PROVINCE OF ZAMBOANGA - ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE GOVERNORS

The following had served as governors of the Province of Zamboanga: (Before the creation of the lone Province of Zamboanga in 1913 it was part of the  Provincia Mora which comprise five  district,  namely ;  Cotabato,  Davao, Lanao, Zamboanga and Sulu.
 

PROVINCIA MORA GOVERNORS:
 
1. Major Gen. Leonard Wood (1903-1906), 
2. Brig. Gen. Tasker Lios (1906-1909), 
3. Col. Ralph Hoyt (1909), 
4. Capt. Charles Hagedon (1909), 
5. Brig. Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing (1909-1913)
 

Appointed:

1.Luis G. Lim  - 1914-1917      The first civilian appointed governor of Zamboanga Province. He was the brother of Antonio Lim, the father of Justice Roseller T. Lim, the author of R.A.711 creating the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.

2.Agustin Alvarez-1917-1922        The second civilian appointed governor of Zamboanga Province. He was a politician who held various positions. He was elected governor of Zamboanga Province in 1928-1931, and appointed governor of Bukidnon, Lanao, Sulu, and again in Zamboanga during the Japanese occupation. He was a lawyer and a journalist.

Elected:

3.Florentino A. Saguin - 1922-1925     The first elected governor of Zamboanga, born in Dapitan in October 16,1890 to Exequil Saguin and Pilar Adasa . Finish his law studies as a scholar at Ateneo de Manila. He was top legal practitioner during his time. He got elected as a delegate of the 1934 Constitutional Convention representing the whole Zamboanga Province. He was appointed Judge at large for Davao in 1940. During the Japanese 

Florentino A. Saguin  The first elected Governor of the Province of Zamboanga

The Saguin money

occupation, he was the Military Governor and Director for Civil Affairs for the Province of Zamboanga and Misamis Occidental. He was designated as Chairman of the Emergency Currency Committee for Mindanao, which printed the so-called “Saguin Money”. In 1944 he was fetch by a plane on orders of President Sergio Osmena,Sr. and brought to Papua New  Guinea in preparation for Mc Arthur’s landing in Leyte. In 1965, he was appointed as justice of the Court of Appeals.

4. Jose D. Aseniero- 1925-1928       In the 1925 election, Jose Dalman Aseniero was elected governor. He was a student of Dr. Jose Rizal, who brought him to Manila to study. On the eve of Rizal’s execution, Rizal told 

Aseniero to retrieve something from the alcohol lamp and return it to Rizal’s family. It turned out to be Rizal’s classic “Mi Ultimo Adios” which even Spanish writers admit to be one of the best literary works ever written in Spanish. Jose Aseniero witnessed Rizal’s execution on December 30,1896. Aseniero became Municipal President of Dapitan and elected governor in 1925.

5. Agustin Alvarez- 1928-1931

6. Carlos H. Camins, Sr.- 1931-1934      Governor Carlos Hernandez Camins was elected governor in 1931. His father was member of the Spanish Navy Unit station in Zamboanga. His mother was a Portuguese. He was educated in Manila and a journalist. He was a publisher and a editor of a Spanish Newspaper called El Finex, La Anorcha, and El Sur. During his term as governor he develop the Abuano Barracks in the municipality of Aurora, now under the province of Zamboanga del Sur.

7. Felipe Ramos – 1934-1937       Governor Felipe Ramos was elected governor in 1934, He was a humble farmer from Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City. He became popular to the electors with his simple and folksy ways even if he did not reach college. He started his political career,  when he was elected as Municipal Vice President of Zamboanga in 1922. He was elected for three consecutive terms as municipal president in 1925, 1928,and 1931.

8. Matias C. Ranillo, Sr. –1937-1940     Governor Matias Castillon Ranillo was elected governor in 1937. Handsome and articulate lawyer from Dipolog, he was bright student during his studies. He was the only candidate from Manila Law College who passed the 1926 Bar Examinations. He was a judge in Basilan. He was elected congressman of the lone district of Zamboanga in 1941 and as Congressman he was selected as Chairman of the prestigious House Committee on Provincial and Municipal Governments. He had a distinct honor as the only local politician of the old province of Zamboanga to hold the position of Governor and Legislator of the same political unit. When the war broke out, he was appointed by Gen. Wendell Fertig as the Province’s Military Governor.

