Modern Heroes for the Filipino Youth Series: My Father, The “Soldier”

Description

Written by Joaquin Angelo “Jake” L. Advincula

Illustrated by Aurora Morealis and Gutch Gutierrez

José Abad Santos was born on February 19, 1886 in San Fernando, Pampanga. In 1904, he was sent to the United States to study as a government-sponsored scholar. In June 1908, he completed his Bachelor of Laws at Northwestern University, Illinois, and, in 1909, his Master of Laws at the George Washington University, Washington DC. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1911. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed him to practice law there as well.

Abad Santos then served as Chief Counsel of the President of the Philippine Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1926, he went to the U.S. as head of the Philippine Educational Mission. He was subsequently re-appointed Secretary of Justice in 1928, and held the position until his appointment as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1932. He became Chief Justice on December 24, 1941.

Abad Santos and his son went across Visayas—from Panay to Negros to Cebu. After some months, the Japanese arrived there and captured them. Abad Santos was incessantly interrogated and moved from place to place for several weeks. When made to swear allegiance to Japan, he refused and, for this, was executed on May 2, 1942.

Abad Santos’ martyrdom is memorialized on the front of the 1000 peso bill where he, Josefa Llanes Escoda and General Vicente Lim are featured as heroes of the Philippine resistance against the Japanese Occupation during World War II.