José Dira Avelino Sr. (born José Avelino y Dira; August 5, 1890 – July 21, 1986) was the first President of the Senate of the

Third Republic of the Philippines Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

and the second President of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. He was Senate President ''pro tempore'' to President

Manuel Quezon Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, (; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his d ...

prior to the establishment of the Commonwealth.

Early life and career

Avelino was born in a town called Calbayog in

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

to Ildefonsa Dira and Baltazar Avelino. Avelino was educated at the

Ateneo de Manila , mottoeng = Light in the Lord , type = Private, research, non-profit, coeducational basic and higher education institution , established = December 10, 1859 , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic (Jesuits) , academic_affi ...

where he received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree and the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Migue ...

where he graduated with his

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

. Calbayog became a City in 1948 at Avelino's instance, when as President of the Senate he pulled together three contiguous municipalities (Oquendo, Calbayog and Tinambacan) and made it into the 19th city of the Philippines, July 15, 1948, the date President Elpidio Quirino signed Republic Act 328.

Personal life

Avelino was married to Enriqueta Casal and had four sons (Jose Jr., Enrique, Antonio, Baltazar II) and has one daughter named Pilar. He is the great-grandfather of actor

Paulo Avelino Michael Paulo Lingbanan Avelino (born May 13, 1988) is a Filipino actor, singer, model and a movie producer. Regarded as the "Prince of Philippine Teleserye", he is best known in television series such as '' Walang Hanggan'' (2012), ''Bridges of ...

National Politics

He served concurrently as Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Public Works and Transportation under President

Manuel L. Quezon Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, (; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his de ...

. As Secretary of Labor, Avelino accomplished something unprecedented in the Philippines and perhaps the world – he unified the labor unions by organizing them into two commissions: the National Commission of Labor (NCL) and the National Commission of Peasants (NCP) – and he was designated chairman of these two Commissions. To quote

Manila Bulletin The ''Manila Bulletin'' (), (also known as the ''Bulletin'' and previously known as the ''Manila Daily Bulletin'' from 1906 to September 23, 1972, and the ''Bulletin Today'' from November 22, 1972, to March 10, 1986) is the Philippines' largest ...

: "The new Secretary of Labor José Avelino became not merely the head of the Department of Labor in the government but the head of labor organization, the head of labor in fact." Avelino is known as the Father of th
Philippine Workmen’s Compensation Law
one of the most famous bills which he authored during his term in Senate, which focused on creating a contingency insurance fund for workers as a way to protect the workers from the various economic problems that plagued the post-war economy. Avelino also founded the first labor union in Eastern Visayas, Gremio Obrero de Stevedores and considered to be a founding member of the Liberal Party. He was instrumental in the passage of the Social Security System and pushed for the establishment of public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s in every province in the Philippines. The final office held by Avelino before retiring was Ambassador Plenipotentiary under President

Elpidio Quirino Elpidio Rivera Quirino (born Elpidio Quirino y Rivera; ; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the sixth president of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953. A lawyer by profession, Quirino ente ...

. An LP stalwart, Avelino was infamously quoted as saying "What are we in power for?" which was said during a party caucus in Malacañang. The whole statement being: "Why did you have to order an investigation Honorable Mr. President? If you cannot permit abuses, you must at least tolerate them. What are we in power for? We are not hypocrites. Why should we pretend to be saints when in reality we are not? We are not angels. When we die we will all go to hell. It is better to be in hell because in that place there are no investigations, no secretary of justice, no secretary of the interior to go after us." The above account is disputed by historian Quintin Doroquez. Doroquez claims that Avelino was willfully misquoted as corrupt by Celso Cabrera, a newsreporter who did not speak Spanish. Doroquez claims that Congressman Faustino Tobia of Ilocos Norte confessed to the Avelino family later that the entire quote was fabricated and that the original context of Avelino's comment at the said party caucus on January 15, 1949 was the failure of the Quirino administration to deal with the problems of the country. According to Doroquez, Congressman Tobia offered the following paraphrase as closer to what Avelino actually said in Spanish at the meeting. ''"Señor Presidente, ¿no es la verdad que sin hacerlos vigorosamente es traicionar y negar esencialmente nuestros deberes como sirvientes públicos? ¿Para que esta el nuestro mandato del pueblo?"'' Doroquez provided a translation of Congressman Tobia's paraphrase. "Mr. President, is it not the truth that not addressing vigorously these problems [i.e., of losing the Liberal Party's insight into the postwar reconstruction, the country’s peasant plight that is fueling the Huk's insurgency, and the moral discipline of those who use their position or influence in government to advance their selfish ends, like appointing less qualified men from the opposition party] is to betray and negate fundamentally our duties as public servants? What for is our mandate from the people?" In any case, the quote "What are we in power for?" was the quote attributed to Avelino and reported in ''The Manila Chronicle'' which was owned by the Lopez family, the family of then-Senator

Fernando Lopez Fernando Hofileña Lopez Sr. (April 13, 1904May 26, 1993) was a Filipino statesman. A member of the influential Lopez family of Iloilo, he served as vice president of the Philippines for three terms – under Elpidio Quirino (1949–1 ...

who later would be chosen as Quirino's running mate and be elected as his

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

. Avelino ran for being

President of the Philippines The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of t ...

in the 1949 election, where he became third in a race between incumbent president

and former president José P. Laurel. Avelino tried to divide the Liberal Party votes for Quirino by declaring his faction as ''the other wing of the Liberal Party'', but the latter still won with 50.93% of the votes. Avelino garnered a mere 11.85%. His vice presidential mate, Vicente Francisco, garnered a far lower percentage (1.73%).

Later life

Avelino retired from public life and devoted himself to the practice of law. Avelino died at the age of 95 on July 21, 1986.

References

External links