9.Felipe B. Azcuna- 1940-1945        Governor Felipe  B. Azcuna was considered a political superstar during his time. Articulate, talented man from Katipunan and was a law Valedictorian and a topnotcher, 4^th placer during the 1937 Bar Examinations. At the age of 28, he was elected Provincial Board Member. In 1941, at the age of 30 , he got elected as governor . After the war, he serve for two terms as governor. In 1969 he was elected Congressman of the lone district of Zamboanga del Norte, up to the abolition of Congress in 1972 when Marcos declared Martial Law. His son, Adolf Azcuna, also a Bar topnotcher had held Cabinet Positions during the Presidency of Corazon C. Aquino appointed and elected Congressman from 1916-1946.

APPOINTED during the JAPANESE occupation

10. AGUSTIN ALVAREZ

11. LEON BARINAGA (brief stint)

12. EFREN PENA

APPOINTED after the LIBERATION

13. LAZARO ALFABETO – 1945-1946

14.LEONCIO HAMOY     _  1946-1947

15.FELIPE AZCUNA- 1948-1949

  APPOINTED

16.SERAPIO DATOC- 1949-1951

(HOUSE NO. 2524) REPUBLIC ACT NO. 711

  An act to create the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. The province of Zamboanga is hereby divided into two provinces, to be known as Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur, in the following manner:

                     The province of Zamboanga del Norte shall consist of that portion of the present province of Zamboanga, which comprises the municipalities of Dapitan, Rizal, Dipolog, Katipunan, Sindangan, Labason, Siocon, Polanco, New Pinan, Liloy, and Manukan.

                      The province of Zamboanga del Sur shall consist of that other portion of the present Province of Zamboanga comprising the municipalities of Molave, Aurora, Labangan, Pagadian, Dimataling, Margosatubig, Ipil, Kabasalan, Dinas, Malangas, and Alicia.

SECTION 2. The capital of Zamboanga del Norte shall be Dipolog and that of Zamboanga del Sur shall be Pagadian.

SECTION 3. Except as hereinafter provided, the provisions of law now or hereafter applicable to the regularly organized provinces shall be applicable to the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.

SECTION 4. The elective provincials of the present Province of Zamboanga elected at the last general election for local officials shall continue to govern the Province of Zamboanga del Norte until their successors shall be elected in the next general election and shall be qualified. The provincial governor, the provincial treasurer, and provincial fiscal of Zamboanga del Norte shall continue to receive the salaries they are receiving at the time of the approval of this Act, until a new readjustment of salaries is affected in accordance with existing law: Provided, That in the readjustment of salaries the minimum salary or compensation provided by the Minimum Wage Law.

SECTION 5. The first provincial governor and members of the provincial board of the Province of Zamboanga del Sur shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointment, and shall hold office until their successors shall have been elected at the next general election and shall have qualified.

SECTION 6. Upon the approval of this act, the funds, assets and other properties and the obligations of the Province of Zamboanga shall be divided equitably between the Province of Zamboanga del Norte and the Province of Zamboanga del Sur by the President of the Philippines upon the recommendation of the Auditor General.

SECTION 7. The cities of Basilan and Zamboanga shall form part of the representative of Zamboanga del Sur.

SECTION 8. The present representative of Zamboanga shall continue to be the representative of the Province of Zamboanga del Norte, of the Province of Zamboanga del Sur, and of the cities of Basilan and Zamboanga until the expiration of his term of office.

SECTION 9. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

APPROVED, JUNE 6,1952

Source: Official Gazette, Vol. 48. No.6 pp.2133-2134

On June 6, 1952:

            The province was created by virtue of Republic Act No. 711 authored by then Congressman Roseller T. Lim of the lone district of Zamboanga and signed by then President Elpidio T. Quirino on June 6, 1952 at the 7:03 p.m. at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacanang Palace.

            Present during the signing of R.A. 711 were Congressman Roseller T. Lim and Mrs. Lim, Governor Felipe B. Azcuna of Zamboanga del Norte, Governor Serapio Datoc of Zamboanga del Sur, Senator Quentin Paredes, Senator Sergio Osmena, Jr. Dr. Germanico A. Carreon of Dapitan, Executive Secretary Mariano Roque and Secretary Pablo Lorenzo of the Department and Public Works.

            Republic Act No. 711 divided the Old Zamboanga province into two provinces, namely: Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur with Dipolog and Pagadian as the capital respectively.

            At the same time of creation of Zamboanga del Norte on June 6, 1952, the province was composed of eleven (11) municipalities, namely: Dapitan, Rizal, New Pinan, Polanco, Dipolog, Katipunan, Manukan, Sindangan, Liloy, Labason, and Siocon.

            The first appointed provincial officials were: Hon. Felipe B. Azcuna, Governor and two board members: Hon. Antonio Adaza and Hon. Teofilo Buslon.

Source: Provincial Planning and Development Office

PROVINCE OF ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS