HEROES OF TARLAC

1.) BENIGNO “NINOY” AQUINO

Benigno Servillano Aquino, Jr.^[2][3] (November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983), popularly known as Ninoy Aquino or Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., was a former Philippine senator, governor, vice governor and mayor and a leader of the opposition to the rule of Ferdinand Marcos. He was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now named the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor) upon returning home from exile in the United States. His death catapulted his widow, Corazon Aquino, to the limelight and subsequently to the presidency, replacing the 20-year-old Marcos regime.

2.) GEN. FRANCISCO MAKABULOS

Francisco Makabulos (b. September 17,1871 – d. April 30,1922) was a leader of the revolt in Tarlac and was considered as the first patriot of the said province to join the Katipunan. General Emilio Aguinaldo appointed him as one of the brigadier generals of the Central Luzon area. He established the Central Executive Committee which later passed the Constitution of Makabulos.

He was born in La Paz, Tarlac and attended his early studies in a parish town school. Makabulos held various minor posts during the Spanish regime. In 1896, he was the organizer of the Katipunan in Tarlac, and engaged in numerous battles. His gallantry was rewarded when Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo promoted him to the rank of brigadier general. He was one of the co-signers of the Malolos Constitution and Pact of Biak-na-Bato. After Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo was captured, he continued fighting the Americans and framed his own constitution called the Constitution of Makabulos. He realized that further fighting would be futile, and so, in June 1900, he surrendered to the Americans. Later became mayor of La Paz, Tarlac, and after his term in the public office, he returned to farming until his death at the age of 51.

3.) CARLOS P. ROMULO

Carlos Peña Rómulo (14 January 1899, Camiling, Tarlac, Philippines – 15 December 1985, Manila, Philippines) was a Filipino diplomat, politician, soldier, journalist and author. He was a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32. He is the co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines.

He graduated from the University of the Philippines, (BA) 1918; Columbia University, New York City, (MA), 1921, Received from Notre Dame University, Indiana, Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa), 1935; Rollins College, Florida, Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa), 1946; University of Athens, Greece, Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa), 1948, University of the Philippines, Honorary Doctor of ‘Laws, April 1949, Harvard University, Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa, 1950.

Rómulo served eight Philippine presidents from President Manuel L. Quezon to President Ferdinand Marcos as a cabinet member or as the country’s representative to the United States and to the United Nations.

He served as the President of the Fourth Session of United Nations General Assembly from 1949-1950, and chairman of the United Nations Security Council. He had served with General Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific, was Ambassador to the United States, and became the first Asian to win the Pulitzer Prize in Correspondence in 1942. The Pulitzer Prize website says Carlos P. Romulo of Philippine Herald was awarded “For his observations and forecasts of Far Eastern developments during a tour of the trouble centers from Hong Kong to Batavia.”

He served as Resident Commissioner of the Philippines to the United States Congress from 1944 to 1946. He was the signatory for the Philippines to the United Nations Charter when it was founded in 1946. He was the Philippines’ Secretary (Minister from 1973 to 1984) of Foreign Affairs under President Elpidio Quirino from 1950 to 1952, under President Diosdado Macapagal from 1963 to 1964 and under President Ferdinand Marcos from 1968 to 1984.

In his career in the United Nations, Rómulo was a strong advocate of human rights, freedom and decolonization. During the selection of the UN’s official seal, he looked over the seal-to-be and asked, “Where is the Philippines?” US Senator Warren Austin, head of the selection committee, explained, “It’s too small to include. If we put the Philippines, it would be no more than a dot.” “I want that dot!” insisted Romulo. Today, a tiny dot between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea can be found on the UN seal. In 1948 in Paris, France, at the third UN General Assembly, he strongly disagreed with a proposal made by the Soviet delegation headed by Andrei Vishinsky, who challenged his credentials by insulting him with this quote: “You are just a little man from a little country.” In return, Romulo replied, “It is the duty of the little Davids of this world to fling the pebbles of truth in the eyes of the blustering Goliaths and force them to behave!”, leaving Vishinsky with nothing left to do but sit down. He was a candidate for the position of United Nations Secretary-General in 1953, but did not win. Instead, he returned to the Philippines and was a candidate for the nomination as the presidential candidate for the Liberal Party, but lost at the party convention to the incumbent Elpidio Quirino, who ran unsuccessfully for re-election against Ramon Magsaysay. Quirino had agreed to a secret ballot at the convention, but after the convention opened, the president demanded an open roll-call voting, leaving the delegates no choice but supporting Quirino, the candidate of the party machine. Feeling betrayed, Romulo left the Liberal Party and became national campaign manager of Magsaysay, the candidate of the opposing Nacionalista Party who won the election.

In April 1955 he led the Philippines’ delegation to the Asian-African Conference at Bandung.

Rómulo, in all, wrote and published 18 books, which included The United (novel), I Walked with Heroes (autobiography), I Saw the Fall of the Philippines, Mother America and I See the Philippines Rise (war-time memoirs).

He died, at 86, in Manila on 15th of December 1985 and was buried the Heroes’ Cemetery (Libingan ng mga Bayani). He was honoured as the Philippines’ greatest diplomat in the 20th Century.^{[citation needed]} In 1980, he was extolled by United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim as “Mr. United Nations” for his valuable services to the United Nations and his dedication to freedom and world peace.

4.) GEN. SERVILLANO AQUINO

Servillano Aquino y Aguilar (April 20, 1874 – February 2, 1959) was a Filipino general during the Philippine Revolution against Spain (1896-1898), and the Philippine-American War (1898-1902). He served as a delegate to the Malolos Congress and was the grandfather of Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. (Ninoy).