Ust ValiantLegions

On February 12, 1931, Filipino architect Francisco "Bobby" Mañosa was born in Manila. Known for his unique take on "neo-vernacular architecture" which integrated Filipino culture, he was recognized as a National Artist in 2018.

While having an initial leaning to pursue music, Mañosa eventually finished architecture at the University of Santo Tomas. Thereafter, he spent time in Japan where he was supposedly influenced by their modern architecture which retained the features of historical Japanese culture. Organic architecture, a term credited to American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, was also believed to be one of his influences. For his part, he drew inspiration from Filipino cultural aspects such as the bahay kubo and the rice terraces, a practice he would carry over in the next six decades of his career. It made him regarded as one of Filipino architecture's most influential in the past century.

Among his more notable projects include the Pearl Farm Resort (Samal City), the San Miguel Building (Pasig City), the Lanao del Norte Provincial Capitol (Tubod), La Mesa Watershed Resort (Quezon City), and the stations of Manila Light Rail Transit Line 1 (or LRT-1). Then again, he also designed structures which became charged with intense political intrigue, including the Our Lady of Peace Shrine (EDSA Shrine), the Coconut Palace (commissioned for the 1981 Papal Visit), and the 2019 Southeast Asian Games cauldron (SEA Games cauldron).

Mañosa died on February 20, 2019, leaving behind a legacy in the development of Filipino architecture, which combined both ancient and contemporary techniques in his designs.

Learn more about the Southeast Asian Games: https://history-ph.blogspot.com/2019/11/ph-sea-games.html

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1956 UST 4th year high school Class

Proud Thomasian"
On January 9, 1942, Senator Juan Sumulong died, refusing to collaborate with the Japanese to his last breath. A staunch oppositionist throughout his political career, Sumulong was born on December 27, 1874 in Antipolo. He was a student of law at the University of Santo Tomas when he became involved in the Katipunan, fighting as a revolutionary until the surrender of Morong to the United States in 1901. Soon after, Sumulong served as secretary to the governor of the newly created province of Rizal, while also passing the bar examinations during the same year.

He then joined the Partido Federal, formed by erstwhile officials of the First Philippine Republic such as Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, Pedro Paterno, and Felipe Buencamino. Sumulong served as editor of the party's publication, La Democracia. Nonetheless, he did not enter politics. He practiced law and taught at Escuela de Derecho (now Manila Law College). By the time of Philippine Assembly elections in 1907, Sumulong was serving as Judge of First Instance in Manila, and later in the Court of Land Registration. Despite being a member of the Partido Federal, which later reformed itself as the Partido Progresista and adopted an independence platform, among other changes, he publicly wrote about the inviability of pursuing American statehood.

In 1909, he became a member of the Philippine Commission, serving with Gregorio Araneta, Rafael Palma, and Jose Ruiz de Luzuriaga. He resigned four years later. By April 1917, he helped facilitate the merger of the Progresistas with Teodoro Sandiko's Partido Democrata Nacional, forming what became the Partido Democrata. Sandiko remained as the head of the new political party, while Sumulong would eventually become its vice president.

He campaigned for the 1923 special election when a Senate seat in the Fourth District (representing Bataan, Laguna, Manila, and Rizal) was vacated, but lost to the Nacionalista candidate Ramon Fernandez. Sumulong particularly came under intense black propaganda, including claims that a vote for him meant "a vote of Leonard Wood," then the American Governor General of the Philippines.

Sumulong would finally win a Senate seat in 1925, a position he would serve in until 1931. It was said he refused to accept the party nomination to run as senator until he witnessed a popular demonstration of support - 3,000 followers showed up in Tondo and literally carried him on their shoulders. Sumulong's acceptance also foiled plans by some in his own party to choose Former President Emilio Aguinaldo to run for senator.

Sumulong advocated a transition period for independence, as against the Nacionalista call for immediate independence, but eventually the dominant Nacionalistas had to face geopolitical realities and accept that the United States would not grant such a condition. As an oppositionist, Sumulong clashed with former classmates such as Manuel Quezon and Sergio Osmeña, Sr., foremost of the Nacionalista leaders, in various measures. There was, however, a time when Quezon and Sumulong campaigned together on the same issue.

