco Liongson. Both Guerrero and Barclay were involved in the past St. Louis event while Dr. Liongson provided fresh inputs to the new undertaking. After the event, Governor-General of the Philippines
F. B. Harrison reported, “The result of their efforts was a complete success and has been gratifying to the people of the Philippines and their friends. For the first time the Philippine Islands were presented to the outside world by an exhibition of the education and accomplishments of the 8,000,000 civilized inhabitants of the islands, instead of an exhibit of the 1,000,000 or less partly civilized inhabitants of the mountains and more remote regions, as has been the case in exhibitions, pictures, and lectures upon so many occasions in the recent past.” Aside from being a financial success, the Philippine exhibit was among the Grand Prize winners of the international expositions.
Dr. Liongson returned to the Philippines to campaign and was elected as Pampanga’s first senator of the third district to the 4th Philippine Legislature
in 1916 for a term of six years.
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
. Late in the 18th century, the concept of being a Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
was still nebulous and infantile. The name did not even originally apply to all the inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago, but to a small group of Spaniards born there. Motivated by the injustices prevalent in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, small colonies of native expatriate students in Europe involved themselves in the Propaganda Movement
Propaganda Movement
The Propaganda Movement was a literary and cultural organization formed in 1872 by Filipino émigrés who had settled in Europe. Composed of Filipino liberals exiled in 1872 and students attending Europe's universities, the organization aimed to increase Spanish awareness of the needs of its colony,...
with the purpose of exposing these abuses and in the process began to assume a consciousness articulating reforms of a national interest that was consequently distinct from Spain. Dr. Liongson was one of these Filipino students in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. He walked among peers who would one day become Philippine National Heroes
Philippine National Heroes
A national hero of the Philippines is a Filipino who has been recognized as a hero for his or her role in the history of the country. Loosely, the term may refer to all Filipino historical figures recognized as heroes, but the term more strictly refers to those officially designated as such...
.
The Early Years
Scion of the Philippine sugar gentry, Dr. Liongson was born in PampangaPampanga
Pampanga is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast...
’s ancient capital, Villa de Bacolor to Emigdio Liongson and Eulalia Tongio. It was an exciting time in colonial Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. The Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
opened a month earlier on November 17, 1869 establishing a regular steamship service between the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The implementation of the Education Decree of 1863 saw the establishment of a primary school for boys and girls in each town of the country. The resulting boom in trade and influx of new ideas gave rise to an emerging educated and moneyed elite.
After completing his primary education in Bacolor, Dr. Liongson studied at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran
Colegio de San Juan de Letran
The Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Letran College, or simply Letran is a private Roman Catholic institution of learning located in Intramuros, Manila, in the Philippines. The college was founded in 1620. Colegio de San Juan de Letran has the distinction of being the oldest college in the...
in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
and earned his diplomas in Bachiller en Artes, Agrimensor and Profesor en Segundo Enseñasa. He arrived in Spain on August 24, 1889 on board the mail steamer Santo Domingo to study medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid where he obtained his Licenciado en Medicina y Cirujia in June 1894 and his Doctorado en Medicina y Cirujia on October 19, 1895. To broaden his medical knowledge further, he trained in different hospitals in Paris while studying at the famous Institut Pasteur.
During his sojourn in Spain, Dr. Liongson was actively involved with the Filipino colony in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
interracting with fellow paisanos like his hero, Dr. Jose Rizal
José Rizal
José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda , was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by...
. The death of La Solidaridad
La solidaridad
La Solidaridad was an organization created in Spain on December 13, 1888. Composed of Filipino liberals exiled in 1872 and students attending Europe's universities, the organization aimed to increase Spanish awareness of the needs of its colony, the Philippines, and to propagate a closer...
's Jose Maria Panganiban affected him deeply. In a eulogy to the propagandist, he wrote, “From this tombstone, which safely guards your remains, will spring happy memories for a page in our history.” He became a member of the Grande Oriente Español
Grande Oriente Español
The Grande Oriente Español is the oldest traditional Masonic body in Spain.Among its Grand Masters was Diego Martínez Barrio, prime minister of Spain and founder of the Republican Union Party....
Masonic Lodge Solidaridad No. 53 of Madrid under Marcelo H. Del Pilar
Marcelo H. del Pilar
Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitán , better known by his nom-de-plume Plaridel, was a celebrated figure in the Philippine Revolution and a leading propagandist for reforms in the Philippines A master polemicist in both the Tagalog and Spanish languages, he helped the Propaganda Movement through...
as the Venerable Master. His love interest in the Spanish capital was centered on Maria Dolores Alonso y Castro, a native of Badajos whom he married in the chic Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
parish of San Martin on August 28, 1895.
