Emilio F. Aguinaldo on Stamps

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Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo was the first president of the Philippine Republic. A wealthy native of Wl Viejo, Cavite, Aguinaldo later donated his mansion to the Philippine government to preserve the monument to Philippine nationalism.

Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (March 22, 1869 – February 6, 1964) was a Filipino general, politician, and independence leader. He played an instrumental role in Philippines' struggle for independence, essentially in the Philippine Revolution against Spain, as well as in the Philippine-American War that resisted American occupation.

Aguinaldo is considered to be the country's first and the youngest Philippine President, and though the Philippine government failed to obtain any foreign recognition during that time, it is now considered Southeast Asia's first republic.

The seventh of eight children of Carlos Aguinaldo and Trinidad Famy, Emilio was born into a Chinese-mestizo family on March 22, 1869 in Cavite Viejo (now Kawit), Cavite province. Aside from his father being gobernadorcillo (municipal mayor) of the town, his family, as members of the Chinese-mestizo minority, enjoyed a rather comfortable life.

As a young boy, Miniong received basic education from his great-aunt and later attended the town's elementary school. In 1880, he took up his secondary course education at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. Following the death of his father on his third year, Aguinaldo quit school and retured home to help his widowed mother with their farm.

At the age of 17, Emilio was elected cabeza de barangay (village headman) of Binakayan, the most progressive barrio of Cavite El Viejo. He held this position for eight years. While at that, he also engaged himself in inter-island shipping, travelling to as far south as the Sulu Archipelago. In 1893, the Maura Law was passed to reorganize town governments with the aim of making them more effective and autonomous, changing the designation of town head from gobernadorcillo to capitan municipal effective 1895. On January 1, 1895, 26-year-old Aguinaldo was elected town head, becoming the first person to hold the title of capitan municipal of Cavite Viejo.

In 1896, Aguinaldo fell in love and married Hilaria Del Rosario of Imus, Cavite. They had five children (Miguel, Carmen, Emilio Jr., Maria and Cristina). In 1930, nine years after his wife's death, Aguinaldo married his second wife Maria Agoncillo, niece of Don Felipe Agoncillo, a pioneer Filipino diplomat.

The stamp above was issued on January 3, 1969.

Gen. Mateo Capinpin on Stamps click here

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