Veyra, Jaime C. de (Jaime Carlos), 1873-1963

<p>Jaime Carlos de Veyra (November 4, 1873 – March 7, 1963) was a Resident Commissioner to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Philippine Islands and Governor of Leyte.</p>

<p>He was born on November 4, 1873, in the town of Tanauan in Leyte province.</p>

<p>De Veyra attended both public and private schools. In 1888, he began studying at Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila, and graduated in 1893 with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1895, he began studying for a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. He completed both degrees in 1898.</p>

<p>From 1888 to 1899 he served as secretary to the Military Governor of Leyte, General Ambrosio Moxica.</p>

<p>As a journalist turned politician, Jaime de Veyra was the voice of the Philippines in Washington following enactment of the landmark Jones Act of 1916. As Manuel L. Quezon’s successor in Congress, de Veyra spent six years as Resident Commissioner navigating the shifting U.S. political landscape, speaking on behalf of the Philippine legislature, and lobbying for an independent Philippines. “No benefits, however great, and no altruism, however splendid, can compensate any people for the lack of that national independence,” de Veyra noted in a House Floor speech late in his career. “Without freedom wealth is nothing, culture is meaningless, existence itself is only the procession of idle images on a purposeless screen.”</p>

<p>Jaime Carlos de Veyra was born in Tanauan, which is on the northeast coast of Leyte Province in the Philippines, on November 4, 1873, to Felix de Veyra, the director of a private school, and Ildefonsa Diaz. Born into a middleclass family on an island 600 miles southeast of Manila, de Veyra received an education in the local schools. He left Tanauan at age 15 to attend the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila. After he graduated with a bachelor of arts in 1893, de Veyra remained in Manila for two more years to study at the University of Santo Tomas, studying alongside future national leaders Sergio Osmena and Manuel Quezon. The Philippine Revolution of 1896 interrupted de Veyra’s studies, prompting him to return home and join the fight against the Spanish, eventually serving as secretary to provincial rebel commander General Ambrosio Mojica. On June 28, 1907, he married Sofia Reyes, a notable social worker who became one of the most prominent women on the islands. The couple had four children, Jesus María, Manuel, Lourdes Josefina, and Maria Rosario. In 1961, when de Veyra was in his late 80s, he received an honorary PhD in humane letters from Ateneo Municipal de Manila.</p>

<p>After the war, de Veyra worked as a newspaper editor, starting El Nuevo Día (The New Day) with his former college classmate, Sergio Osmena, on the neighboring island of Cebu. Together they dug into local political issues that arose during the transition from Spanish rule to American occupation. The publication was critical of the new U.S. administration, and cautious American bureaucrats viewed de Veyra “as anti-American with pro-Republic sympathies.” Many worried that the paper might be too radical, but Osmena’s deft skills as a diplomat kept it from being censored or shut down.</p>

DE VEYRA, Jaime C., a Resident Commissioner from the Commonwealth of the Philippine Islands; born in Tanauan, Leyte Province, Leyte, Philippine Islands, November 4, 1873; attended public and private schools in Leyte Province; B.A. Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Manila, P.I., 1893; attended University of Santo Tomas, Manila, P.I., 1895-1897; secretary to the military governor of Leyte Province, 1898-1899; journalist; newspaper editor; member of the Cebu City, P.I. municipal council, 1901; Governor of Leyte Province, P.I., 1906-1907; member of the Philippine assembly, 1907-1912; member of the Philippine commission 1913-1917, executive secretary, 1916-1917; elected as a Nacionalista to the Sixty-fifth Congress for a three-year term and reelected to a succeeding term (January 10, 1917-March 3, 1923); was not a candidate for renomination in 1922; faculty, University of the Philippines, Manila, P.I., 1925-1936; director, Institute of National Language, Manila, P.I., 1936-1944; assistant director, National Library of the Philippines, Manila, P.I.; staff, Office of the President of the Philippines, 1946; died on March 7, 1963, in Manila, P.I.; interment at La Loma Cemetery, Manila, P.I.