Biography of Atty. Ramon O. Maza

Biography of the Late Atty. Ramon O. Maza Sr.
Former Representative and Former Governor of Antique, Senior Delegate to the 1935 Constitutional Convention, Malcañang Technical Adviser

A. Early childhood and studies

1. Place of Birth – San Remigio, Antique
2. Date of Birth – May 15, 1884
3. Parents – Martin Maza of San Jose and Maria Occeña of Sibalom.
4. Learned the first letters from his parents.
5. At the age of six (6), he enrolled in the public school of San Remigio with his uncle Don Luis Occeña as his teacher.
6. After completing the Elementary Grades in 1894, he studied in the secondary school of Don Vicente Gella at San Jose, Antique, where he finished his first year and part of second year of high school.
7. In June 1894, his father took him to Manila to continue his second year and third year in Colegio de San Antonio de Padua under the Directorship of Don Ignacio Villamor, (who was later to become the President of UP). He was always at the head of his class and had received a silver medal and a diploma from the University of Sto. Tomas for winning several composition writing contests in Latin. His studies were interrupted on account of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Revolution in 1898.
8. In March 1901, when the Americans took over the Philippine Government, he studied English under Mr. Galson, an American interpreter of the government in the province.
9. He finished his high school in “Instituto de San Jose”, a secondary school established during the first few years of American rule.

B. College Studies

1. He attended the first Summer Normal School in San Jose, in April 1902, where he obtained the highest average, and for which he was offered by the Director of Education a teaching position in San Jose Public School, but declined it.
2. He left for Manila in June 1902, to enroll in Colegio Filipino, where he obtained the degree of Bachelor in Arts, Summa Cum Laude, was awarded one gold medal and three silver medals for his brilliant compositions in Philosophy, Spanish, Literature, and History and Physics, respectively, and was given a teaching position in Colegio Filpino, Ateneo Filipino, and Centro Escolar.
3. He studied Law in Academia de Jurispudencia of the same Colegio Filipino, transferred in 1905 to Escuela de Leyes, where he finished his Law in 1908 at the age of 24 and passed the Bar examination in the same year.

C. Positions held

1. Served as Secretary to his father at the age of 12 when the latter was Municipal President of the town of San Remigio from 1896 to 1899, and then as private secretary of Colonel Salazar, then military Governor of the province.
2. Served as Aide-de-camp and secretary again to his father when the latter was appointed Commanding Officer of the Militia by the Revolutionary Government.
3. He practiced law after passing the Bar examination in 1908, and the first case he handled and won was the famous Criminal Case of quadruple murder against Mateo Fadol and Fausto Garfin of Sibalom.
4. He was appointed Municipal Councilor of Sibalom in 1910 and Justice of the Peace of San Jose in 1911.
5. He ran for Governor in 1912, at the age of 28 against old timers Santos Capadocia, then Governor of the province, Anacleto Villavert, Pedro Gella, and Eulalio Nietes, and obtained second place.
6. He won the election in 1916, as Representative of Antique, against the incumbent Representative at that time, Angel Salazar, who was at the same time the Minority Floor Leader of the Progresista Party.
7. He run for reelection in 1919 and won again. His outstanding accomplishments during his incumbency from 1916 to 1922 were:

During his first term (1916 to 1919)
a. construction of Iloilo-Antique and Antique-Aklan roads.
b. Opening of the 3rd and 4th year classes in the Antique High School.
During his second term (1919-1922)
a. Conversion of the Primary and Intermediate School into an Elementary School.
b. Payment of salaries of Municipal Teachers by the Insular Government.
c. Appropriation of the P700,000.00 by the Lagislature for the construction of the Sibalom-San Jose Irrigation Syatem.
d. Construction of the concrete school buildings of Dao (Tobias Fornier) and Patnongon Antique.
e. Construction of the permanent public markets of Sibalom and San Jose.
f. Secured the amount of P5,000.00 from the National Treasury for the purchase of the present school site of the Antique High School, now the Antique National School.
g. Donated the monuments of Dr. Jose Rizal to the towns of Sibalom and San Remegio.
h. Financially supported poor students in obtaining their secondary education, two of them Retired District Supervisor Agaton S. Grasparil and Retired Principal Julian Huera.