When the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act was approved in 1933, Quezon and Sumulong opposed its ratification in the Philippines for different reasons. While it was believed that Quezon mainly opposed the law for it was lobbied by an independence mission which did not include him, Sumulong made a case against free trade and military base provisions. He argued that retention of these would keep the Philippines from being truly independent.

The subsequent Tydings-McDuffie Act, while virtually a copy of that by Hare-Hawes-Cutting, satisfied Quezon's camp and was ratified. It did not matter much if Sumulong's proposed changes were not reflected in the new law. This was also a period when the opposition was smashed. Soon after Sumulong's resignation from party leadership due to health reasons, the Democratas convened in October 1931, reaching the decision to dissolve the party.

In 1934, he campaigned once more for the Senate, this time as part of the "Anti" faction of the Nacionalistas, headed by Quezon. While Sumulong won, he was disappointed by the eventual reconciliation between the two Nacionalista factions just a year later. He warned against lack of political representation in a democracy with no real opposition party. This ended his stint with the Nacionalistas.

Sumulong deviated from emerging opposition parties such as that of Benigno Ramos's Sakdalistas, which campaigned for immediate political independence, and that of Emilio Aguinaldo's National Socialists, which pushed for shortening of the transition period to three to five years. Instead, the senator from Antipolo argued preparing for economic independence, a platform that included industrialization, greater local autonomy, and expanding the middle class, among other elements.

His final political quest was for the presidency, when Sumulong was nominated as standard bearer of the Pagkakaisa ng Bayan (Popular Front) to face Quezon in the November 1941 elections. He lost heavily, winning none of the provinces, while obtaining 18 percent of the vote. The Popular Front was a loose coalition of what remained among the oppositionists. In losing, Sumulong gained the highest share of popular vote for any opposition presidentiable. Aguinaldo in 1935 had 17 percent of the vote.

Sumulong Highway, Juan Sumulong Street, and Juan Sumulong Memorial Junior College were among those named in his honor.

"Graduate pala ng UST Civil Law sina Marcelo H Del Pilar, Gregorio Aglipay, Apolinario Mabini, Emilio Jacinto, Baldomero Aguinaldo"

Doctors of Pampanga: The patriarch of the family, Dr. Zosimo L. Ordoñez Sr, (b.1926/d. 1998) U.S.T. 1954) started a medical career tradition, in which 4 of his children, became physicians like him. His 3 sons, all named Zosimo, and daughter, also took up the same course at UST and became M.D.'s: Dr. Zosimo Jr. (b.1949/d. 2015,) was a member of class 1974, an internist and he became Provincial Director of Zambales, where he settled after his marriage, also to a doctor. He was followed by Dr. Zosimo III (d. 2013) and Dr. Zosimo IV who currently resides in the U.S. Daughter Dra. Georgia Ordoñez also has a medical practice in the U.S. Dra. Georgia's baptismal godfather, Pres. Diosdado Macapagal, was a good friend of Dr. Zosimo Sr. Youngest and 5th child, Engracia, finished Pharmacy, with the intent of also becoming a doctor; she reached the internship level. Medicine is really in their blood....congratulations and thank you for your contributions! (Thanks to the Ordonez Family for the photos and info).

National Artist, UST Alumnus Bienvenido Lumbera passes away by Angela Atejera

UST college of Medicine batch 1933, Benj Noel, from asturias, Cebu.

