Manuel V. Gallego on Stamps

-
Statesman, educator, lawyer, and diplomat, Manuel Viola Gallego was born in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija on January 18, 1893, to Julio Gallego and Inocencia Viola. He acquired his elementary and intermediate education in Nueva Ecija, and his secondary studies, first in Bulacan and later at the Manila High School. He studied at the University of the Philippines, where he obtained three degrees: Bachelor of Arts, 1913; Bachelor of Laws, 1918, and Master of Laws, 1919. That same year, he earned his Licenciado en Jurisprudencia from the University of Santo Tomas.
 
Determined to pursue further studies, he flew to the United States and enrolled at Chicago’s Northwestern University, where he received his juris doctor degree in 1928. His thesis, entitled “A Critical Study of the Usury Laws,” was made into a book and later served as reference material in different law schools in the Philippines. Before returning home, he proceeded to Spain and took up postgraduate studies in law at the Universidad Central de Madrid. 
 
In 1919, he started his extensive law practice, gaining recognition for handling his cases with brilliance and alertness. He taught law at the National  Law College and the University of Manila. Later, he served as president of the Fabrica de Tabacos y Cigarillos Katubusan and managed several haciendas.
 
His political career began in 1931, when he was elected congressman in the first district of Nueva Ecija. He was reelected in 1941. As a congressman, he initiated some of the first land reform measures. He also worked for the use of dialects in Philippine schools as a medium of instruction, and of Tagalog as the national language. He was the author of the House bills granting women suffrage and allowing the partial payment, by installment, of land taxes, both of which became laws. He was co-author of the rice tariff bill, which also became a law. He sponsored the highest number of labor legislation acted upon by the House of Representatives at the time. For that, he won fifth place in the Philippines Free Press ’ evaluation of lawmakers from 1942 to 1945, for service to country for the years 1931 to 1935.
 
In 1945, he was appointed to the Philippine Congressional Rehabilitation Reconstruction Commission, which conferred with representatives of the United States government on ways and means of rebuilding the country for the havoc and destruction caused by the war.
Dr. Gallego was the last Secretary of Instruction of the Commonwealth of the Philippines under the Osmeña administration, and the first Secretary of Education of the Republic of the Philippines under the Roxas administration.
 
As education secretary, he promoted cultural development through the introduction of new textbooks, authored by Filipinos, on Philippine government, history, social science, and other relevant subjects. Pursuant to his recommendations, the legislature passed the School Health Act of 1946, mandating the establishment of medical and dental services for students in all educational institutions offering secondary and tertiary programs. 
 
He was also instrumental in the passage of the law, which changed the curriculum to include value instruction. It was also through his initiative that Congress enacted a law increasing the salaries of schoolteachers, to induce qualified men and women to enter and remain in the teaching profession.
 
To help teachers financially, particularly in obtaining loans, he formed the National Cooperative for Teachers. He established and implemented a program that enabled educators to pursue studies abroad along technical lines and on the latest technologies and systems in the administration of the educational process. This resulted in the signing in March 1948 of the Fullbright Pact between the Philippines and the United States, with studies of Filipino educators and students in the US being financed by a special fund coming from the sale of American surplus property.
 
As a diplomat, Gallego represented the country in various international undertakings. In 1935, he was in Tokyo as Philippine representative to the First Oriental Tourist Conference. He was a member of the Far Eastern Commission, which sought sizable reparations from the Japanese government for the plunders that the Japanese invaders had committed on occupied countries during the war. In 1946, he was in Korea to work for continued peace between that country and the Philippines. 
 
That same year, he was one of the delegates to the First Assembly of the United Nations convened in London. Three years later, in 1949, he headed the Philippine delegation to the ECAPE Conference in Australia where he defended Filipino economic rights. In 1950, again as head of mission, he was in Indonesia to formally negotiate a treaty of friendship and amity between that country and the Philippines, with the effort proving successful.
 
