Ocampo, Pablo, 1853-1925

Pablo de Leon Ocampo (January 25, 1853 – February 5, 1925) was a Filipino lawyer, nationalist, a member of the Malolos Congress, inaugural holder of the office of Resident Commissioner from the Philippine Islands to the United States Congress alongside Benito Legarda and a member of the 2nd Philippine Legislature.

Born in Manila, Spanish Philippines, he attended Colegio de San Juan de Letran before graduating from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila in 1882. After studying law, Ocampo passed the bar and began practicing in Manila, starting what would become a very diverse career. From 1883 to 1884, he served as the prosecuting attorney in Manila’s Tondo District along Manila Bay. And then, under the Spanish regime, he served as secretary of the royal court from 1885 to 1887 and as relator of the supreme court from 1887 to 1888. From 1888 to 1890, he was an adviser to the Economic Association of the Philippines. In 1898, as the United States beefed up its presence in the South Pacific, Ocampo was elected to the Philippines’ revolutionary congress at Malolos. Ocampo became the editor of La Patria, a nationalist paper that was founded on 16 September 1899. The paper provided him a venue to share his nationalistic views which gained the ire of the American authorities and led to his being deported to Guam in early 1901. Softening his stance on nationalism, he took the oath of allegiance to the United States in 1902 after being granted amnesty and allowed to return to the Philippines.

On November 22, 1907, Ocampo was elected by the Assembly as the first Resident Commissioner of the Philippines to the United States of America. As resident commissioner, Ocampo held that it was not for the United States to judge whether or not Filipinos were ready to run the government. He was convinced that independence would motivate Filipinos to strengthen the government and improve the country’s economy. Ocampo was a part of the American delegation sent to the 15th Inter-Parliamentary Union conference held in Berlin, Germany, on September 17 to 19, 1908. In 1909, after two years in Washington, D.C., Ocampo ran for a seat in the 2nd Philippine Legislature and won. As a legislator, he opposed the passage of the Negotiable Instruments Law. He was a member of the committees on appropriations, metropolitan relations, and the committee for the city of Manila. On four occasions, he served as head of committee of the whole house. After his stint as legislator, Ocampo served as the 2nd Vice Mayor of Manila from August 8, 1911 to March 6, 1920. He then retired from politics.

Ocampo died of pneumonia on February 5, 1925 in Manila.