Jose Avelino Biography

JOSE AVELINO

1890- 1986

Political Career:

First Senate President, Third Philippine Republic, July 1946 – February 1949. Last Senate President, Philippine Commonwealth, May-July 1946; Senator (elected at-large under the 1935 Constitution), 1946-1955; [Did not serve in the Japanese-sponsored government (Second Philippine Republic), WWII]; Secretary of Labor (under the Commonwealth, resigned because of the Fragante incident) 1938-1940; Secretary of Public Works and Communications (under the Commonwealth), 1935-1938; Senator representing the Ninth Senator District of Samar and Leyte in the bicameral, pre-Commonwealth, Philippine Legislature, 1928-1935; [became Senate President Pro-Tempore (second in command of the Senate) in 1934 until the establishment of the Commonwealth]; Congressman representing the First District of Samar (Samar then still undivided); 1921-1927; Municipal councilor, Municipality of Calbayog (later he founded Calbayog as City of Calbayog), 1918-192

Education:

He began his education at the Seminario de San Vicente de Paul in Calbayog

Then at the age of 9 he was sent to Manila to study at the Ateneo de Manila where his scholastic achievement became a legend. His grades were always “sobre saliente” His college records show that his academic achievements were higher than that of Jose Rizal.
In 1909 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Ateneo
He entered the Universidad de Santo Tomas de Manila (UST) to study law and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1914 and admitted to the Philippine Bar shortly after graduation. Other (Misc. Information/Data)
Organized Grimeo Obrero De Calbayog while practicing law, 1916-1918; This was the first organized labor union in the entire Visayan region. Admitted to Philippine Bar and started practicing law, 1914;
He was born in Calbayog on August 5, 1890 to Baltazar Avelino (formerly of Sta. Inez, Bulacan who migrated to Samar) and Ildefonsa Dira. He founded a city – Calbayog City. Because Avelino felt the need for Calbayog City to be connected with the rest of the Philippines, he donated his personal land in Sabang to be developed and used as the airport. This land is where the Calbayog City Airport now stands)