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Marcelo Adduru
Filipino lawyer and politician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Marcelo Adduru (June 18, 1894 – January 30, 1972)[1] was a Filipino politician and guerrilla leader.
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Early life and education
Adduru was born in Tuguegarao, Cagayan on June 18, 1894 to Jocobo and Esperanza Adduru. His father died when Marcelo was a child. Adduru attended high school in Tuguegarao before receiving a government scholarship to attend the UP College of Forestry in Los Baños, Laguna, graduating in 1918. He then studied law at the University of the Philippines and graduated in 1923 before being admitted to law practice later that year.[2] Before entering politics, he worked as a botanist,[1] ranger, agent of the Bureau of Commerce, and public defender.[2]
Adduru was also commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Philippine National Guard after graduating from the National Guard School in 1918. He later attained the rank of major in the Philippine Army in 1936 after joining the reserve force.[2]
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Pre-war politics
In 1931, Adduru was elected to the House of Representatives of the Philippines representing the 1st District of Cagayan. He served until 1934 and after a hiatus, was elected to the same seat under the Philippine Commonwealth from 1938 to 1941,[3] when he was elected governor of Cagayan as a candidate of the Nacionalista Party.[1] He represented Cagayan at the 1934 Philippine Constitutional Convention.[2]
During his time in Congress, Adduru authored the Cooperative Marketing Law.[2]
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Wartime governor
Summarize
Perspective
At the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, Adduru organized the Cagayan Force, a local defense force composed of teachers, reservists and units of the Philippine Constabulary to fight the Japanese. On January 13, 1942, he along with Captain Ralph Praeger of the Provisional Apayao Force led an attack on Tuguegarao that left 200 Japanese dead in what became the first major success by the US Army following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Adduru then led another attack on Aparri while he and his guerrilla forces operated in Cagayan and Apayao. On June 6, 1942, he was commissioned with the rank of Major in the US Army's Cagayan-Apayao Force,[1] which was formed from the merger of Adduru's Cagayan Force, the 14th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Army and Praeger's 26th Cavalry, Troop C under the Philippine Scouts.[4]
When the provincial capital of Tuguegarao fell to the Japanese forces on December 12, 1941, Adduru and several provincial officials evacuated[5] and established a rebel government in Cagayan based in Tuao[6]: 112–113 [7]: 299–302 which opposed the Japanese-installed governor, Nicanor Carag.[8] Adduru worked with Praeger in establishing a functioning government that had its own judicial and monetary system.[9] Due to Japanese attacks, Adduru later transferred his headquarters to Rizal, Cagayan and later to Magabubong, a barrio of Kabugao, Apayao.[5]
In December 1942, he was subjected to an attempt by Emilio Aguinaldo to convince him and another renegade governor, Roque Ablan of Ilocos Norte, to surrender to the Japanese.[10] Adduru was captured by the Japanese twice in two separate occasions in 1943 and 1944 but managed to escape both times and participated in the liberation of northern Luzon in March 1945.[1]
Post-war politics
After the war ended, Adduru was appointed in 1945 as Secretary of Labor, serving until 1946,[11] when he became chairman of the board of directors of the National Land Settlement and Development Corporation and later general manager of the same firm from 1951 to 1953.[2] In 1949, he was appointed as chairman of the Cagayan Currency Board, which sought to redeem emergency circulating notes that were issued during the war.[12] In 1953, he became governor of the Agricultural Credit and Financing Administration.[2] He was then elected governor of Cagayan from 1955 to 1959.[1]
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Personal life
Adduru was married to Candida Gonzales and had two children.[2]
Death and legacy
Adduru died on January 30, 1972. The regional headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Cagayan Valley is named after him.[1]
References
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