Top 100 Cebuano Personalities - Paulino Gullas

CEBU, Philippines — Don Paulino was a well-known lawyer and was highly respected in the legal and political fields during his time. In 1916, he topped the bar examination with a rating which was only surpassed more than two decades later.

In 1925 to 1928, under the control of the United States of America, Gullas entered the world of politics as a representative in the Seventh Philippine Legislature. He was later on appointed by Hilario Abellana as an Assemblyman to represent Cebu in the 1934 Constitutional Convention. It was also Gullas’ initiative to make Cebuano as an alternative national language, as he argued that there are more Visayan-speaking Filipinos.

He founded The Freeman in 1919. Gullas was believed to have been executed by the Japanese Imperial Army. He was never seen again after a group of Japanese men picked him up during the World War 2.