CARLOS T. VINIEGRA (1902 -?)
LITTLE known outside his immediate
circle of relatives and friends is the fact that Cavite had a second
assemblyman, aside from Senator Emiliano Tria Tirona, during the Japanese
occupation. His name is Atty. Carlos T. Viniegra of Noveleta.
Interviewed by the author (March 4,
1982), Viniegra revealed that was “elected” by the KALIBAPI to succeed Tirona
after the latter had been transferred to the Laurel cabinet, occupying the post
of minister of health, education and public welfare. [The KALIBAPI, acronym for
Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas or Association for Service to the
New Philippines, was the only popular organization permitted by the Japanese
during the occupation.] He did not seem enthusiastic about his election to the
national Assembly headed by Speaker Benigno S. Aquino, Sr., director-general of
the KALIBAPI. It was this same National Assembly that elected Dr. Jose P.
Laurel president of the Japanese- sponsored Republic of the Philippines, now
called the Second Republic, which was inaugurated October 14, 1943.
Asked how long he served as Cavite
assemblyman, Viniegra said “probably seven or eight months, from 1944 to the
Japanese surrender in August 1945.” Born in San Francisco de Malabon (now
General Trias) on May 17, 1902 to a middle class couple, general Wenceslao F.
Viniegra and Eugenia C. Trias, elder sister of general Mariano Trias, Viniegra
studied at the Philippine Law School, graduating with an L.L.B. degree in 1923.
Two of his classmates were the late President Carlos P. Garcia and Supreme
Court Justice Conrado Sanchez. He passed the bar the same year.
He was appointed attaché to the
Third Philippine Independence Mission to the United States in 1925. the
following year he became a revisor and codifier of the laws of Puerto Rico,
after which he served as secretary to then Senate President Quezon.
Viniegra had an extensive law
practice in Cavite before and after World War II. Long past the zenith of his
career, he spends his time at home, reading books and newspapers. Physically
frail but still mentally alert, he describes himself as a “retired country
lawyer watching and enjoying the passing scene.”
[Source: Biodata furnished by
Viniegra on March 4, 1982. A copy of the biodata was sent to Governor Remulla
upon the latter’s request.]