Dionisio Jakosalem Street, Cebu City

It is a major thoroughfare in Cebu City which starts from M.C. Briones Street, intersecting Magallanes, Osmeña Boulevard, Legaspi, Manalili, Colon, Sanciangko, P. del Rosario, Gen. Maxilom and ends at Gorordo Avenue.

During the American occupation it was called "Calle Norte America", which has an earlier name during the Spanish period called "Calle Alfonso Trece" to honor the Spanish King.

Dionisio, was the son of spouses Alfonso Jakosalem and Apolonia Abella of Dumanjug, Cebu. He was born on May 8, 1878. He went to the Colegio de San Carlos and at the University of Santo Tomas. He was admitted to the bar on March 27, 1907. At a young age, he joined government service as a Municipal Secretary of Dumanjug on 1900. He was appointed in 1903 as Justice of the Peace of Cebu.

He was appointed as Cebu Governor in 1906, when Don Sergio Osmeña resigned to run for the National Assembly. A year later he was elected as Governor of Cebu. He was the First Filipino to be appointed in the Cabinet when the American Governor General (the country's Chief Executive during the American occupation) Francis Burton Harrison issued the decree on January 11, 1917. Dionisio, assumed the position on January 18, 1917. He was designated as Secretary of Commerce and Communication. He held this position until October 3, 1922.

After his term ended as Governor of Cebu on October of 1912, months later (February 1, 1913) he was appointed as Provincial Fiscal of Cebu.

When he retired from public service, he became Dean of the College of Law at the Visayan Institute now known as the University of the Visayas (UV), founded by his friend, Don Vicente Gullas.

Dionisio, married Generosa Teves, a niece of Don Pedro Cui and Benigna Cui, the founders of the Hospicio de San Jose de Barili. The reason why years later, Dionisio served as Administrator of Cebu's oldest existing home for the aged.

Dionsio and Generosa had the following children: Salud, Silvano (who became a lawyer on December 21, 1936), Maria, Fernando and Epifania who married Luis Rodriguez.

Governor Jakosalem died on July 3, 1931 at the young age of 53. Let us remember him each time we travel Cebu's southern and northern towns as it was he who had these constructed.