Eulogio Rodriguez

Rodriguez was born on January 21, 1883, in Montalban (now Rodriguez), Rizal Province, to Petronilo Rodriguez and Monica Adona. At the time of his birth, Montalban was part of Manila Province but it was later renamed Rodriguez in his honor. His younger brother, Julian, would become a last appointed mayor of Davao City from 1954 to 1955, where he become a successful landowner after moving there.^[3] He first studied at the Spanish-run public school in Montalban, then took his secondary course at the Colegio de San Juan de LetraninManila, where he later completed his Bachelor of Arts in 1896. He then studied law under a private tutor. To help himself in his studies, he worked as a farmer.^[4]

Rodriguez first served as Municipal President of Montalban, Rizal from 1906 to 1916 and became Governor of Rizal from 1916 to 1919 and from 1922 to 1923. He was appointed mayorofManila by Governor General Leonard Wood on July 23, 1923, and later appointed as Representative of Nueva Vizcaya from February 1924 to May 1925. He became the Representative of the Second DistrictofRizal from 1925 to 1928 and from 1931 to 1935.^[5]

He was also appointed Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce by Governor-General Frank Murphy on July 26, 1934, re-appointed by President Manuel L. Quezon on November 15, 1935, and served as such until 1938. After his resignation as Mayor of Manila, he campaigned for a seat in the Senate and was elected senator in 1941. However, he would begin serving his first Senate term in 1945 due to Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II. In the middle of his first Senate term, he ran for Vice Presidentin1946 as the running mate of President Sergio Osmeña, but lost to fellow Senator Elpidio Quirino. He lost his Senate re-election bid in 1947. He returned to the Senate in 1949 and served until his death in 1964.^[5]

On May 20, 1953, he was elected Senate President, a position he occupied for the next ten years. As the third highest government official, he steered the Senate into greater heights in terms of legislation. He was replaced by then-Senator Ferdinand Marcos, then the Minority Floor Leader, as Senate President in a leadership coup on 1963, ending his long leadership of the Upper Chamber.^[5]

Rodriguez began his political career as a member of the opposition party, known as the Democrata, but later switched to the Nacionalista Party, the ruling party, in 1933, following a political realignment prompted by the contentious debate over the Independence Law. He remained a loyal member of the Nacionalista Party for the rest of his life, spanning over three decades until his death. He nursed the party during its darkest hours and steered it successfully through the political reefs and typhoons that rocked the local scene, thus earning him the nickname "Mr. Nacionalista". Unlike many politicians of his time, he did not switch parties for personal convenience.^[5]

Rodriguez had seven children by his first wife, Doña Juana Santiago (1881-1954): Eulogio Jr., Jose, Ruperto, Leonor, Isidro, Constancio and Adelaida. Santiago Rodriguez, the namesake of the street in Quezon City (now known as Broadway Avenue, adjacent to E. Rodriguez Avenue), passed away before Senator Rodriguez, who subsequently remarried Doña Luisita Canoy. With his second wife, Luisita, he had three children: Adelaida, Erlinda and Rafael. He later married a third wife, Pilar Leyba.^[6]

His grandchildren include former Rizal congressman, Isidro Rodriguez Jr. . The grandchildren are noteworthy for refusing to name projects after themselves, a trait inculcated by Eulogio Rodriguez into his descendants.^[7]

Rodriguez was the older brother of a lawyer and Davao City last-appointed mayor Julian Rodriguez, who became a successful landowner in that city where he migrated in 1919, when Davao at that time was still a booming town. Julian was also a technical assistant to the Mindanao and Sulu Commission prior to his mayorship.^[2]

Rodriguez died in his sleep on December 9, 1964, at his home in Pasay City due to heart attack at the age of 81.^[8]

The sudden death of Rodriguez, president of the Nacionalista Party for the past 18 years, marked the “passing of a great tradition,” quoted President Diosdado Macapagal. Many came to visit the funeral of the man they called "Don Yoyong".^[9] Macapagal declared on December 9 until his burial a period of national mourning, where all flags would be flown at half-staff.^[10] Rodriguez's remains were laid to rest at a cemetery behind his ancestral home in Montalban, Rizal.

After Rodriguez's death, Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, a private hospital in Marikina, was named after him. Rodriguez became famous for his malaprops, and it raised his reputation as a beloved everyman of the people.^[11]

Eulogio Rodriguez Vocational High School (now Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology) was established in 1945 and was named after him. The Amang Rodriguez Elementary School in Malabon, Eulogio Rodriguez Integrated School in Mandaluyong, and Eulogio Rodriguez Sr. Elementary School in Quezon City are also named after him.^[12] The aforementioned cities were formerly part of Rizal province, where Rodriguez served as its governor.

España Boulevard Extension in Quezon City and an avenue between barangays Rosario and Dela Paz in Pasig were renamed in his honor, as well as the municipality of Montalban.

• List of Philippine legislators who died in office

• Senate of the Philippines
• Paras, Corazon. The presidents of the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines. Quezon City: Giraffe Books, 2000. ISBN 971-8832-24-6