Pedro Guevara
A brilliant lawyer, Pedro Guevara distinguished himself as a politician and statesman during his public career.
Guevara was born in Sta. Cruz, Laguna on February 23, 1879. He acquired his formal education at the Ateneo de Manila and Colegio de San Juan de Letran. It was at Letran that he earned his bachelor’s degree and, in 1908, graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree. He passed the bar examination in the following year.
During the Philippine Revolution, he served as aide-de-camp to General Cailles. During the early days of the American occupation, he was appointed first lieutenant in the Philippine Constabulary.
Driven strongly toward politics, he left the military service. He began his political career as town councilor of San Felipe Nery in the province of Rizal.
As he gained national prominence, Guevara ran and was elected as a member of the Lower House of Congress, representing the second district of Laguna. He served as congressman up to 1916. In the national election that year, he was elected to the Senate. He presented the fourth senatorial district, composed of the City of Manila and the provinces of Rizal, Laguna, and Bataan. He served as senator up to 1923.
From 1923 to 1935, Guevara, an ardent nationalist and brilliant defender of Philippine independence, was the Filipino resident commissioner to the United States. In 1934, as delegate of the second district of Laguna to the Constitutional Convention, Guevarra actively participated in the drafting of the Constitution of the Philippine Commonwealth.
Upon retiring from public service, Guevarra resumed his private law practice and served as business executive of a mining firm.
He died on January 19, 1938 of heart attack while defending a case in the Supreme Court.