Encarnacion Alzona

National Scientist Dr. Encarnacion A. Alzona
Born	(1895-03-23)March 23, 1895 Biñan, Laguna, Captaincy General of the Philippines
Died	March 13, 2001(2001-03-13) (aged 105) Manila, Philippines
Nationality	Filipino
Alma mater	University of the Philippines, Radcliffe College, Columbia University
Occupation	Historian
Known for	National Scientist of the Philippines

Encarnacion A. Alzona (March 23, 1895 – March 13, 2001) was a pioneering Filipino historian, educator and suffragist. The first Filipino woman to obtain a Ph.D.,^[1][2][3] she was conferred in 1985 the rank and title of National Scientist of the Philippines.

Early life and education

Encarnation Alzona was born in Biñan, Laguna and grew up in Tayabas. Her father was a trial court judge and a distant relative of Jose Rizal.^[4] Both her parents were voracious readers, a circumstance that fostered her academic inclinations. She obtained a degree in history from the University of the Philippines in 1917, and a master's degree the following year from the same university. Her thesis was a historical survey on the school education of women in the Philippines, a theme that proved apt in light of her later activism as a suffragette.^[5]

Alzona pursued further studies in the United States as a scholar funded by the American government, as a pensionado.^[3] She obtained another master's degree in history from Radcliffe College in 1920, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1923.^[6] Alzona was the first Filipino woman to have obtained a Ph.D.^[3]

Alzona returned to the Philippines in 1923 and joined the faculty of the Department of History of the University of the Philippines.

Involvement in women's suffrage

Even as American women won the right to vote in 1920, women in the Philippines, then an American colony, were not accorded the same right. As early as 1919, Alzona spoke in favor of conferring the right of suffrage to Filipino women, in an article she published in the Philippine Review.^[7] In a newspaper article she wrote in 1926, Alzona lamented the fact that the Philippine legislature, which she described as the "bulwark of conservatism" had yet to consider legislation in favor of women's suffrage.^[7]

In 1928, Alzona was elected President of the Philippine Association of University Women, an organization that eventually focused its efforts on launching a movement to grant women the vote.^[7] For her part, Alzona authored a book in 1934, The Filipino Woman: Her Social, Economic and Political Status (1565-1933), where she maintained the manifest equality of Filipino women despite the considerable deprivation of their social and political rights.^[8] Alzona's writings during this period bolstered social and political support for women's suffrage, which was finally granted in 1937.

Historian

From her perch in the academe, Alzona wrote several books on the history of the Philippines. Her first book, published in 1932, was entitled A History of Education in the Philippines 1565-1930. It was lauded as "a comprehensive account of the education and cultural development of the country [and] probably the most complete and comprehensive work on the subject to date".^[9] Alzona also wrote biographies on pioneer Filipino women such as Paz Guazon and Librada Avelino, and undertook to translate historical works of Jose Rizal and Graciano Lopez Jaena.^[9] She authored a Spanish language historical monograph entitled El Llegado de España a Filipinas, for which she received the Lone Prize awarded by the Il Congreso de Hispanistas de Filipinas in 1954.^[2]

Alzona left the faculty of the University of the Philippines in 1945, although she would be appointed U.P. professor emeritus of history in 1963.^[2] In 1955, she co-founded the Philippine Historical Association^[9] along with other prominent historians such as Teodoro Agoncillo and Gregorio Zaide. From 1959 to 1966, Alzona chaired the National Historical Institute (then the National Historical Commission).

Alzona was a tireless promoter of the works and legacy of her distant relation, the national hero Jose Rizal. In addition to translating his works and frequently lecturing on Rizal, Alzona served as the first president of the Kababaihang Rizal.^[4]

As a National Scientist, Alzona is buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Public figure

Alzona chose to remain in Manila for the duration of the Japanese Occupation during World War II. She was involved in the guerrilla movement against the Japanese.^[9]

After the war, Alzona was appointed by President Manuel Roxas as a member to the Philippine delegation to the UNESCO. She served in the delegation until 1949, and was elected to chair the Sub-Committee on Social Science, Philosophy and the Humanities in 1946.^[9] From 1959 to 1966, Alzona was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines.

In 1985, Alzona was named as a National Scientist of the Philippines by President Ferdinand Marcos.

Alzona was one of few Filipinos notable in their own right who reached centenarian status, or whose life spanned three generations. She died 10 days shy of her 106th birthday in 2001.^[10] She is interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

References

• Camagay, Ma. Luisa (2000). National Scientists of the Philippines (1978-1998). Pasig City, Philippines: Anvil Publishing, Inc. pp. 236–245. ISBN 971-27-0932-9. 

Notes

External links

• DOST - National Academy of Science and Technology: Encarnacion A. Alzona

Order of National Scientists recipients     1978 Juan Salcedo, Jr.†, Nutrition & Public Health Alfredo Santos†, Physical Chemistry Gregorio Y. Zara†, Engineering & Inventions 1980 Fe del Mundo†, Pediatrics Eduardo Quisumbing†, Plant Taxonomy, Systematics, & Morphology 1982 Geminiano de Ocampo†, Ophthalmology Casimito del Rosario†, Physics, Astronomy, & Meteorology Gregorio Velasquez†, Phycology 1983 Francisco Fronda†, Animal Husbandry Francisco Santos†, Human Nutrition & Agricultural Chemistry Carmen Velásquez, Parasitology 1985 Teodoro Agoncillo†, Philippine History Encarnacion Alzona†, Philippine History Hilario Lara†, Public Health 1986 Julián Banzón†, Chemistry Dioscoro Umali†, Agriculture & Rural Development 1987 Jose Encarnacion, Jr.†, Economics Luz Oliveros-Belardo†, Phytochemistry 1988 Alfredo Lagmay†, Experimental Psychology 1989 Paulo Campos†, Nuclear Medicine 1994 Pedro Escuro†, Genetics & Plant Breeding Clara Lim-Sylianco, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry 1998 Dolores Ramírez, Biochemical Genetics & Cytogenetics José R. Velasco†, Plant Physiology 1999 Gelia T. Castillo, Rural Sociology 2000 Bienvenido Juliano, Biochemistry 2001 Clare Baltazar, Systematic Entomology Benito Vergara, Plant Physiology 2004 Onofre Corpuz†, Political Economics & Government 2005 Ricardo Lantican, Plant Breeding 2006 Lourdes Cruz, Biochemistry 2008 Teodulo Topacio Jr., Veterinary Medicine 2010 Mercedes Concepcion, Demography Ernesto Domingo, Internal Medicine/ Gastroenterology Perla Dizon Santos Ocampo†, Pediatrics 2011 Raul V. Fabella, Economics Bienvenido Nebres,SJ, Mathematics 2014 Angel Alcala, Biological science Ramon Barba, Horticulture Edgardo Gomez, Marine Biology Gavino Trono, Jr., Marine Biology †Retired

University of the Philippines Department of History Chairpersons Austin Craig Encarnacion Alzona Leandro Fernandez Tomas Fonacier Nicolas Zafra Gabriel Fabella Guadalupe Fores-Ganzon Oscar Alfonso Teodoro Agoncillo Honesto Villanueva Napoleon Casambre Romeo Cruz Leslie Bauzon Samuel Tan Donata Taylo Bernardita Reyes-Churchill Zeus Salazar Milagros Guerrero Jaime Veneracion Ma. Luisa Camagay Evelyn Miranda Ricardo Jose Ferdinand Llanes Ma. Luisa De Leon-Bolinao Ma. Bernadette Abrera