Joe Lingad

Jose B. "Joe" Lingad (November 24, 1914 — December 16, 1980) was a Filipino politician who was elected provincial governor and congressman from Pampanga. Targeted by the Ferdinand Marcos regime and imprisoned during the imposed martial law, he was assassinated in 1980 as he sought election again to the governorship he had relinquished 29 years earlier.

Biography

Lingad was born in Lubao, Pampanga. He studied law and was admitted to the Philippine bar in 1938, the same year he was first elected to public office as a town councilor. After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, Lingad joined the armed resistance against the Japanese in Bataan. He survived the Bataan Death March and later joined the guerrilla movement.^[2]

In the 1947 general elections, Lingad was elected governor of Pampanga as a member of the Liberal Party. Seated as governor in 1948, Lingad served a single term, being defeated for re-election in 1951 due to the fall-out from the Maliwalu massacre^{[3] [2]}. During his tenure as governor, Lingad drafted Diosdado Macapagal, then in the diplomatic corps, to run for a congressional seat under the Liberal Party in Pampanga.^[2] Macapagal's subsequent election as congressman in the 2nd Congress in 1949 commenced a political career that led him to the Presidency just 12 years later.

When his protege was elected President in 1961, Lingad joined the Macapagal administration as first as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Commissioner of Customs, and ultimately, Secretary of Labor^[3]. Macapagal was defeated for re-election by Ferdinand Marcos in 1965, and Lingad found himself again out of office.

In 1969, Lingad was elected to the House of Representatives under the Liberal Party banner representing the 1st District of Pampanga, the same seat Macapagal had won 20 years earlier. Lingad served in the 7th Congress from 1969 to 1972. Previously perceived as holding right-wing political views, Lingad shifted to the left while in Congress, supporting farmer's rights and dialogue with the leftist insurgency^[3]. Lingad's congressional career was abbreviated with the abolition of Congress following the declaration of martial law by Marcos in 1972. Lingad, a member of the political opposition against Marcos, was among the first political figures to be arrested and imprisoned on the day martial law was declared.^[3]

Lingad was released from prison after three months,and he retired to his Pampanga farm.^[3]. He was coaxed out of retirement by opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr., who urged him to run for Pampanga governor in the January 1980 local elections as a candidate of the anti-Marcos opposition. Lingad was defeated by Estelito Mendoza, but he brought forth amidst charges of fraud which led to the staging of a new election for governor. It was during this campaign, in December 1980, that Lingad was shot dead in a roadside gas station in San Fernando, Pampanga as he stopped to buy a pack of cigarettes.^[3] His assassin, who died in a vehicular accident before being prosecuted, was identified as a member of the Philippine Constabulary.^{[3] [2]}

Notes

References

• Henares, Hilarion (1988-12-26). "Joe Lingad, the planting of a seed". Philippine Daily Inquirer. http://www.philippinefolio.com/contdetail.php?id=24&id_app2=347&id_app3=01582. Retrieved 2007-10-30. 
• Henares, Ivan Anthony. "Footnotes to History: The Men Behind Dadong". Kapampangan Homepage. Archived from the original on 2009-10-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20091024222156/http://geocities.com/balen_net/ivan11.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-30. 

External links

• "An Opposition Filipino Politician Shot to Death at Gasoline Station". New York Times. 1980-12-17. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60E13F83E5512728DDDAE0994DA415B8084F1D3. Retrieved 2007-10-30.