Osías, Camilo, 1889-1976

OSIAS, Camilo, a Resident Commissioner from the Commonwealth of the Philippine Islands; born in Balaoan, La Union Province, Luzon, Philippine Islands, March 23, 1889; attended schools in Balaoan, Vigan, San Fernando, and was appointed a government student (pensionado) to the United States in 1905; B.A., Western Illinois State Teachers College, Macomb, Ill.,1908; attended the University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill., 1906-1907; B.S., Columbia University, New York, N.Y., 1910, earned graduate degree from Columbia University Teachers College, New York, N.Y., 1910; teacher; author; academic supervisor of Manila, P.I., public schools, c. 1910-1916; first Filipino superintendent of schools in Bataan & Mindoro provinces, P.I., 1915-1916; assistant director of education, Philippine Islands, 1917-1921; member of the first Philippine independence mission to the United States in 1919; lecturer, University of the Philippines, Manila, P.I., 1919-1921; president, National University of the Philippines, Manila, P.I., 1921-1934; member of the Philippine senate, 1925-1929; elected as a Nacionalista to the Seventy-first Congress to a three-year term and reelected to two succeeding terms, served until his term expired in accordance with the new Philippine commonwealth government (February 7, 1929-January 3, 1935); unsuccessful candidate for election to the Philippine senate in 1934; member of the Philippine constitutional convention in 1934; member of the Philippine national assembly, 1935-1938; member of the economic mission to the United States in 1939; chairman of the Philippine educational mission 1938-1941; chairman of the Philippine national council of education, 1941; director of publicity and propaganda, 1941-1942; chairman of the Philippine national cooperative administration in 1941; assistant commissioner of the department of education, health, and public welfare, then minister of education of the Republic of the Philippines under Japanese occupation, c. 1941-1945; chancellor of Osias Colleges, Tarlac, P.I.; member of the Philippine senate, 1947-1953, 1961-1967; served as minority floor leader, majority floor leader, president, and president pro tempore; Philippine representative to the Interparliamentary Union in Rome and to the International Trade Conference in Genoa in 1948; unsuccessful candidate for the Nationalist Party nomination for President of the Philippines in 1953; died on May 20, 1976, in Manila, P.I.

<p>Camilo Olaviano Osías (born Camilo Osías y Olaviano; March 23, 1889 – May 20, 1976) was a Filipino politician, twice for a short time President of the Senate of the Philippines.</p>

<p>Osias attended school in Balaoan, Vigan and San Fernando, and was named a government scholar to the United States in 1905. He studied at the University of Chicago in 1906 and 1907. He graduated from the Western Illinois State Teachers College at Macomb, Illinois in 1908, and from the Teachers College of Columbia University in New York City in 1910. On his return to the Philippine Islands, he taught and later assumed various administrative positions, particularly in the field of education. He successively became the first Filipino Superintendent of Schools (1915 to 1916), Assistant Director of Education (1917 to 1921), a lecturer at the University of the Philippines (1919 to 1921), and President of National University (1921–1936), a private institution.</p>

<p>Osias also entered national politics. He was a member of the first Philippine mission to the United States (1919 to 1920). He was elected a member of the Philippine Senate in 1925, and, as a Nationalista, a Resident Commissioner in the United States House of Representatives in 1928, reelected in 1931 and served from March 4, 1929 until January 3, 1935, when his term expired in accordance with the new Philippine Commonwealth Government. In 1934 he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Philippine Senate, but became a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1934, and a member of the first National Assembly in 1935. In 1939 he was a member of the Economic Mission to the United States, and chairman of the Educational Mission between 1938 and 1941.</p>

<p>Back in the Philippines, Osias became chairman of the National Council of Education in 1941, Director of Publicity and Propaganda until January 1942, chairman of the National Cooperative Administration in 1941, later Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Education, Health, and Public Welfare, then Secretary of Education until 1945. He was also Chancellor of Osías Colleges. He was elected again to the Philippine Senate in 1947 for a term expiring in 1953. He was President of the Senate of the Philippines twice for a short time in 1952 and in 1953. He was the Philippines' representative to the Interparliamentary Union in Rome and to the International Trade Conference in Genoa in 1948. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Nationalist Party nomination for President of the Philippines in 1953, losing to Ramon Magsaysay. He was again elected, this time as a Liberal to the Philippine Senate (1961–1967), and served as president pro tempore. He was a resident of Mandaluyong, Rizal, Philippines, until his death.</p>

<p>After starting his career as an educational reformer in the Philippines, Camilo Osias moved into politics in the 1920s, first as a Philippine senator and then as a Resident Commissioner in Congress. His colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives widely admired Osias for his eloquent oratory and his fervent support of immediate independence, quickly dubbing him “Mr. Philippine Freedom.” His persistent advocacy paid off in 1932 with the passage of the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act, which would have put the Philippines on the road to complete independence had not a struggle for power in Manila derailed it. Osias admitted that American rule came with certain benefits, “but … precisely because we are pleased to recognize that America has been so successful in her work in the Philippines, we now come to you and say that the greatest manifestation of gratitude that we can show you is no longer to tie ourselves to the apron strings of a benign guardian but to ask that you set us free.”</p>

<p>Camilo Osias was born in Balaoan, a small town in the Philippines’ La Union Province a few miles inland from the South China Sea, on March 23, 1889. His father, Manuel Osias, was a farmer and clerk for the local justice of the peace, and his mother, Gregoria Olaviano, was a homemaker. Osias was the second youngest of four surviving siblings, two boys and two girls. Four other siblings had died in infancy. The family led a simple, modest existence, supplementing Manuel’s income by harvesting fruit from trees on their lot and repairing fishing nets. “Like most families in our community,” Osias wrote years later, “our family in hardships tilled the soil to obtain additional sustenance, worked on watery fields or in the streams for additional food, and performed chores to gain some coins to satisfy our limited wants and needs. The neighborhood was a happy and quiet place in which to lead [a] simple and frugal life.”</p>

<p>As a young boy, Osias planned to become a priest, but when the Philippine Revolution erupted in 1896, he studied in San Fernando, where he quickly mastered Spanish. During the American military occupation of the Philippines, Osias became proficient in English while attending high school in Balaoan. In 1905 he was selected as a pensionado (a government-funded student) to study in the United States. He moved to Macomb, Illinois, to attend the Western Illinois State Teachers College, earning recognition as a stand-out public speaker and graduating in 1908. Two years later, he earned a bachelor of science degree in education from Columbia College of Columbia University in New York City. He also received a graduate degree from the Columbia University Teachers College with a specialty in school administration and supervision.</p>