Vicente Sotto

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Vicente Yap Sotto, also known as Nyor Inting (1877-1950) was a former senator of the Philippines, and considered as one of the greatest Cebuanos of the 20th century. He wrote the play Elena.

His principal achievement lies in two areas: (1) law, politics, and government; and (2) culture and letters.

He is the grandfather of Vicente Sotto III, a later senator of the Philippines.

[edit] Law and government

Sotto was a pioneering labor leader, human rights advocate, and criminal lawyer. He also served twice as the Philippine delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. He was elected as a councilor of the City of Cebu and afterwards its mayor. He was elected senator of the Republic from 1946 to 1950, when he authored the Sotto Law.

[edit] Culture

Sotto is regarded as the Father of Cebuano Language and Letters'. When he was only 22 years old (about 1899), he put up La Justicia, the first newspaper in Cebu published by a Philippine citizen, in which he defended the issue of Philippine independence. It was suspended on orders by the American military governor. In the week following, the undaunted Sotto begun publishing El Nacional. This was also ordered closed and Sotto was imprisoned at Fort San Pedro for two months and six days. After this experience, he begun using the pen name Taga Kotta (of the fort, or resident of the fort). He was found guilty of treason as a member of a committee of rebels along with those in Manila and Hong Kong. When he was freed in 1900, he published Ang Suga (The Light), which was first issued on June 16, 1901. He was forced to fled to Hong Kong in 1907. There he organized in 1911 the English-Spanish fortnightly The Philippine Republic. Its publication was stopped a year later and its editor was arrested. Sotto's extradition was requested three times by the American government but every time it was denied by the British courts. The Philippine Republic resumed publication after a month of suspension.

In 1915, Sotto returned to Manila and begun work on a weekly journal he named The Independent. He issued a special edition of this journal in Paris in 1929. The news item prompted an American senator to introduce a resolution in the United States Senate to grant immediate independence to the Philippines. The resolution was defeated by eight votes.

[edit] Tribute

"Vicente Sotto was a rock of Gibraltar in character because of the ruggedness of his conviction, the indomitability of his soul, the sublimity of his courage, and the depth of his faith in the ultimate triumph of justice. His knees no bending, his pen signed no retraction, his march saw no retreat, and his soul of steel knowns no surrender. He marshaled his efforts and used his influence to secure and safeguard for the press the fullest measure of freedom. By his death the country has lost a great patriot, his family has lost a loving and devote father, the Senate has lost an illustrious member..." - Carlos P. Garcia, 8th President of the Philippines