The Young Eugenio Cadiz who later became a physician , a graduate of the University of Santo Tomas College of Medicine . .
His father, Mr. Benito Cadiz was a "Cirujano Ministrante", a graduate of the old medical course of the University of Santo Tomas in the year 1892. Two of Eugenio's brothers, Luis and Feliciano were likewise UST College of Medicine graduates in the old days.
From Sariaya, Quezon

Ever your Valiant Legions

EJ Obiena broke his own Philippine national record for outdoor pole vault. He is also the first Filipino to reach the event finals at the Olympic Games. Thank you, EJ! You make us proud. 🇵🇭

On July 11, 1859, physician, public servant, and Philippine Revolution figure Pio Valenzuela was born in Polo, Bulacan (now Valenzuela City, Metro Manila). One of the top members of the Katipunan, he was known as the Katipunan's emissary to the exiled Dr. Jose Rizal for consultation about the planned revolution.

Born into an affluent family, he received his secondary education from the Colegio de San Juan de Letran (1888) and his licentiate in medicine from the University of Santo Tomas (1895). He was in his fourth year of medical studies when, in 1892, he was recruited in the Katipunan. He then became active in the organization by forming chapters in his home province and eventually became its fiscal and physician. He also became involved in the production of its newspaper, Kalayaan, writing under the name Madlang-Away and for a time, hid its printing press in his house. In June 1896, he was tasked to visit Rizal in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte and confer with him regarding the planned revolution. While he initially stated that Rizal categorically opposed the revolution, he later said that Rizal conditionally supported it — on grounds that sufficient arms must be acquired first.

When the Katipunan was discovered in August 1896, he joined the other Katipuneros in Caloocan, where they decided that the Revolution should commence. He was then sent to Pateros and in Biñan, Laguna to inform the Katipuneros in those towns that the Revolution had already begun. However, upon observing that he was being followed by Spanish spies, he availed the amnesty offer of Governor-General Ramon Blanco and surrendered in Manila in September 1896. He was convicted of sedition and rebellion and his testimones — gathered under duress — were later used against other personalities, including Rizal. As part of his life imprisonment sentence, he was exiled first in various prisons in Spain, and later to Melilla, Spanish Morocco. Freed by the signing of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, he was put by the Americans under house arrest upon his arrival in the Philippines in 1899. He did not join the hostilities of the Philippine-American War because of his disillusionment with the May 1897 ex*****on of Bonifacio and the June 1899 assassination of Antonio Luna.

He was released by the Americans in August 1899 and volunteered as a doctor in his hometown, Polo, Bulacan, during an epidemic. He would later join politics, first as municipal president (now mayor) of Polo in 1899-1901, then provincial district health officer (for the towns of Polo, Obando, Meycauayan, and Marilao), and later Governor of Bulacan from 1921-1925. He then retired from politics and resumed his medical practice. He also remained active in various activities that commemorate the Katipunan and the Philippine Revolution, even becoming a resource person to writers and historians. By the time he died at the age of 86 on April 6, 1956, he was one of the last surviving participants of the Philippine Revolution.

In his honor, in 1960, Executive Order No. 401 separated the barrios of Karuhatan, Marulas, Malinta, Torres Bugallon, Ugong, Mapulang-Lupa, Bagbaguin, Paso de Blas, Maysan, and Canumay from Polo and made it a new town named after him. Three years later, Executive Order No. 46 reunited the two towns to its present form. At present, the City Government of Valenzuela is starting to restore his house to its pre-war form to use it as a local museum.

Maria Aurora Baby" Quezon, a UST civil law graduate, passed the bar, Daughter of Manuel L. Quezon, died in an ambush at age 30 with her mother Doña Aurora and Zenaida's husband in 1949 by Huk rebels.

On March 23, 1863, Mariano Ponce, a Filipino physician noted for his works and contribution in the Philippine Revolution, was born in Baliuag, Bulacan.
Ponce took his medical degree at the University of Santo Tomas, then traveled to Spain to finish his advanced studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid in 1889.

From there, he joined Marcelo del Pilar, Graciano López Jaena and José Rizal in the Propaganda Movement which espoused Filipino representation in the Spanish Cortes and reforms in the Spanish colonial authorities of the Philippines.

He wrote in the propaganda publication La Solidaridad (The Solidarity) pertaining to history, politics, sociology and travel under various pseudonyms some of which were Naning, Kalipulako, and Tigbalang.

