Francisco Felipe Villanueva (October 10, 1867 – August 25, 1923) was a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

political leader during the

Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War or Filipino–American War ( es, Guerra filipina-estadounidense, tl, Digmaang Pilipino–Amerikano), previously referred to as the Philippine Insurrection or the Tagalog Insurgency by the United States, was an arm ...

Biography

Villanueva was born in the then-town of Molo,

Iloilo Iloilo (), officially the Province of Iloilo ( hil, Kapuoran sang Iloilo; krj, Kapuoran kang Iloilo; tl, Lalawigan ng Iloilo), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Iloilo, the ...

. He was the youngest of six children of Eusebio and Maria Felipe Villanueva. He studied law, receiving a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree. Villanueva married Sofia Conlu and fathered 12 children.

Political career

Villanueva served as the

Visayan Visayans (Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group, ...

member to the Malolos Congress, where he conferred with Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and

Apolinario Mabini Apolinario Mabini y Maranan (, July 23, 1864 – May 13, 1903) was a Filipino revolutionary leader, educator, lawyer, and statesman who served first as a legal and constitutional adviser to the Revolutionary Government, and then as the first ...

to assure that the Visayas would be included in nascent First Philippine Republic. Villanueva subsequently served two terms as representative of the first district of Iloilo from 1909 to 1916, and as the one of the first senators (alongside Jose Altavas) of the seventh senatorial district comprising

, Capiz and Romblon from 1916 to 1919. He also served as Senate majority floor leader during the Fourth Legislature in 1916–1919.

Death

Villanueva suffered a fatal heart attack at his Senate office in the Legislative Building in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

on August 25, 1923.

References

1867 births People of the Philippine Revolution People from Iloilo City Nacionalista Party politicians Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Iloilo Majority leaders of the Senate of the Philippines Senators of the 4th Philippine Legislature 1923 deaths Members of the Malolos Congress People from the Spanish East Indies {{Philippines-politician-stub