As an educator, Gallego, who served as member of the Council of State, was chairman of the Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines from 1946-1948; professor and dean of the college of law and, later, president, of the University of Manila; chairman of the board of trustees of the Manila College of Pharmacy and Dentistry; and chancellor of the Manila Central University.
 
Gallego was the founder of the Central Luzon School of Nursing in Nueva Ecija, as well as of the Central Luzon Educational Center, which later were fused into the Manuel V. Gallego Foundation Colleges, in the same province.
 
His varied interests made him president of such groups as the Manila Tobacco Association, United Nations Association of the Philippines, Philippine Constitutional Association, National Rice and Corn Growers Association, and the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities, and vice-president of the Homeowners Association and the Foreign Affairs Association of the Philippines.
 
A prolific writer, Dr. Gallego published the Philippine Election Law, Dictatorship Under the Guise of Democracy, The Philippine Language Problem, Economic Emancipation, the Price of Philippine Independence, The Philippine Trade Act in the Light of History, A Critical Study of the Philippines Usury Act, Bar Examination Questions and Answers on the Civil Code, Philippine Law of Evidence, and the Philippine Law of Water Rights . He also co-authored the Law on Obligations.
 
He married Caridad Ongsiaco on December 17, 1922. Dr. Gallego died on August 13, 1976. 
 
On July 11, 1993, as a gesture of honor and respect for this exemplary and multi-faceted man, the Manuel V. Gallego commemorative stamp was formally issued by the Philippine Postal services.

Popular posts from this blog

The Visayas Art Fair 2024- Connect, Create, Cultivate

-
Image
  How do you show appreciation for your art and culture? By owning it- it is a piece of your heritage - a future relic. It does not have to be very beautiful or costly. But if it "speaks" to you, acquire it, keep it, because you like looking at it, your descendants will thank you for it. Your painting might be in the Cebu City museum in 2068!    Take the time to visit the Visayas Art Fair 2024. Twenty eight galleries from all over the country showcasing deeper visual imageries and a diversity of styles and representations. The VAF aims to expound on the relationship between the visual arts and the creative industries that fuel their economic potential.    The Visayas Art Fair was a historical undertaking in 2021 with the banner, Connecting The Islands Through Art, initiated by the National Commission for Culture and Arts , together with the Cebu Design Week Inc., Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas , Sacred Heart School for Boys Batch 1985 Foundation, a
Read more

Rodolfo S. Cornejo on Stamp

-
Image
Rodolfo S. Cornejo is the first Filipino composer who received an honory degree from a government recognized music school in the United States . He is also remarkable for his pianistic and compositional know-how by improvising a piano composition at the spur of the moment.   He was born on 15 May 1909 in Singalong , Manila . At the age of six, he had his formal piano lessons. After 2 years, he played fourteen pieces and six encores for his recital. In that same year, he became the organist of the Pasay Catholic Church when they moved in. When he was ten, he composed a piano piece entitled, " Glissando Waltz ". He became so keen and inspired about music by his mother's genuine support.    At 13, he composed the "Salute", a military march that was also published. He also composed the Philippine Suite: Paalam sa Pagakadalaga , Okaka Variations , Paalam na Sinta , Oriental Fantasy , Nocturne in G, Piano Concerto no. 1 , and the Moro Wedding Dance . At 14, tw
Read more

Manuel H. Bernabe on Stamps

-
Image
Manuel H. Bernabe (1890-1960) “King of Balagtasan ” in Spanish was a poet, linguist and politician, Manuel Bernabe was born on February 17, 1890 to Timoteo Bernabe and Emilia Hernandez of Paranaque, Rizal .   At the age of 10, he already started writing verses. He studied at the Ateneo de Manila where he finished his Bachelor of Arts degree with high academic standing in 1907, and then took up law at the University of Santo Tomas , but not able to took up the bar exams. In 1910, Manuel’s first poem was published in the Renacimento Filipino.   In 1912, he translated Virgil’s Aenid from Latin to Spanish. In 1913, he received an award for his poems: “Himno al Sagrado Corazon de Jesus (Hymn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus ), “El Zapote,” and “Espana a Filipinas”.   In 1912, he joined the staff of La Democracia and in 1918, of La Vanguardia of the Roces Publications . He was a columnist but from time to time he also published poems and short stories in the magazine Exelsior.   Manuel
Read more