When the revolution broke out in 1896, he was imprisoned in Barcelona for 48 hours on suspicion of having connections with the uprising.

Fearing another arrest, he fled to France and later went to Hong Kong where he joined a group of Filipinos who served as the international front of the Philippine revolution.

In 1898, Aguinaldo appointed him as diplomatic representative of the First Republic to Japan where he met his Japanese wife, Okiyo Udanwara.

He traveled to Japan to seek aid and purchase weapons. With the help of a Filipino-Japanese named José Ramos Ishikawa, he procured weapons and ammunition for the revolution. But the shipment of arms he acquired failed to reach the revolutionaries. A typhoon off the coast of Formosa wrecked the ship transporting the weapons.

Ponce later ran for a seat in the Philippine Assembly and was elected assemblyman for the second district of Bulacan.

Ponce wrote his memoirs in "Cartas Sobre La Revolución" (Letters on the Revolution).

He died in the Civil Hospital in Hong Kong on May 23, 1918 at the age of 55. His remains are now in the Cementerio del Norte, Manila.

photo from: sir Robert John Inocencio Donesa

source: https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1029/today-in-philippine-history-march-23-1863-mariano-ponce-was-born-in-baliuag-bulacan

colorized by
ᜃ̊ᜈ̥ᜎᜌᜅ᜔ ᜈᜃᜇ̵ᜀᜈ᜔
Kinulayang Nakaraan

On April 04, 1868, Filipino politician and intellectual Felipe Calderon was born in Santa Cruz de Malabon (now Tanza), Cavite. He was instrumental in drafting the legal framework of both the First Philippine Republic and the early civilian rule of the Americans in the Philippines.

After obtaining his basic education at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, he enrolled at the University of Santo Tomas to study law. While a student, he worked part-time for a number of newspapers in Manila and upon getting his law degree, he was hired by the law office of Cayetano Arellano, who later served as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. At the outbreak of the revolution, he was briefly incarcerated at Fort Santiago for supporting its activities. As Filipinos began to establish the republic after independence was declared in 1898, President Emilio Aguinaldo invited Calderon to represent the province of Paragua (now Palawan) to the Malolos Congress.

He rose into prominence for drafting the constitution which was ratified by the members of the Congress. Borrowing a number of concepts from various independent nations around the world, many of the provisions inserted by Calderon in the Malolos Constitution were adopted in the succeeding constitutions of the Philippines including the emphasis on the sovereignty of the people, civil liberties and due process, the separation of powers and co-equality of the branches of the government, and the separation of Church and State. This constitution made the Philippines the first constitutional republic in Asia. Apart from his work in the Malolos Congress, Calderon also established schools for the training of lawyers. He also wrote biographies of his contemporaries who made significant contributions to the cause of freedom such as Jose Ma. Basa and Lorenzo Guerrero, as well as historical essays recounting the political and social climate during the last decades of Spanish colonialism.

However, like many leaders of the First Republic at the outbreak of the Filipino-American War, Calderon offered his help to the Schurman Commission in formulating its policies for the establishment of American civilian rule. After the fall of the republic, Calderon returned to private legal practice. In 1904, he was appointed a member of the committee tasked to draft the Revised Penal Code which replaced the Spanish Penal Code.

He died on June 06, 1908.

March 23, 1940: 80 years ago, today, a particularly special occasion for a Thomasian family. MLQ helped confer an honorary doctorate on his wife, and presented the academic hoods to his daughters who both graduated in the same ceremony.

MLQ, Bachelor of Arts (1894), Bachelor of Laws (1903), who had been made a Doctor of Laws by UST in 1936, in 1940 saw AAQ made Doctor of Philosophy in Pedagogy, together with Andres Soriano who received the degree of Doctor of Commerce and Mariano V. de los Santos, University of Manila president, on whom was conferred the degree of Doctor of Letters. In the first photo, Nonong in a checkered jacket is at the back of the line being shepherded along by Manolo Nieto.

