José B. 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.

Early life and education

Lingad was born on November 24, 1914, 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.

Career during World War II

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]

Political career

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.^[2][3] 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.

Cabinet official

When his protege was elected President in 1961, Lingad joined the Macapagal administration, first as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, then 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.

Congressional career

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 farmers' 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 the 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 raised charges of fraud which led to the staging of a new election for governor.

Assassination

On December 16, 1980, Lingad was shot dead in a roadside gas station in San Fernando, Pampanga, as he stopped to buy cigarettes.^[3] His assassin, who died in a vehicular accident before being prosecuted, was identified as a member of the Philippine Constabulary.^[2][3]

Façade of the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital.

The Logo (view from the National road)

Notes

References

• Henares, Hilarion (26 December 1988). "Joe Lingad, the planting of a seed". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved October 20, 2007. 
• Henares, Ivan Anthony. "Footnotes to History: The Men Behind Dadong". Kapampangan homepage. Archived from the original on October 24, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2007. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to José B. Lingad.

• "An Opposition Filipino Politician Shot to Death at Gasoline Station". New York Times. December 17, 1980. Retrieved October 30, 2007.