Late Senate President Jose Avelino (Photo taken from Senate website)
TACLOBAN CITY -- The three Samar provinces remembered on Monday late Senate President Jose Avelino for his contribution to the development of Samar Island and the country.
Malacañang has declared August 5 as a special holiday in Samar Island honoring Avelinos’s 129th birthday.
“It is fitting and proper that the people of the provinces of Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, and Samar be given full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies,” said Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea in a proclamation signed on August 2.
Avelino, a native of Calbayog City in Samar, was the Senate President from May 25, 1946 to February 21, 1949. He served concurrently as Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Public Works and Transportation in 1930s under President Manuel L. Quezon.
“The people of Calbayog acknowledge him as The Father of Calbayog City. Together with Congressman Agripino Escareal, he pushed for the creation of the City of Calbayog,” the city information office said on its social media post on Monday.
The city government said one of the most famous bills which he passed during his term in the Senate was the Philippine Workmen’s Compensation Law, which focused on creating a contingency insurance fund for workers as a way to protect the workers from the various economic problems.
He was instrumental in the passage of the Social Security System Law, and pushed for the establishment of public high schools in every province in the Philippines.
The last government post he held before retiring was an ambassador under the term of President Elpidio Quirino. He returned to law practice after retirement until his death on July 21, 1986 at the age of 95. (PNA)