Mrs. Quezon received a Doctorate of Philosophy in Pedagogy, honoris causa during University of Sto. Tomas' investiture ceremonies held Saturday, March 23, 1940. Mrs. Quezon received the honorary degree from Rev. Dr. Silvestre Sancho, Rector Magnificus of UST. MLQ helps present the diploma.

Baby was Magna cm Laude; Nini was Summa cm Laude. The Varsitarian, according to the journalist Sol Gwekoh, elected Baby “best social worker of the year,” while Nini was recognized for “simplicity in spite of circumstances.”

Rosa Sevilla de Alvero, one of the only 2 female staff of Antonio Luna of his La Independencia newspaper, and the 1st female dean of UST.

March 4, 1879, Birth of Rosa Sevilla de Alvero, who became the first Dean of Women at the University of Santo Tomas, was also one of the two women staff members of La Independencia, the Philippine revolutionary government official newspaper edited by General Antonio Luna.

Gala-Rodríguez ancestral house, owned by Dr. Isidro Rodriguez, a 1906 graduate of the UST College of Medicine.
At the 1935 Juan Nakpil designed, Art Deco designed Gala - Rodriguez NHI Heritage House, one of Sariaya's (and Quezon's for that matter) three declared heritage houses, and four Art Deco edifices

Photo by Letty Chua

General Basilio Valdés (10 July 1892 – 26 January 1970) was a Spanish Filipino doctor, general and minister. Valdes was chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1939, and was in 1941 appointed Secretary of National Defense by President Manuel L. Quezon. After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines at the beginning of the Second World War, he was one of the members of Quezon's war cabinet in exile.

1958 UST Architecture Class. One of the students went on to become a famous artist (not architect). Can you spot him?

FELIPE AGONCILLO
Proud Thomasian"

Felipe Agoncillo (May 26, 1859 – September 29, 1941) was the Filipino lawyer representative to the negotiations in Paris that led to the Treaty of Paris (1898), ending the Spanish–American War and achieving him the title of "outstanding first Filipino diplomat."

As a family friend and adviser of General Emilio Aguinaldo and General Antonio Luna during the critical times of the revolution, Agoncillo has been active in participating during that era especially when he presided over the Hong Kong Junta—a group of Filipino exiles who met to plan for future steps in achieving independence. His greatest contribution to Philippine history was when he was assigned to negotiate with foreign countries to secure the independence of the country. This was considered the most important assignment given by a General.

Forewarned by the plans of the governor-general, he sailed directly to Yokohama, Japan but briefly stayed and went to Hong Kong where he joined other Filipino exiles who found asylum when the revolution broke out in 1896. They temporarily sojourned at Morrison Hill Road in Wanchai and later became a refuge for exiled Filipino patriots.

After the signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, Gen. Aguinaldo joined them. They initiated meetings in the Agoncillo residence on the months of April and March 1898, Gen. Luna was one in the attendance.

After the signing of the truce, Agoncillo spearheaded the Central Revolutionary Committee and organized the propaganda office for General Aguinaldo's revolutionary government.

The Philippine Revolutionary Government commissioned Agoncillo as Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate treaties with foreign governments. Agoncillo and Jose "Sixto" Lopez were sent to Washington, D.C., United States[9] to lobby foreign entities that Filipinos are well-civilized people and capable of maintaining stable government[6] and to secure recognition of Philippine independence.

Agoncillo met with President McKinley on October 1, 1899 and, speaking florid Castilian Spanish, described excesses under Spanish colonial rule. He described the American system as the model which the Philippine people will follow when they are independent and asserted that U.S. emissaries had pledged support for Filipino self-rule. Ignoring the assertion of previous American commitments, McKinley rejected Agoncillo's request for Filipino representation at the peace talks between the U.S. and Spain and invited him to give the U.S. State Department a memorandum summarizing his views.

After being ignored by the US president, Agoncillo proceeded to Paris, France to present the Philippine cause at the peace conference convened between Spain and the US, where a meeting was to be held to discuss Cuba and the Philippines. Agoncillo tried to submit a memorandum but again failed. The people behind the meeting did not want to have any official dealings with him. On December 10, 1898, the treaty was successfully signed.

