Significant Events in January in Filipino History

On January 20, 1920, Fabian Crisologo Ver was born Fabian Maria Trinidad Juan Cirilo Crisologo Ver to Juan Ver and Elena Crisologo. He was a military officer who served as the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) under President Ferdinand Marcos.

(The First Philippine Commission, Left to Right: Jacob Gould Schurman, Admiral George Dewey, Charles Denby and Dean C. Worcester. The fifth member Maj. Gen. Elwell Otis was absent from the photo)

On January 20, 1899, United States President William McKinley created the first Philippine Commission, known as the Schurman Commission.

This commission recommended establishment of a civil government, bicameral legislature and a public school system in the Philippines. Its report also became the basis for the second Philippine Commission's creation on July 4, 1901.

Act No. 74, enacted on January 21, 1901, was a significant legislative measure that laid the foundation for the public education system in the Philippine Islands. This act was established by the United States Philippine Commission and played a crucial role in shaping the educational landscape of the Philippines during the American colonial period.

On January 21, 1961, Senator Ferdinand E. Marcos was elected president of the Liberal Party at a convention held in a cabaret in Santa Ana, Manila, after having withdrawn his candidacy for the party's presidential nomination.

On January 21, 1853, Leon Ma. Guerrero, national scientist and dubbed the "Father of Botany in the Philippines" was born in Ermita, Manila. He was also first Filipino industrial scientist, forensic chemist and dubbed as "Father of Philippine Pharmacy."

On January 22, 1910, Vicente Silva Manansala, a Filipino cubist painter and illustrator was born in San Roque, Macabebe, Pampanga. His works resonate with cultural depth, social commentary, and a unique blend of modernity and tradition.

Robert McCulloch Dick

On January 22, 1873, Robert McCulloch Dick, editor and publisher of the weekly magazine Philippines Free Press, who coined the name "Juan de la Cruz" in generic reference to Filipinos, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His parents were the former Lily Smith and John Dick, a businessman.

He attended a public school from the age of four and, at the age of 12, entered a private academy where he finished a three-year course in two, while also taking a two-year course in German at night school. Childhood memories are of bitter poverty after his father's untimely death, which left the mother, known, he proudly recalls, as "the honest widow Dick", as the family's sole support. Faced in his early teens with earning his own living, he apprenticed to a mapmaking concern in Edinburgh.

On January 22, 1878, Baron de Overbeck was conferred the title Datu Bandahara and Rajah of Sandakan by Sultan Mahomed Jamal Al Alam, Sultan of Sulu.

On January 22, 1974, President Ferdinand Marcos ordered the immediate institution of amelioration measures, starting with emergency allowances for government workers, to help the people over the period of fluid and unstable prices.

On January 23, 1942, the Philippine Executive Commission (PEC), was organized and issued by Order No. 1 by the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Forces in the Philippines. Jorge B. Vargas was appointed chairman and was instructed to the immediate coordination of the central organs and of judicial courts, based upon what had existed theretofore with the approval of the Commander-in-Chief.