Gabaldón, Isauro, 1875-1942

Isauro Gabaldón y González (born Isauro González; December 8, 1875 – December 21, 1942) was a Filipino lawyer and politician. A member of the Nacionalista Party, he served as Resident Commissioner from the Philippine Islands between 1920 and 1928.

Born in the northern Philippine town of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, his family sent him to Spain for his primary education in the city of Tébar. At the age of 16, he attended the colleges in Quintanar del Rey and Villanueva de la Jara in Cuenca, earning a bachelor’s degree from the latter school. Gabaldon studied at the Universidad Central in Madrid for five years before returning to the Philippines and earning a law degree from Manila’s University of Santo Tomas. He practiced law from 1903 to 1906.

Gabaldon made a rapid transition into politics. In 1906 he won election as governor of his home province, Nueva Ecija. He left the governorship before his three-year term expired, running successfully for a seat in the newly formed national assembly. Gabaldon served two terms (1907–1912) in the national assembly representing Nueva Ecija. From 1912 to 1916, Gabaldon again served as provincial governor in Nueva Ecija, but with the enactment of the Jones Act in 1916 and the creation of a popularly elected senate, Gabaldon sought and won a seat in the newly formed legislative chamber. During his three years in the senate, he chaired the committee on accounts and served on the agriculture, commerce, communications, railroads, and rules committees.

He was elected as a Nationalist and a Resident Commissioner to the United States in 1920. He was reelected in 1923 and 1925, and served from March 4, 1920, until his resignation effective July 16, 1928, having been nominated for election to the Philippine House of Representatives. He had also been elected in 1925 as a member of the Philippine House of Representatives, but did not qualify, preferring to continue as Commissioner until resigning in 1928 shortly after unsuccessfully running for a seat in the Philippine legislature. After returning to the Philippines, he remained involved in the independence movement, returning to Washington as a member of an independence mission in 1933. Gabaldón died on December 21, 1942, in Manila during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and was interred at the Cementerio del Norte in Manila.