Guests at the inauguration of Cebu City Charter
The inauguration of Cebu as a Chartered City was on February 24, 1937. It was a quadruplet birth of the cities of Davao, Zamboanga, Iloilo, and Cebu. Unlike Iloilo City it was President Manuel L. Quezon who personally attended the inauguration, in Cebu it was the Secretary of Interior, Elpidio Quirino who represented the country's first elected chief executive.
Secretary Quirino was accompanied by his wife, Alicia Syquia (who died during the World War II) during the inauguration of Cebu City. Secretary Quirino who was a senator from 1925 to 1931 representing the First Senatorial District (from 1916 to 1935, senators were elected by districts, the country being divided into twelve senatorial districts).
Years later, Quirino was elected vice president under the Liberal Party with Manuel Acuna Roxas as his president on May 28, 1946. He was given a cabinet post by President Roxas as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Quirino became president when Roxas died on April 17, 1948. He was president until December 30, 1953 as he was defeated by his secretary of defense, Ramon Magsaysay who also died in Cebu on March 17, 1957 in a plane crash in Mt. Manunggal, Balamban.
Second to the list of guests is Secretary Mariano Jesus Cuenco of the Department of Public Works and Communications. M.J. Cuenco was Governor of Cebu and was a five termer Congressman of the old 5th Congressional District of Cebu. He was also Cebu City Mayor for only three days, until his appointment was withdrawn by President Quezon and was instead given a cabinet post.
The floor leader of the House of Representatives from our neighbor province, Negros Oriental, Jose E. Romero was also in attendance. Romero was assemblyman from the old 2nd District of Negros Oriental.
The presidential entourage also included General Paulino Torres Santos. He was Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army and after his retirement from the armed forces he was appointed by Quezon as pioneer of the Land Resettlement. It was he who led by the emigrants of Buayan also known as Dadiangas. General Santos died on August 29, 1945. Decades later, Dadiangas was renamed after him by virtue of Republic Act 5412 enacted on July 8, 1968. That is how General Santos City got its name.
There were many assemblymen from the different provinces such as Jose Bonto of Albay, Antolin D. Tan of Samar, Tomas L. Cabili of Lanao (Cabili was a staff of the "The Freeman,"Cebu's oldest existing newspaper founded in 1919 by Atty. Paulino Gullas, the brother of Don Vicente Arandia Gullas, the founder of Visayan Institute now known as the University of the Visayas).
Representing Iloilo was Assemblyman Tomas Buenaflor. Then from the Province of Bohol was Assemblyman Olegario Butalid Clarin, he was the son of Don Aniceto Velez Clarin. The brother of Olegario named Jose was a lawyer and a legislator, was senator representing the 11th Senatorial District composed of the provinces of Bohol, Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental. A town in Misamis Occidental has been renamed after Senator Jose Clarin.
From Luzon there was Assemblyman Miguel Tolentino of Batangas. There were also Governors who graced the inauguration: Governor Francisco Sevilla of Rizal, Governor Ramon Samonte of Cavite, Governor Vicente Noble of Batangas, Governor Juan A. Rivera of La Union, Governor Teodosio Dino of Sorsogon, Governor Fortunato M. Bulan of Isabela, Governor Alberto Aquino of Bataan, Governor Domingo M. Magbalon of Masbate, Governor Alejandro T. Lim of Antique, Governor Jose S. Perez of Romblon, Governor Carlos Polistico Garcia of Bohol, Governor Leon Pelaez of Marinduque, Governor Aurelio Cecilio of Nueva Ecija.
Also in attendance was Judge Francisco Enage of Malacañang Palace who also served the people of Samar and Leyte as senator representing the 9th Senatorial District. There was also Marcial Kasilag who was Commissioner for Mindanao and Sulu.
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