José C. Zulueta was a Philippine lawyer and politician. He served as Senate President for a brief period in 1953.
Career
Jose Zulueta was born to Evaristo Zulueta and Atilana Casten. Zulueta studied at the Ateneo de Manila. In 1911 he was appointed as a stenographer at Court of First Instance. He studied law and graduated in 1916 for the entrance examination for the Philippine bar and started a law practice. Zueleta in 1928 was elected to the House of Representatives of the Philippines on behalf of the 1st constituency of Iloilo. He was re-elected several times, and he would sit in the House until 1946. After the Second World War, the Philippines became independent. The new president Manuel Roxas Zulueta put them on June 4, 1946 as Minister of the Interior as the successor to Rafael Alunan. His term to 1948 was marked by tensions with the Hukbalahap. The communist movement fought in the war against the Japanese and then put the battle against the new Philippine government, which have too much listened to the United Statesand did too little for the people. Zulueta introduced travel restrictions for residents of central Luzon, who wanted to travel outside their own sites. He took a hard line against the Huks. He declared in 1947 that they had only two choices: surrender or destruction. He gave the Philippine Constubalary free reign in operations against the Huks and he was in charge of various attempts a leading Huk leaders, such as Luis Lava, Luis Taruc, Juan Feleo and Jose de Leon to persuade the struggle to give up. During the Japanese occupation, Zulueta was accused of collaboration, along with Jorge Vargas, Jorge Bocobo and Manuel Roxas, being the first to respond to General Homma's order to form an Executive Commission. After the establishment of the Philippine Republic in 1946, the Department of Interior was restored and Zulueta was appointed by President Manuel Roxas once again to head the agency until 1948. Zulueta's term was marked by heightened tensions with the Hukbalahap movement, with Zulueta instituting a pass system that was required of Central Luzon residents wishing to travel outside their towns. Like his mentor Roxas, he adopted a hardline attitude toward the Huks, declaring in 1947 that the Huks faced only two choices: surrender or annihilation. He gave carte blanche to the Philippine Constabulary in all their operations against "dissidents". He was in charge of negotiating several times with its leaders, including Luis Lava, Luis Taruc, Juan Feleo and Jose de Leon. After his term as minister he stood in April 1949 successfully apply for a new term in the House of Representatives. Before the end of his term, he is more than two years later at the 1951 election elected to the Philippine Senate. In his time as a senator, which lasted until 1957, he was on April 30, 1953 until November 30, 1953 President of the Senate. Zulueta in 1959 was elected governor of his native province of Iloilo.Later, he was from 1969 to 1972 again delegate on behalf of the first constituency of Iloilo. In 1946, Zulueta was elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the inaugural session of the Congress. He became Senator and was briefly elected the Senate President in 1953. He became Provincial Governor of Iloilo in 1959. During the Marcos administration, he was made the Presidential Consultant on Local Government. He is among the few Filipinos included in the World Biography, 1948 edition and in the International Who's Who, 1952 edition. Zulueta was married to Soledad B. Ramos.
Library work
After his stint in journalism, Zulueta returned to academic work and focused on librarian tasks. He travelled the world and met famous collectors including Wenceslao Retana. He collaborated with bibliographers and historians such as James Alexander Robertson and Emma Helen Blair who needed references for work such as The Philippine Islands, 1493 to 1898. He also visited Spain to study the 1887 Exposicion General de Filipinas, and Cambridge to study the Vocabulario Tagalo. In Manila, he created archives and texts to collate the various historical sources for creating the Philippines' history, using both local and foreign sources.
