EMILIO VIRATA (1890 -?)
A
NATIONALIST to the core, Emilio P. Virata was the fourth representative of
Cavite, this time in the two-chamber Philippine Legislature. He succeeded Emiliano Tria. Tirona who was the first to be elected
Cavite representative under the Jones Law.
Virata was responsible for the enactment of a law providing for the compulsory
teaching of Philippine history by Filipino authors. Hitherto that was taught in public and private schools was
Philippine history written by Americans, hence Filipino students learned little
about the lives and achievements of their own heroes.
It was also Virata who gave a most lucid and forceful
definition f the role of the University of the Philippines during the
installation of Dr. Guy Potter Benton as president of the state university
(1921-1923). Virata was then incumbent
representative from Cavite.
“I am confident,” said Virata, “that Dr. Benton will
not overlook the fact that he is president of a Filipino university. Nor will he forget that ours is a people
whose cherished ambition is to preserve its own national identity and whose
burning aspiration is to live an independent existence… To turn out from the
University of the Philippines men and women with civic courage who will stand
for what is right; men and women with character that will not yield to personal
selfish ends; men and women who will defend truth and honor; men and women who
will be leaders by reason and not by position; and, above all, men and women
who will hold sacred the ideals for which our forefathers had fought and died –
such, in brief, is what we expect from your (Dr. Benton’s) administration.”
Born on May 17, 1890 in San Francisco de Malabon (now
General Trias), to a couple of modest means, Anselmo Virata and Dorotea
Potente, Emilio Virata was elected representative of Cavite in 1919 under the
banner of the Nacionalista Party. He
was the author of the law changing the town’s name from San Francisco de
Malabon (or Malabon Grande) to General Trias in honor of its most distinguished
son, Mariano Trias, vice-president of he Revolutionary Government headed by
General Emilio Aguinaldo, and later vice-president of the Biak-na-Bato
Republic. Virata also authored the law
granting life pensions to teachers in public schools.
The following are some of the highlights of Virata’s
life: finished elementary grades in the Cavite High School, 1905; secondary
course in the Manila high School, 1909; law graduate, University of the
Philippines, 1914; passed the bar and was elected president and director of
Instituto Burgos, 1915; inducted into Freemasonry at the Magdalo Lodge No. 31, Kawit,
Cavite, 1916; elected representative of Cavite, 1919; became Venerable Master
of the Magdalo Lodge, 1921; member of the Philippine Independence Mission to
the United States, 1922; Malacañang technical assistant and special
investigator, 1939; acting governor of Cavite for one month during the
suspension of Governor Ramon Samonte, 1939; became a guerrilla colonel in 1942;
appointed mayor of Cavite City, 1944; elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge
of the Philippines, 1947; bar examiner, 1952; and secretary general and
director, Veteranos de la Revolucion headed
by General Aguinaldo, 1954.
Virata
was a confirmed bachelor. He never married in his desire to devote his life to
the service of his mother.
[Sources: (1) Autobiography of Emilio P. Virata
written in Tagalog, November 30, 1967; and (2) The Role and Mission of the University. Inaugural Addresses of the presidents of the University of the
Philippines. Compiled by Consuelo V.
Fonacier, Quezon City, University of the Philippines Press, 1971.]