Subsequently, Agoncillo's diplomatic activity incurred expenses that had exhausted his savings. Further, the cost traveling and negotiating abroad on behalf of The Philippines had forced him to sell his wife's jewelry.

Two days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Agoncillo returned to the United States and endeavored to block the ratification of the treaty by the US. Although this was signed by the commissioners, it was not yet approved by the Senate of the United States. He filed a State memorandum to express that Filipinos must be recognized by the United States. He presented a formal protest which was called Memorial to the Senate to the president and delegates of the Spanish-American Commission saying:

If the Spaniards have not been able to transfer to the Americans the rights which they did not possess; if the latter have not militarily conquered positions in the Philippines; if the occupation of Manila was a resultant fact, prepared by the Filipinos; if the international officials and representatives of the Republic of the United States of America offered to recognize the independence and sovereignty of the Philippines, solicited and accepted their alliance, how can they now constitute themselves as arbiters of the control, administration and future government of the Philippine Islands?

If the Treaty of Paris there had simply been declared the withdrawal and abandonment by the Spaniards of their domination --if they had such --over Filipino territory, if America, on accepting peace, had signed the Treaty, without prejudice to the rights of the Philippines, and with a view to coming to a subsequent settlement with the existing Filipino National Government, thus recognizing the sovereignty of the latter, their alliance and the carrying out of their promises of honor to the said Filipinos, no protest against their action would have been made. But in view of the terms of the Article III of the Protocol, the attitude of the American Commissioners, and the imperative necessity of safeguarding the national rights of my country, I take this protest, for the before-mentioned reasons but with the proper legal reservations, against the action taken and the resolutions passed by the Peace Commissioners at Paris and in the Treaty signed by them.

Agoncillo's conclusion about the treaty was that it was not binding on the Philippine government. In the memorandum, he clearly stated the reasons why Spain had no right to transfer the Philippines to the United States and that when the treaty was signed, Spain no longer held the Filipinos.

At that time, many Americans were also against the treaty, so they established the Anti-Imperialist League which opposed making the Philippines a colony of the United States. Afterward, on February 4, 1899, the Philippine–American War began; this turned on approval of the treaty of Paris.

Source: NHCP and DFA Archives
https://twitter.com/dfaphl/status/1156500624936067072?lang=de

Proud Thomasian"

AUGUST 15, 1928

National Artist for Architecture LEANDRO V. LOCSIN was born on this day in Silay City, Negros Occidental.

Leandro V. Locsin was a Filipino architect, artist, and interior designer known for his use of concrete, floating volume and simplistic design in his various projects.

He is recognized as possibly the only Filipino architect of great importance without any foreign training, strictly a homegrown architect. A Filipino architect who early in his career had began receiving worldwide recognition.

He was proclaimed a National Artist of the Philippines for Architecture in 1990.
________

Leandro V. Locsin was born on August 15, 1928 from the prominent sugar-growing Locsin clan in Silay City, Negros Occidental. "Lindy", as his family and friends call him, was the eldest of Guillermo Locsin and Remedios Valencia’s seven children, and was named after his paternal grandfather, Don Leandro Locsin y de la Rama, who was Negros Occidental’s first governor.

He took up Bachelor's Degree in Music at the University of Santo Tomas. Although he was a talented pianist, he later shifted again to Architecture, just a year before graduating, also at UST.

An art lover, he frequented the Philippine Art Gallery, where he met the curator Fernando Zobel de Ayala, who had just returned home after finishing his MFA at Harvard—and would later be pivotal in hiring Lindy as a student draftsman at Ayala Corporation in 1953 when they were doing the master plan for Makati. Fernando recommended Locsin to the Ossorio family of Victorias, Negros Occidental, to design the family chapel. The project was cancelled when the Ossorio patriarch left for the United States.