The Healing Warrior
He returned to the Philippines with his bride in November 1895. Ten months later, the Philippine RevolutionPhilippine Revolution
The Philippine Revolution , called the "Tagalog War" by the Spanish, was an armed military conflict between the people of the Philippines and the Spanish colonial authorities which resulted in the secession of the Philippine Islands from the Spanish Empire.The Philippine Revolution began in August...
was unleashed. Spanish Governor General Ramon Blanco y Erenas
Ramón Blanco y Erenas
Ramón Blanco y Erenas, marqués de Peña Plata was a Spanish brigadier and colonial administrator. Born in San Sebastián, he was sent to the Caribbean in 1858 and governed Cuba and Santo Domingo...
declared 8 Philippine provinces to be under a state of war, and Pampanga
Pampanga
Pampanga is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast...
was one among them. Dr. Liongson joined the Katipunan
Katipunan
The Katipunan was a Philippine revolutionary society founded by anti-Spanish Filipinos in Manila in 1892, whose primary aim was to gain independence from Spain through revolution. The society was initiated by Filipino patriots Andrés Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, and others on the night...
and offered his medical services to the Philippine Revolutionary Army
Philippine Revolutionary Army
The Philippine Revolutionary Army was founded on March 22, 1897 in Cavite. General Artemio Ricarte was its first Captain General...
. He was commissioned Capitan del Cuerpo Sanidad. His Spanish wife died shortly leaving a son, Francisco Alonso Liongson
Francisco Alonso Liongson
Francisco Alonso Liongson lived in one of the most exciting periods of Philippine history. He was born into an Ilustrado family from Pampanga, Philippines at the turn of the 20th century and raised with the revolutionary values of an emerging Philippine identity which held freedom, justice, honor,...
. The return of Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy was a Filipino general, politician, and independence leader. He played an instrumental role during the Philippines' revolution against Spain, and the subsequent Philippine-American War or War of Philippine Independence that resisted American occupation...
from his exile in Hong Kong highlighted a new phase of the revolution and Dr. Liongson’s marriage to the daughter of Balbino Ventura, Nunilon Ventura y Tison in May 1898. During the Philippine-American War
Philippine-American War
The Philippine–American War, also known as the Philippine War of Independence or the Philippine Insurrection , was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the United States which arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence following...
, he was promoted to Comandante and attached to the brigade of Gen. Tomas Mascardo
Tomas Mascardo
Tomas Mascardo was a Filipino general during the Philippine Revolution. He led the battles against the Spaniards from the start of the revolution and became a governor of Cavite from 1910 to 1912.-Early years:...
. His timely and diplomatic intervention amicably resolved the anticipated armed confrontation between his superior, Mascardo, and his friend from the Filipino colony in Spain, General Antonio Luna
Antonio Luna
Antonio Luna y Novicio was a Filipino pharmacist and general who fought in the Philippine-American War. He was also the founder of the Philippines's first military academy.- Family background :...
. While in active duty, Dr. Liongson also served with other men of distinction in the faculty of medicine and surgery of the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas, the precursor of the University of the Philippines
University of the Philippines
The ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...
established by President of the First Philippine Republic
First Philippine Republic
The Philippine Republic , more commonly known as the First Philippine Republic or the Malolos Republic was a short-lived insurgent revolutionary government in the Philippines...
, Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy was a Filipino general, politician, and independence leader. He played an instrumental role during the Philippines' revolution against Spain, and the subsequent Philippine-American War or War of Philippine Independence that resisted American occupation...
on October 19, 1898.
The surrender of Gen. Mascardo on May 15, 1901 officially ended hostilities in the province. Dr. Liongson’s work, however, was not over. Pampanga
Pampanga
Pampanga is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast...
was the scene of many armed conflicts and the province suffered severe physical and economic hardships. The proliferation and rise of diseases in epidemic proportions became a major concern of the United States military health board. The presence of a European trained Filipino physician added prestige and credibility to their efforts to combat disease. In acknowledgement of his valuable medical service, Dr. Liongson was appointed presidente of Pampanga’s Provincial Health Board as soon as the transition to civil control was effected. Under his able leadership and precedent-setting measures, much of the resistance to modern sanitary, quarantine and health practices, caused largely by superstition and ignorance, were overcome. Pampanga went on to control the cholera epidemic of 1902, to fully eradicate the incidence of small pox in the province by 1906, and to completely free the province of Hansen’s disease by 1909.
