Jose Locsin

José Locsin was a Filipino senator.

Dr. José Corteza Locsin was born on August 27, 1891 in Silay, Negros Occidental. He was the third child among the five siblings of Domingo Locsin and Enriqueta Corteza. His family, who was originally from Molo, Iloilo, was among the most prominent when they settled in Silay. They acquired lands and engaged in sugarcane farming. They were devout Roman Catholics.

He married Salvacion Montelibano and had eighteen children. One of his sons died of typhoid at the age of four. He experienced another loss in 1959 when his wife died of cardiac arrest at the age of 61. In 1962, at the age of 70, he remarried. His second wife, Delia Ediltrudes Santiago, a social worker from Bacolod, bore him a son and a daughter.

Education

José C. Locsin finished his primary education in Silay. Thereafter, his parents sent him to Manila to study, first at Liceo de Manila and afterwards at the Universidad de Santo Tomas, where he graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, receiving the honor “Meritissimus.”

Medical Practice

He started his medical profession in Silay, where he established the Maternity and Children’s Hospital which later became the Silay General Hospital. He was also responsible for the establishment of a Rest and Resettlement Center for Tuberculosis in Patag, Silay’s mountain barangay. He also organized several women's clubs to run puericulture centers. Apart from his initiatives in Silay, he was also responsible for the establishment of the Negros Occidental Provincial Hospital and later its School of Nursing.

Political Career

Although Dr. Locsin was a medical practitioner, he had an inclination for politics. Because of his service to the people of Silay, he was elected as Municipal Councilor when he first decided to run for public office. After that, he was elected Provincial Board Member of Negros Occidental. In 1925, he became Governor of the Province of Negros Occidental. In his three years as governor, his focused on building roads and bridges throughout the province as well as establishing a waterworks system. Together with the Provincial Board, he initiated the construction of the Provincial Capitol building. He also placed a high priority in improving the province’s educational system and was responsible for having had more schools built during his term than all the governors before him combined.

After his term as governor, he ran for Congress and was elected Representative of the 1st District of Negros Occidental in 1928. As a representative of a district whose primary means of livelihood rely on the sugar industry, he worked for the modernization of sugar centrals, increasing the share of sugarcane planters in the sugar produced, and raising the wages of farm laborers. As Chairman of the Committee on Public Instruction, he worked on the establishment of schools in remote barrios and well as plazas in towns to promote cultural events.

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