In 1955, Fr. John Delaney, S.J., then Catholic Chaplain at the University of the Philippines - Diliman, commissioned Locsin to design a chapel that is open and can easily accommodate 1,000 people. The Church of the Holy Sacrifice is the first round chapel in the Philippines to have an altar in the middle, and the first to have a thin shell concrete dome. The floor of the church was designed by Arturo Luz, the stations of the cross by Vicente Manansala and Ang Kiukok, and the cross by Napoleon Abueva, all of whom are now National Artists. Alfredo L. Juinio served as the building's structural engineer. Today, the church is recognized as a National Historical Landmark and a Cultural Treasure by the National Historical Institute and the National Museum, respectively.

On his visit to the United States, he met some of his influences, Paul Rudolph and Eero Saarinen. It was then he realized to use concrete, which was relatively cheap in the Philippines and easy to form, for his buildings. In 1969, he completed what was to be his most recognizable work, the Theater of Performing Arts (Now the Tanghalang Pambansa) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The marble façade of the building is cantilevered 12 meters from the terrace by huge arching columns at the sides of the building, giving it the impression of being afloat. A large lagoon in front of the theatre mirrors the building during daytime, while fountains are illuminated by underwater lights at nighttime. The building houses four theaters, a museum of ethnographic art and other temporary exhibits, galleries, and a library on Philippine art and culture.

In 1974, Locsin designed the Folk Arts Theater, which is one of the largest single-span buildings in the Philippines with a span of 60 meters. It was completed in only seventy-seven days, in time for the Miss Universe Pageant. Locsin was also commissioned to build the Philippine International Convention Center, the country's premiere international conference building and now the seat of the Vice Presidency.

After the Federico Ilustre-designed original terminal of Manila International Airport was destroyed by a fire in 1962, the Philippine government chose Locsin for the rehabilitation design. Serving as an international terminal for ten years, it later became a domestic terminal upon the opening of what is now the present-day Terminal 1, which was also designed by Locsin. A second fire later damaged the rehabilitated domestic terminal in 1985 and the site is currently occupied by the present-day Terminal 2.

He was also commissioned in 1974 to design the Ayala Museum to house the Ayala art collection. It was known for the juxtaposition of huge blocks to facilitate the interior of the exhibition. Locsin was a close friend of the Ayalas. Before taking the board examination, he took his apprenticeship at Ayala and Company (Now the Ayala Corporation) and was even asked to design the first building in Ayala Avenue, and several of their residences. When the collection of the Ayala Museum was moved to its current location, the original was demolished with Locsin's permission. The current building was dedicated in 2004, and was designed by his firm, L.V. Locsin and Partners, led by his son Leandro Y. Locsin, Jr.

Locsin also designed some of the buildings at the UP Los Baños campus. The Dioscoro Umali Hall, the main auditorium, is clearly an example of his distinct architecture, with its large canopy that makes it resemble the main theatre of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Most of his work is concentrated on the Freedom Park, with the Student Union Building which was once damaged by a fire, the Carillon, the Continuing Education Center and the auditorium. He also designed the SEARCA Residences, and several structures at the National Arts Center (housing the Philippine High School for the Arts) at Mt. Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna.

Most of Locsin's work has been within the country, but in 1970, he designed the Philippine Pavilion of the World Expo in Osaka, Japan. His largest single work is the Istana Nurul Iman, the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei. In 1992, he received the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize from Fukuoka. Locsin's last work was a church in Malaybalay, Bukidnon.

From 1955 to 1994, Locsin has produced more than a hundred structures all over the country. He has always believed that “true Philippine architecture is the product of two great streams of culture, the oriental and occidental… to produce a new object of profound harmony.”

Leandro V. Locsin died early morning on November 15, 1994, at the Makati Medical Center after suffering from a stroke ten days earlier. He was survived by his wife Cecilia Yulo (daughter of the late Speaker Jose Yulo, whose family owns the vast Canlubang Estate) and their two sons, one of whom is also an architect.

info: Wikipedia/ Bluprint/ Manila Times

Today is his 92nd birthdate..