Pioneer in cooperatives

Title

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XVIII (No. 4) April 1966

Year

1966

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

Abstracted from Manila Times

Fulltext

PIONEER IN COOPERATIVES Tomas V. Confesor served so well his country both in times of peace and war that his people could live con tentedly, honorably and de mocratically. In peace he was an economist, educator and statesman; in war he was a provincial executive and the fiery resistance hero. Born in Cabatuan, Ilo ilo, on March 2, 1891, Con fesor was one of the three sons of the- couple, Maestro Julian Confesor and Prospera Valenzuela. Although at times he had to subsist sole ly on bananas and sweet po tatoes because of poverty, he graduated with honors from the Iloilo .high school in 1908. After teaching for one year, Confesor left for the United States of America where he scrubbed floors, washed dishes and dusted window panes to support his studies in the University of Califor nia where he received the degree of bachelor of philosophy in economics in 1914. Upon his return Confesor was appointed the school su pervisor for the district of Jaro in Iloilo. In 1922 he was elected the representa tive of Iloilo’s third district in the Philippine Legislature where he distinguished him self as the "Stormy Petrel of the House” because of his consistent crusade against corruption in the govern ment. He was twice re-elect ed. With his sponsorship Act 3425, popularly known as the Cooperatives Marketing Law, Confesor boosted the coope rative movement in the Phil ippines. As a result farmers all over the country began forming marketing and pro ducer cooperative associa tions. Governor General Dwight F. Davis regarded him as an “economic wizard." Governor General Theo dore Roosevelt Jr. designated Confesor the first Filipino director of commerce in 1933, while President Manuel L. Quezon named him the head April 1966 41 of the National Cooperatives Administration. He organiz ed credit associations and agricultural c o o p e r a tives which “liberated many far mers from loan sharks and unscrupulous traders.” In 1935 Confesor was elect ed as delegate from Iloilo to the Constitutional Con vention that drafted the Constitution of the Philip pines, and at the same time the assemblyman from the third district of Iloilo to the first National Assembly un der the Commonwealth gov ernment. He won the gov ernorship of Iloilo in 1937. Confesor was serving his second gubernatorial term when the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1941. He was offered a cabinet post in their puppet government, but>he tqrned it down. Fol lowing his refusal to co operate, the enemy repeated ly raided his Manila home. So he escaped on a sailboat to Iloilo. Immediately Quezon nam ed Confesor the wartime governor of Free Panay and Romblon. He then organiz ed the civil resistance move ment and as its head went underground as he openly defied the entire might of the Japanese imperial forces. As a guerrilla leader he pre ferred to “suffer in honor than to enjoy life in ignomi ny.” For exceptionally merito rious conduct in the perfor mance of outstanding service to his country during World War II, Confesor was deco rated by President Sergio Osmeiia with the Philippine Legion of Honor, degree of commander, in January 1945 in Leyte. Following the liberation of the Philippines that year (1945), Confesor was ap pointed the secretary of the interior in the reconstituted Commonwealth government by Osmena. The following year he was elected to the Senate but died of heart at tack on June 6, 1951, with out completing his six-year term. — Abstracted from Manila Times. 42 Panorama

pages

41+

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