Vivencio Baron Cuyugan, Sr. (January 13, 1895 – March 16, 1971) was a Filipino politician, boxer, and one of the founders of the socialist guerrilla group

Hukbalahap The Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon (), better known by the acronym Hukbalahap, was a communist guerrilla movement formed by the farmers of Central Luzon. They were originally formed to fight the Japanese, but extended their fight into a rebelli ...

. He was born in

San Fernando, Pampanga San Fernando, officially the City of San Fernando ( pam, Lakanbalen ning Sampernandu; fil, Lungsod ng San Fernando), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a pop ...

, to Saturnino P. Cuyugan and Antonina Y. Baron. He studied in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

where he supported himself through professional

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

and became known as the "Big Brown Filipino." He was appointed Municipal Vice-President of San Fernando in 1927, and later elected to the same position in 1931. He was later elected the first Municipal Mayor under the

Philippine Commonwealth The Commonwealth of the Philippines ( es, Commonwealth de Filipinas or ; tl, Komonwelt ng Pilipinas) was the administrative body that governed the Philippines from 1935 to 1946, aside from a period of exile in the Second World War from 1942 ...

, the first

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

mayor of the Philippines. Together with

Pedro Abad Santos Pedro Abad Santos y Basco (, ; 31 January 1876 – 15 January 1945) was a Filipino Marxist politician. He founded the Partido Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PSP) or Philippine Socialist Party in 1929. He ran for several local elections but never won. ...

, he was among the co-founders of the

Socialist Party of the Philippines The Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930 (PKP-1930), also known as the Philippine Communist Party, is a communist party in the Philippines that was established on November 7, 1930. It uses the aforementioned appellation in order to distinguish i ...

. In 2017, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines honored Cuyugan as a hero with a historical marker in San Fernando, Pampanga, for being a "champion of social justice". Vivencio B

Personal life

He married Felisa Amurao of Cabiao, Nueva Ecija and had six children by her, namely: Aida, Fernando, Fe, Vivencio Jr., Panopio, and Dr. Ma. Luisa. There were children from other marriages: Estrella, Augustin, Saturnino, Syvestra, Antonia, Carlos, Manuel, and Juliet. He had five brothers and a sister.

Mayor of San Fernando

Cuyugan was the Mayor of San Fernando, Pampanga, from 1937 to 1942 and in 1945. He was also one of the leaders of the Aguman Ding Maldang Tagapagobra (AMT) or the General Workers Union.

Hukbalahap

In 1941, Cuyugan and several others founded the Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Hukbalahap) and acted as one of its commanders. His wife Felisa joined to support him. She took care of him while he was ill during the war.

Later life

In 1953, he was captured and sent to

Camp Crame Camp General Rafael T. Crame () is the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP) located along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) in Quezon City. It is situated across EDSA from Camp Aguinaldo, the national headquarters o ...

with his family to be jailed and tortured under the charge of being a communist. While in prison at

, his wife Felisa gave birth to a son. He later died in 1971.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuyugan, Vivencio B. 1895 births 1971 deaths Filipino male boxers Filipino socialists Filipino sportsperson-politicians Mayors of places in Pampanga People from San Fernando, Pampanga Socialist Party (Philippines) politicians Kapampangan people Sportspeople from Pampanga