City marks Don Sergio's birthday tomorrow

Cebuano icon Don Sergio Osmeña will turn 129 years old tomorrow and Mayor Tomas Osmeña believes Cebuanos should know more about the "Grand Old Man."

That is why the city government will place advertisement in the newspapers detailing Don Sergio's distinctions and accomplishments.

The mayor said that perhaps, not many know that more than being the youngest Speaker of the House, Don Sergio technically was the first highest-ranking elected official in the country.

Because there was yet no Senate when the First Philippine Assembly was convened, Don Sergio, in essence, became the first duly elected Filipino to lead the country at age 29.

What makes this accomplishment better, the younger Osmeña said, was that Don Sergio led the assembly for 15 consecutive years even when the body was renamed House of Representatives.

"He wasn't just the Grand Old Man of Cebu. Don Sergio was, even by today's standards, a Grand Young Man," the mayor said.

Don Sergio was born September 9, 1878 and ranked second in the Bar examinations in 1903. In 1904, he became a councilor in the city (then a municipality) and was subsequently appointed Cebu Provincial Fiscal to Negros Oriental. Two years later, at 28, he became the Cebu province's governor and was chairman of the first convention of provincial governors.

A year after, he was elected Speaker of the House to the country's first assembly. He served the House for the next 15 years until he was elected senator in 1922 and became Senate President Pro-tempore and Majority Leader.

During this time, he also headed the Philippines' independence mission to the United States with Manuel Quezon, and with Manuel Roxas in 1924, 1925 and 1935.

At 57, he was elected and re-elected vice president of the Philippine Commonwealth and eventually took his oath as president in 1944. He was 66 years old. - Joeberth M. Ocao/LPM