Tops Artfest 2024- A Celebration of Art

-
Image
The TOPS ARTFEST 2024: Why The Cebu Community Should Not Miss It?  By Celso Duazo Pepito I was happy to graduate in Fine Arts in 1981 at the University of the Philippines Cebu . But for the next two to three decades of  my art practice, my journey as member of creative community were full of difficulties and challenges. In the 80's and 90's we had very limited platforms for exhibition, encouraging us to organize our exhibits in hotels , restaurants , malls , hospitals , etc . Added to our problems is the limited art collectors in Cebu during that time. Attendees of exhibitions, more often than not were same people who have the heart for collecting artworks. And there were instances when these collectors will shy away from art exhibitions, with valid reasons that they do not have enough walls to hang their collections. With this problem in mind, few artists have opted to look for another job, if only to survive. There were few passionate painters, however, that opted to nurture
Read more

Glimpses of Old Cebu: Images of the Colonial Era

-
Image
" Glimpses of Old Cebu: Images of the Colonial Era " is a 276-page coffee table book of nearly 600 of the best photographs, postcards , stereoviews and lantern glass slides of Cebu and its many towns taken between 1870-1945. More than just a mere showcasing of rare, never-before-seen images, the book also provides a treasure trove of information accompanying nearly every picture. The author, Lucy Urgello Miller has been collecting vintage Philippine postcards and photographs for over 20 years, the thrust of her collection being Cebu . She acquired 90% of her Cebu collection in the United States where she is living with her husband Richard "Rick" Miller. Most of the collection was bought at antique postcards shows. Lucy has about 1,000 pictures and postcards on Cebu but she selected only the best and most interesting for this book. Mommy Gingging, Lucy and my wife Grace A blue-blooded Theresian, Lucy spent her entire education from kind
Read more

The Kudyapi- The Philippine Two-Stringed Lute

-
Image
The kutiyapi or kudyapi, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is the only stringed instrument among the Maguindanao people, and one of several among other groups such as the Maranao and Manobo . It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax . The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as from the jackfruit tree.   Common to all kutiyapi instruments, a constant drone is played with one string while the other, an octave above the drone, plays the melody with a kebit or rattan pluck (commonly made from plastic nowadays). This feature, which is also common to other related Southeast Asian "boat lutes", which were influenced by varying degrees by Indian concepts of melody and scale via the Malay archipelago .   Among the T'Boli , Manobo and other Lumad groups, the instrument (known as Hegelung, Kudyapi or Fedlung) is tuned to a major pentatonic scale . Among groups like the Bagobo , the Kutiyapi (Kudlung) is also used as
Read more

Vicente Fabella on Stamps

-
Image
Vicente F. Fabell a (1891-1959). Educator, economist, civic leader and the first Filipino certified public accountant . He was the founder of Jose Rizal College .  He was born on May 7, 1891 in Pagsanjan , Laguna , the third of six children of Juan Fabella, who served as mayor of Pagsanjan during the Spanish and American regimes, and Damiana Fernandez.    He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines in 1912 and then continued his studies in the United States, obtaining concurrent degrees of bachelor of philosophy from the University of Chicago and diploma in commerce from Northwestern University in 1915. That same year, he became a certified public accountant in the state of Wisconsin .   In 1916, upon his return to the Philippines, he became a professional lecturer in accounting and auditing at the University of the Philippines . At the same time, he opened the accounting firm, Vicente Fabella and Company.   He was instrumental in the founding
Read more