8. Served again as Municipal Councilor of Sibalom from 1925 to 1928 and worked for the improvement in sanitation and fro extension of schools in the barrios.
9. He effected in 1933 the transfer of the town of San Remegio to its present site, now called Calag-itan.
10. With the approval of the Tydings-Mcduffie Law in 1934, he was elected Senior Delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1935 where he served as member of the committees on Declaration of Principles, Public Instruction, Finance, and Constitutional Guaranty.
11. During the war, when the Japanese occupied the Philippines, he was appointed by Honorable Tomas Confesor, then Governor of Panay and Romblon, as Deputy Governor of the First Administrative District of Antique, comprising the municipalities of San Jose, Sibalom, Hamtic, and San Remegio, the very zone occupied by the Japanese forces (1943-1945).
12. He also served as legal adviser to Colonel Valentin Grasparil, Commanding Officer of the Antique Guerilla during World War II.
13. During the liberation, he was appointed by Provincial Governor of the Province by the Philippine Civil Affairs Unit (PCAU) of the US Army. It was during his Administration that a high school was established in Culasi.
14. In September 1945, he was appointed by President Sergio Osmena as one of the technical advisers in the Office of the President.
15. President Ramon Magsaysay also appointed him as Malacanang Technical Adviser, and he served as such up to his retirement in 1961 under the Administration of President Carlos P. Garcia.
16. Other Positions held:

a. Designated in 1915 by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo as Commander of the Veterans of the Philippine Revolution in Sibalom and San Remegio.
b. Was the first president of the Antique Bar Association which he helped organized in 1915, and served as such up to the year 1954.
c. Served as Chairman of the Provincial Directorate of the Nacionalista Party which he also helped organize in the year 1916, and continued to serve as such up to his retirement from the Government in 1961.
d. Was the legal Adviser of the Philippine Independent Church under the Administration of Supreme Bishops Mons. Isabelo de los Reyes and Mons. Macario V. Ga.

To perpetuate his memory, the Sibalom Emergency Hospital was renamed “Ramon Maza Sr. Memorial Hospital” through the efforts of Hon. Assemblyman Arturo Pacificador. Atty. Ramon Maza Sr. was married to the former Rita Mostacho, a graduate of Philippine Normal School in 1918, once an Home Economics Teacher with whom he has eight(8) children, namely:

1. Clara – BSSEED product of Philippine Normal College, many time DEC/MEC Awardee, (a) as model classroom teacher of Sibalom District (1961-1962), (b) an Outstanding Head Teacher of the Division of Antique (1966-1967), (c) one of five most efficient elementary school principal in the Division of Antique (1969-1970), (d) one of first two outstanding District Supervisors of the Division of Antique (1975-1976), (e) was again awarded a certificate of merit by MEC, Region VI, for outstanding performance (1979-1980), (f) formerly District Supervisor of Laua-an, now of Sibalom South District.

2. Paz – widow of the late Florentino Nacisvalencia of Miag-ao, Iloilo; a BSE product of Central Philippine University, major in English. Formerly faculty member of ANAS and ASAT. Her two children; Rita Monica, is an alumna of CPU College of Nursing and Florentino Jr., an AB product of CPU.

3. Josefa - an ETC and BSEED product of Ilioilo Normal School and Philippine Normal College respectively. Is a Master Teacher 1 classroom teacher of Sibalom Central School and is music minded like her mother.

4. Martin Ramon Jr. – a lawyer , who took up Law, first in Silliman University and then in Manuel L. Quezon School of Law. Formerly chief of the Technical Staff of the Committee of Appropriations of the defunct Congress of the Philippines. Is presently General Manager of Panay Fishmeal, Guimbal, Iloilo. He is married to Carmen Espeleta, grandniece of the late Ambassador Mariano Espeleta of Igbaras, Iloilo by whom he has 6 children – 2 girls and 4 boys.

5. Maria Magdalena – the youngest daughter. She was not able to pursue higher education because of poor health.

6. Jaime – Valedictorian of Antique High School, class 1950. Product of the College of Law, University of the Philippines in 1956, is now chief of the Prosecution Division- Bureau of Internal Revenue, Central Office in Manila; is married to the former Corazon Canto of Oton, Iloilo, a Chemist employed as Officer-in-Charge of the Tannery Unit, Bureau of Animal Industry. They have two children, a boy and a girl.

7. Leandro Commonwealth – an Architecture graduate of Mapua Institue of Technology; is presently a drafting analyst of Research Corporation in Dallas, Texas; married to Lourdes Espelita, sister of Ramon Jr.’s wife by whom they have five children - one girl and four boys.

8. Vicente Francisco – Valedictorian of class 1954, Antique High School; a Doctor of Medicine, product of University of the Philippines, class 1962; stayed in the United States after graduation to specialize in Radiology and Nuclear Medicine. He and his wife, former Vicky Tan, BSN of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, are permanently residing in Borger Texas, where the former is Chief Radiologist and the latter a head Nurse of North Plains Hospital in Borger.

Reproduced in June 27, 1980, Sibalom, Antique, upon the request of Hon. Arturo F. Pacificador, Assemblyman of Region VI, including Antique, who worked for the passage of the BP Bill No. 77- changing the name of the hospital in Sibalom to “Ramon Maza Sr. Memorial Hospital” effective June 16, 1980.

Agaton S. Grasparil
June 25, 1980