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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-20/blas-ople.webp" alt="Black-and-white photo of Filipino statesman Blas Ople wearing a formal suit and patterned tie." loading="lazy" />
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Blas Fajardo Ople, Filipino journalist-turned-statesman who became the country's longest-serving labor minister and later Senate President, captured here in a formal suit during his years in public service.
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<h2>
Early Life and Career
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His parents were Felix Antonio Ople, a craftsman who repaired boats, and his wife Segundina Fajardo. Blas graduated valedictorian of his grade school class at the Hagonoy Elementary School in 1941.


Despite his frail and sickly constitution, young Blas was a determined individual. His early life was marked by hardship, a theme that would recur in his writings. He overcame his frailties through hard manual labor, working as a farm worker, a fisherman along the Manila Bay, and later, as a stevedore in Manila's North Harbor.


At the tender age of 17, Blas made a life-altering decision. He joined the guerrilla movement to fight against the Japanese army during World War II. He became the first lieutenant of the Del Pilar Regiment, Bulacan Military Area. The horrors he witnessed during this time were deeply etched in his memory, yet he seldom spoke about them.


Ople continued his education after the war, finished high school in 1948 at Far Eastern University and eventually graduated with Liberal Arts degree at the Educational Center of Asia (formerly Quezon College) in Manila. 


In his twenties, Blas married Susana, a public grade school teacher from his hometown. Together, they raised seven children.

February 3, 1927: Blas Ople, a "Pillar of Philippine Politics", was born in Hagonoy, Bulacan