The Honorable
Buenaventura Perez Rodriguez
Member of the Philippine House of Representatives of Cebu's 1st District
In office
1931–1934
Member of the Philippine House of Representatives of Cebu's 7th District
In office
1934–1937
Governor of Cebu
In office
1937–1940
Preceded bySotero B. Cabahug
Succeeded byHilario Abellana
Member of the Cebu Provincial Board
In office
1921–1931
Personal details
Born(1893-07-14)July 14, 1893
Bogo, Cebu, Captaincy General of the Philippines
DiedDecember 9, 1940(1940-12-09) (aged 47)
Relations
Occupation
  • Playwright
  • Politician

Buenaventura Perez Rodriguez (July 14, 1893 – December 9, 1940) was a playwright, the governor of Cebu, Philippines from 1937 until 1940, and a member of the House of Representatives for two terms. He was the first Cebu governor of the Philippine Commonwealth.

Early life and education

The son of Filomino Rodriguez and Ana Perez, Buenaventura Rodriguez was born in Bogo, Cebu on July 14, 1893[1] and studied at the Ateneo de Manila University, Colegio de San Carlos,[2] and Escuela de Derecho.[3] The prominent Rodriguez clan was based in Bogo and possessed extensive sugar landholdings in the northern part of Cebu. They traced their lineage and cultural ties to Spain and intermarried with Chinese mestizo families.[4]

Playwright

Buenaventura was one of the popular playwrights in Cebuano language during the American occupation. Like his contemporaries, his works featured the theme of rising nationalism,[5] combining social criticism and entertainment.[6] The propaganda-laden play Salilang was a story of Rajah Hamabad's daughter and the two rivals competing for her love, one of whom was considered a foreigner and was deemed unfit for the chieftain's daughter's affection.[5]

One other play that he wrote was El Muñeco Roto (The Broken Doll) and on 1915, Compañia de Zarzuela Española performed the play.[7] He wrote zarzuelas[8] including Inday[1][9] that was staged at the Teatro Oriente on August 18, 1917.[1] Additionally, his play entitled La Adjusta Leja de la Vaguada was adapted into film in 1940.[7] Other notable works include Lili,[3] Balaod sa Kinabuhi (The Laws of Life), Pahiyum (Smile), Dinihan,[1] Bomba Nyor (“Attack, Sir!”), and Dumagsa (“West Wind”).[10]

For his novel, La Pugna, he was awarded the Premio Zobel (named after Don Enrique Zobel, an advocate of Spanish literature)[3] in 1924.[7]

Politics

Rodriguez was voted as member of the provincial board from 1921 to 1925.[3] Then, he was elected as representative of the 1st district of Cebu in 1931 and served until 1934.[4] Moreover, he won as a member of the House of the Representative in 1934, representing the old 7th legislative district of Cebu encompassing the towns of Asturias, Balamban, Bantayan, Daanbantayan, Madridejos, Medellin, San Remigio, Santa Fe, Tuburan, and Tabuelan.[1]

During the local election of 1937, he ran for governor under the Nacionalista Party against Vicente Sotto, who was campaigning under the newly formed Frente Popular party.[11] On December 14, 1937, he defeated Sotto and was elected governor of Cebu province, becoming the first Cebu governor of the Philippine Commonwealth[12] and to take office in the newly constructed Cebu Provincial Capitol[13] that was inaugurated by then President Manuel L. Quezon[14][15] on June 14, 1938.[16] He died on December 9, 1940, a day before the election where he was seeking a second term as governor.[1] He was succeeded by Hilario Abellana, who only had hours to conduct an electoral campaign to promote his candidacy.[17]

Historical commemoration

  • The B. Rodriguez Street in Cebu City was named after him. It stretches from the corner of V. Rama Avenue to Fuente Rotunda, along the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.[3]
  • His short story/play entitled Mini (The Fake) was part of Dulaang Cebuano (Cebuano Plays) by Erlinda Alburo, Resil Mojares and Don Pagusara published in 1997.[18]

Further reading

  • Ang, Gertrudes R., Three Cebuano Playwrights: Case Studies in Emergent Nationalism, Philippine Quarterly of Culture & Society (1973)
  • Binaoro, Rosario V., A critical evaluation of the plays of Buenaventura Rodriguez : leading Cebuano dramatist, Silliman University, Dumaguete City, 1953[19]
  • Cinco, Lilia Maestrado, The Literary Significance of Buenaventura Rodriguez in the History of Sugbuanon Drama, University of the Philippines, Diliman (1959)[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Oaminal, Clarence Paul (September 17, 2018). "Buenaventura Rodriguez' literary works | The Freeman". philstar.com. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  2. ↑ "Buenaventura Rodriguez, No. 5 | Southeast Asia Digital Library". sea.lib.niu.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Oaminal, Clarence Paul (June 2, 2014). "B. Rodriguez Street, Cebu City". The Philippine Star. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  4. 1 2 Sidel, John Thayer, 1966- (1999). Capital, coercion, and crime : bossism in the Philippines. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0804737456. OCLC 41619512.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. 1 2 Ang, Gertrudes R. (1973). "Three Cebuano Playwrights: Case Studies in Emergent Nationalism". Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society. 1 (2): 80–85. ISSN 0115-0243. JSTOR 29791058.
  6. ↑ Alburo, Erlinda K. (April 14, 2015). "Cebuano Literature in the Philippines". National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Archived from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 "Buenaventura Rodriguez". Cebuano Studies Center. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  8. ↑ Villaruz, Basilio Esteban S. (2006). Treading through : 45 years of Philippine dance. Diliman, Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press and Philippine Folklife Museum Foundation, San Francisco, California, USA. ISBN 9789715425094. OCLC 82133393.
  9. ↑ "Bisayang dako". cebudailynews.inquirer.net. 4 October 2015. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  10. 1 2 Cinco, Lilia Maestrado (1959). The Literary Significance of Buenaventura Rodriguez in the History of Sugbuanon Drama (masters thesis). Diliman, Quezon City: University of the Philippines, Diliman.
  11. ↑ Oaminal, Clarence Paul (May 18, 2016). "The 1937 Cebu provincial elections | The Freeman". philstar.com. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  12. ↑ Newman, Jenara Regis (2015-09-15). "Viewing a slice of Cebu history". Sunstar. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  13. ↑ Cañizares, Kelvin. "Provincial Government to adopt 'Adaptive Reuse' method for decades-old Capitol building". Cebu Provincial Government. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  14. ↑ Picornell, Jaime (2015-09-05). "Governors' Gallery inaugurated; 53-volume Cebu history collection launched". Inquirer Lifestyle. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  15. ↑ Canela, Eduardo; PhD (2015-01-19). "Get To Know the Cebu Provincial Capitol, Location of the Global Voices Summit". Global Voices Summit 2015. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  16. ↑ "Speech of President Quezon at the Inauguration of the Provincial Capitol of Cebu, June 14, 1938 | GOVPH". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  17. ↑ Oaminal, Clarence Paul (April 10, 2017). "Governor Hilario Abellana and Gen. Douglas MacArthur | The Freeman". philstar.com. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  18. ↑ Dulaang Cebuano. Pagusara, Don., Kintanar-Alburo, Erlinda., Mojares, Resil B. Quezon City: Atenes de Manila University Press. 1997. ISBN 978-9715502672. OCLC 39833775.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. ↑ "National Library of the Philippines Online Public Access Catalog Catalog -- ISBD". koha.nlp.gov.ph. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
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