Juan Sumulong

Juan Marquez Sumulong Sr. (born Juan Sumulong y Marquez; December 27, 1875 – January 9, 1942) was a Filipino former revolutionary, journalist, lawyer, educator and politician from the province of Rizal. He was the president of the opposition party which ran against Manuel L. Quezon's Nacionalista Party in the 1941 presidential election of the Philippine Commonwealth. He is also the maternal great-grandfather of former President Benigno Aquino III. Early life Juan Marquez Sumulong was the brains of the opposition during the ascendancy of Manuel L. Quezon. He was born in Antipolo, Distrito de Morong (now part of Rizal province) on December 27, 1875, to Policarpio Sumulong, a tenant farmer who became a Capitan municipal (mayor) of Antipolo, and Arcadia Marquez. Education After finishing his primary education in his hometown, he went to Manila and studied at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. To attend school, he had to walk each day from his residence in Tondo to his school in Intramuros. Since he could not afford his room and board, as payment, he helped his landlady prepare food for breakfast while peddling her homemade cigars after school in the mornings. He did his own laundry. During rainy days, he wore wooden clogs and only upon reaching school he would wear his leather shoes which he carried wrapped in paper. Nevertheless, he completed his education earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. Subsequently, he attended the University of Santo Tomas and took up law. When the revolution against Spain broke out, he joined the revolutionists headquartered in Morong province (now Rizal). After the restoration of peace following the Filipino-American War, he served as a private secretary to the Filipino civil governor of Morong Province with headquarters in Antipolo. In a meeting held at the Pasig Church on June 5, 1901, to discuss the fusion of Morong Province and the Province of Manila, councilor Sumulong spoke in favor of such a union. It was ultimately approved and the new province was named Rizal.