From the Ashes of War
By 1903, Dr. Liongson’s parents, Capitan Midiong and Apung Laly, had since passed away; leaving behind agricultural landholdings ravaged by war. Faced with the tasks of salvaging the remnants of his inheritance and of supporting the inquilino families under his care, the doctor assumed the mantel of the gentleman farmer and entrepreneur, and realized that the young nation’s economy needed serious restructuring and help. On August 8, 1905 at a public hearing for the reduction of tariffs on sugar and tobacco, Dr. Liongson submitted a paper on the petition to establish an agricultural mortgage bank and tariff reduction. He highlighted the great need for the insular government to relieve planters from the current depressed condition of agriculture. It was the beginning of his role as one of the sugar industry’s spokespersons. Consequently, the U.S. Congress enacted the Agricultural Bank Act (Public Act No. 243) in 1906 providing the establishment of the Agricultural Bank of the Philippine Government, the precursor of the Philippine National BankPhilippine National Bank
The Philippine National Bank is one of the largest banks in the Philippines, ranking fourth in terms of assets...
, which was subsequently created to replace the former institution in 1916. Tariffs were gradually phased out beginning with the Payne Aldrich Act of 1909 until its complete removal in 1913 with the Underwood Tariff Act. The consequent prosperity resulted in a robust economy leading to among others the expansion of sugar crop production and milling capacities.
On January 1918, a group of large-scale sugar planters gathered in San Fernando, Pampanga to organize a central sugar mill financed from native capital. The group included Jose de Leon, Augusto Gonzalez, Francisco Liongson, Honorio Ventura, Tomas Lazatin, Tomas Consunji, Francisco Hizon, Jose P. Henson, and Manuel Urquico. At that time, foreign capital financed the construction of new centrals, and the conservative Pampanga planters considered it risky to mortgage their lands to the Philippine National Bank in order to finance the mill. Biting the bullet, the Pampanga Sugar Development Company (PASUDECO) was incorporated in April 1918 and began its first full milling operations in 1922. However, “on the first milling season in 1920 the planters paid up not only their crop loan but their original debt to the Bank.”
Continuing the Struggle for Independence
Since 1902, the Partido Federalista, a party supported by the American insular government, dominated provincial and local elections. With the lifting of the ban on pro-independence parties in preparation for the Philippine Assembly elections, 1907, the provincial elections of 1906 resulted in the easy victory of nationalist candidates espousing independence. The pro-independence nationalist front was however splintered into many factions exhibiting various shades of independence and nationalism - from the most urgent, Urgentistas, to the most immediate, Imediatista. Even the Federalistas changed their name to Partido Nacional Progresista, the Progresistas, to give them a nationalistic flavor. The pro-independence nationalist front had to unite in order to win a decisive victory for the coming First Philippine Assembly elections in 1907. By 1906, the various groups were reduced to two main proponents: the Partido Union Nacionalista of Rafael PalmaRafael Palma
Rafael Palma was a Filipino politician, Rizalian, reporter, writer, educator and a famous mason in Philippines. He also became the fourth President of the University of the Philippines.- Honors :...
and Felipe Agoncillo
Felipe Agoncillo
Felipe Agoncillo was the Filipino lawyer representative to the negotiations in Paris that led to the Treaty of Paris , ending the Spanish–American War and achieving him the title of "outstanding first Filipino diplomat."As a family friend and adviser of General Emilio Aguinaldo and General Antonio...
and the Partido Independista Imediatista of Manuel Quezon and Sergio Osmeña
Sergio Osmeña
Sergio Osmeña y Suico was a Filipino politician who served as the 4th President of the Philippines from 1944 to 1946. He was Vice President under Manuel L. Quezon, and rose to the presidency upon Quezon's death in 1944, being the oldest Philippine president to hold office at age 65...
.
Dr. Liongson was a member of the Imediatista negotiating team and his friend of the Filipino Colony days in Spain, Galicano Apacible
Galicano Apacible
Galicano Apacible was a Philippine politician. A cousin to Jose Rizal, he co-founded La Solidaridad and Nacionalista Party....
, was a member of the other party’s team. After long drawn negotiations, the two parties merged on March 12, 1906 to pursue “immediate, absolute and complete independence.” All the various pro-independence parties united to form the Partido Nacionalista on April 29, 1907 to contest the seats in the First Philippine Assembly with Dr. Liongson as one of the founding members. Historian Onofre Corpuz implied that unification was attained in no small measure through the efforts of those with fraternal ties incubated in Madrid. The newly organized Nacionalistas won 31 seats (plus one seat as Manuel Quezon chose to run as an independent), the Independientes, 20; the Progresistas, 16; Imediatistas, 7; and other minor political parties, 5, out of 80 seats in the elections held in July 1907.
Wearing the Political Hat
The Nacionalistas dominated Philippine politics thereafter. In PampangaPampanga
Pampanga is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast...
