Wenceslao Vinzons

P.S.R. NO. 185 RESOLUTION EXTOLLING THE HEROISM AND VIRTUES OF WENCESLAO Q. VINZONS

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• published: 05 Oct 2016
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RESOLUTION EXTOLLING THE HEROISM AND VIRTUES OF WORLD WAR II MARTYR WENCESLAO Q. VINZONS ON OCCASION OF HIS 106th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY WHEREAS, Wenceslao “Bintao” Vinzons was born on September 28, 1910, in Indan, Camarines Norte. He was high school class valedictorian, took up law at the University of the Philippines in Padre Faura, and placed third in the bar examinations of 1933; WHEREAS, he is hailed as the “Father of Student Activism in the Philippines.” WHEREAS, along with Narciso J. Alegre and future Senator and Vice President Arturo M. Tolentino, he founded the “Young Philippines Party,” a political party, which advocated the grant of Philippine independence from American rule; WHEREAS, while studying at the University of the Philippines, he was elected President of the student council and editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian; WHEREAS, at the age of 24, he was the youngest delegate to the 1934 Constitutional Convention tasked to draft the 1935 Philippine Constitution and was instrumental in prescribing Tagalog as the official language of the Philippines; WHEREAS, he was elected governor of Camarines Norte in 1940 and the province’s representative to the National Assembly; WHEREAS, his service as legislator was interrupted by the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in December 1941; WHEREAS, he organized armed resistance in the Bicol region against the invading Japanese army, commandeered all the rice warehouses in his province, and ordered the confiscation of explosives used in the province’s gold mines for use against the Japanese army. WHEREAS, he led a raid against a troop of Japanese soldiers in Basud, Camarines Norte and in May 1942, together with guerilla forces, successfully led the liberation of the provincial capital of Daet; WHEREAS, sometime between December 1941 and May 1942, his troops, armed with poisoned arrows and other ammunition, killed around 3,000 Japanese soldiers. He became the ’’most wanted man” in the Bicol region; WHEREAS, on July 8, 1942, he was seized by the Japanese military together with his father. Despite being threatened with death by Commander Major Tsuneoka Noburo, he refused to pledge allegiance to his captors and pinpoint the location of Filipino and American guerillas in the province and instead responded; “Nothing can make me happier than to die for my country, Major. You win die, too.” WHEREAS, on July 15, 1942, in a garrison in Daet, the Japanese bayoneted him to death after his refusal to collaborate with them. Shortly thereafter, the Japanese also executed his father, wife, sister and two of his children; WHEREAS, to honor his memory, his hometown of Indan was renamed Vinzons, and several structures have been named after him including an elementary school in Manila and the student activity center of the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Diliman; WHEREAS, on the occasion of his 106th birthday anniversary, it is but proper to remember and celebrate his enduring legacy to freedom and democracy. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, AS IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED by the Senate to remember, celebrate, and extol the heroism and virtues of World War II Martyr Wenceslao Q. Vinzons, a true paragon for the Filipino youth. Adopted, Sen. Francis Pangilinan Author SEN. RICHARD J. GORDON Co-Author Co-Sponsor