The changing of the political guards of Capitol in 1951
The loss of the Liberal Party of the Province of Cebu in the November 13, 1951 general election ushered the changing of the personnel of the Capitol. The provincial government was headed by Dr. Manuel Alesna Cuenco, appointed in 1946 by President Manuel Acuna Roxas (who died of heart attack on April 17, 1948) and won in the election held on November 11, 1947.
The 1947 election was historical, as it was also the year where the country elected its first woman senator, Geronima Pecson. Senator Pecson was the beneficiary of the 1934 Constitutional delegates, two of them were the Sotto brothers who advocated for women's suffrage. It was not carried in the 1935 Constitution but became part of its amendment two years after when the Senate was restored as it was abolished.
It was also in 1947 that Don Vicente Yap Sotto was elected as senator, (his first ever and only) after having ran several times. It was also the contest of the Visayans for the senate presidency, with Jose Avelino of Samar and Mariano Jesus Cuenco of Cebu.
With Serging Chiong Veloso Osmeña Jr. in the helm of the Provincial Capitol, change was coming. It was in January 1952 that the term of office of the governor and the newly elected officials officially start.
The personnel of the Office of the Governor tendered their resignation effective December 31, 1951. The members of the personnel of the Governor's office who resigned:
Francisco Dimataga, Pantaleon Velasquez, Cesar Alesna, Cipriano Llenos, Francisco Fernandez, Federico Sarabia, Mrs. Matilde Sotto Palicte (daughter of Don Filemon Yap Sotto), Juvenal D. Osorio, Cecilio Casals, Phil Gloria, Leodegario Salazar (three years after, he became a lawyer on June 21, 1954), Nicolas Potot, Geronimo Estimo, Venernando Lim, Fidel Blanco, Tomas Babiera and Henry R. Kintanar.
The aforesaid personnel asked for the release of their accumulated vacation and sick leave privileges. The Provincial Treasurer showed a computation based on the monthly report (Civil Service Form No. 3) in the total amount of P9,108.09. This was submitted to the Provincial Board for its action.
Board Member Sotero B. Cabahug, who was Governor of Cebu from 1934 to 1937 and builder of the magnificent Capitol Building, lawyer, secretary of national defense, and pride of Mandaue City in a resolution dated January 4, 1952 moved that the sum of P1,603.22 representing the vacation leave of Governor Cuenco be excluded as elected public officials are not entitled to vacation leave of absence.
The Provincial Board of Cebu presided by the newly elected Governor Sergio Osmeña Jr. and composed of Board Members Sotero B. Cabahug and Pedro B. Uy Calderon resolved to appropriate the sum of P7,504.87 from the General Fund of the Province to cover the money value of the vacation and sick leave to which the personnel from the Office of the Governor are entitled.
The secretary of the Provincial Board at that time was Ariston Cortes (the street in Mandaue City named as A.C. Cortes Avenue is named after him). Cortes was the 10th municipal president of Mandaue; he held the position from 1925 to 1934.
A.C. Cortes also became the first municipal mayor of Mandaue, this was in 1943. The son of Ariston Cortes by the name Demetrio Mendoza Cortes became a lawyer on May 16, 1950. Demetrio married Celestina Cabungcal, and he followed the footstep of his father in politics. He became the last municipal Mayor of Mandaue and its first city mayor. Demetrio was born on August 14, 1921 and he died on March 29, 1993. Decades after his death, on August 3, 2011 the Mandaue City Council enacted an ordinance renaming Plaridel St. (the pseudonym of Gregorio del Pilar) as the D.M. Cortes Avenue. The son of Mayor Demetrio like him and his father also became mayor, his name Jonas Cabungcal Cortes, presently a congressman of the city's lone legislative district.
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