, the Progresistas held on to gubernatorial post until 1912 when Gov. Macario Arnedo lost to the Nacionalista candidate, Francisco Liongson. Four years earlier, Dr. Liongson won the election but the victory was subsequently lost in a protracted legal battle due to a technicality occasioned by a series of conflicting court decisions. Manuel Quezon highlighted Liongson’s victory in 1912 as “a vindication and that he was the real governor all along in spite of what the courts have decreed.”
The Liongson gubernatorial term 1912-1916 were years of change, prosperity, and tranquility for Pampanga
Pampanga
Pampanga is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast...
. It was the time when the first automobile and the first silent movie houses appeared in the province. It was a time when Francis Burton Harrison
Francis Burton Harrison
Francis Burton Harrison was an American statesman who served in the United States House of Representatives and appointed Governor-General of the Philippines by President of the United States Woodrow Wilson...
became the American Governor General who ushered in an “era of good feelings” characterized by the exodus of American colonial officials and intensive Filipinization of the government. Politically, Pampanga
Pampanga
Pampanga is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast...
gained more freedom to shape its own destiny but became more dependent on the central government for its needed economic and educational infrastructures. Governor Liongson spent a fair share of his time calling in favors and pulling strings to facilitate legislative and bureaucratic action that favored Pampanga’s interests. Economically, Pampanga benefited from the improved market conditions and the growth of commercial agriculture. The length of roads grew significantly, and the railroad began to ply from San Fernando East via Santa Ana and Arayat. Except for a threatened revival of the disgruntled Santa Iglesia cult which the governor peacefully resolved, the Liongson years were probably among the more peaceful and progressive times in Pampanga’s history.
Independence Politics
In 1914, the United States invited the Philippines to participate in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915)Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915)
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California between February 20 and December 4 in 1915. Its ostensible purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase its recovery...
in San Francisco and the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego to be held in the same year. These events were considered battlegrounds between the retentionist's and the pro-independence factions in the politics for Philippine independence.
The struggle for Philippine independence had its supporters and detractors in the United States. Historically, the Democratic Party supported independence while the Republican Party opposed it and favored retention. The Republicans would paint the image of the Philippines as uncivilized, backward and unprepared for self-rule, while the Democrats thought otherwise and implemented measures to effect the rapid transition to self-rule and independence. The perception of the Philippines by the American people was therefore critical in soliciting support for either side. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...
of 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
showcased a reservation filled with Philippine minority tribes. The Philippine exhibit was very successful and popular but projected a grossly wrong impression that the country was a nation of primitive savages. The perception that Filipinos lived in trees remained in the American memory for generations.
The task of changing and improving the Philippine’s image was placed on the country’s organizing board of the Panama-Pacific and Panama-California events. This board was composed of Leon Maria Guerrero, president; William W. Barclay, director general and Dr. Francisco Liongson. Both Guerrero and Barclay were involved in the past St. Louis event while Dr. Liongson provided fresh inputs to the new undertaking. After the event, Governor-General of the Philippines
Governor-General of the Philippines
The Governor-General of the Philippines was the title of the government executive during the colonial period of the Philippines, governed mainly by Spain and the United States, and briefly by Great Britain, from 1565 to 1935....
F. B. Harrison reported, “The result of their efforts was a complete success and has been gratifying to the people of the Philippines and their friends. For the first time the Philippine Islands were presented to the outside world by an exhibition of the education and accomplishments of the 8,000,000 civilized inhabitants of the islands, instead of an exhibit of the 1,000,000 or less partly civilized inhabitants of the mountains and more remote regions, as has been the case in exhibitions, pictures, and lectures upon so many occasions in the recent past.” Aside from being a financial success, the Philippine exhibit was among the Grand Prize winners of the international expositions.
Dr. Liongson returned to the Philippines to campaign and was elected as Pampanga’s first senator of the third district to the 4th Philippine Legislature
4th Philippine Legislature
The Fourth Philippine Legislature was the meeting of the legislature of the Philippine Islands under the sovereign control of the United States from October 16, 1916 to March 8, 1919.-Sessions:...
in 1916 for a term of six years.
External links
- List of Previous Senators - Senate of the Philippines., retrieved on: 9 October 2011
- Past Pampanga Governors, Pampanga Capitol Website., retrieved on: 9 October 2011
- History of the First Philippine Assembly, National Historical Commission of the Philippines., retrieved on: 9 October 2011
- VIEWS FROM THE PAMPANG: 169. Here's to our Health!, retrieved on: 9 October 2011
- PASUDECO Sugar Central, International Council of Monuments and Sites Philippines., retrieved on 9 October 2011