The Guinayangan Republic

Isauro Gabaldon

Senator Isauro Gabaldon was born in San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, on December 8, 1875. He studied in the public schools of Cuenca, Spain, and in the colleges of Quintana del Rey and Villanueva de la Tara, where he graduated in 1893. He took law in the Central University of Madrid, he returned to the Philippines and continued his law course in the University of Santo Tomas, where he graduated with the degree of LL.B. in 1900. He practiced law from 1903 to 1906.

In the elections of 1906 he came out triumphantly as Provincial Governor of Nueva Ecija, and on July 13,1907, he was elected Deputy to the first Philippine Assembly, and re-elected to the same office in the general elections of 1909. In the Philippine Assembly he was noted for his education bill, known as the Gabaldon Law, which provided an appropriation of one million peso for the building of modern public schools throughout the Philippines, and for his agricultural and tenancy measures protecting the interests of small farmers and farm laborers. In the first election for Senators under the Jones Law of 1916, he was elected Senator from the third senatorial district; and, in 1920, he was appointed Resident Commissioner to Washington, D.C., by the Philippine Legislature, which position he held for two consecutive terms.

Besides being a planter and an owner of large estates, he was known as a businessman, being the organizer and president of the Pidatan Petroleum Co., Inc.; chairman, board of trustees, Sta. Catalina Gold Mines, and president, East Surigao Goldfields, Inc.
He married Bernarda Tinio, of Nueva Ecija, and of the union where born two children.