Sen. Jose Cortes Altavas

(September 11, 1877 – August 21, 1952)

Note: Madyaas Pen, for its sense of history and recognition of our local heroes, publishes this accomplishment of our early leader.

Jose Cortes Altavas was born on September 11, 1877, at Balete, Capiz, the fourth child in a brood of nine (9). He was the eldest of the three (3) brothers produced out of the wedlock of Jose Altavas y Aguilar, a Castillan Spaniard from Val de Agorta, Teruel City, Aragon Province in Spain, and Andrea Cortes y Raffol, an Akleña from Balete . His grand parents were a mixture of Spaniards, Eufrasio Altavas and Joaquina Aguilar, while on Andrea’s side, Adriano Cortes and Maria Raffol, of Akeanon and Cebuano parentage.

The young Jose started his primary education in Balete and in 1887. At the age of 10, he was transferred by his father to the capital town of Capiz and enrolled at the Colegio de San Jose de Calanzas under the tutelage of D. Fermin Lamadrid. As a young man of 17 years in 1894, he finished his studies at Colegio del Ateneo Municipal de Manila under the Jesuits fathers. He finished Bachelor of Arts Degree with honor (sobresaliente). In 1895, he enrolled at the Universidad de Santo Tomas de Manila to study law.

The outbreak of the Philippine Revolution against Spain in 1896 interrupted his law studies and brought him back to Capiz where he joined the revolutionary forces. As a revolucionario, he fought under the leadership of Santiago Bellosillo and took charge of the organization of the resistance in the western part of Capiz, specifically, the Second Congressional District, with Anastacio Villaruz, Jose Andrada y Castillo and Kapitan Pedro Advincula. Upon signing of the Treaty of Paris which ended the Filipino-Spanish war, as well as the cessation of the subsequent Filipino-American war, he went back to Manila to continue his studies.

On March 6, 1901, at the age of 24 years, he was admitted to the Philippine Bar and soon after, established a law office in Capiz, Capiz. In 1903, he married Socorro Laserna y Barrios, a daughter of Manuel Laserna and Soledad Barrios.

Jose Cortes Altavas’ political career started when he was elected councilor of the capital town of Capiz during the first municipal elections held in 1903 under the American regime.

For forty five (45) years from 1903 to 1948, he devoted his life to Capiz politics and rose to become Provincial Board member, Governor, Congressman, Consti-tutional Convention Delegate and Senator.

Dubbed as the “man who made Roxas”, he was primarily responsible for launching the candidacy for Governor of a 27 year old lawyer named Manuel Acuña Roxas in 1919, and again, the candidacy of Gov. Roxas for Congressman of the First Congressional District of Capiz in 1922, which became the launching pads to his becoming the President of the Republic of the Philippines in 1948.

As a Representative of the First Congressional District of Capiz during the First Philippine Assembly from 1907 to 1909, he was instrumental in the construction and completion of the Panay Railroad System from Capiz to Iloilo in 1910. As a two-term Governor of Capiz from 1910 to 1916, he built the Capiz to Iloilo and Capiz to Aklan provincial highways. As a senator during the First Philippine Senate of 1916 for the 7th Senatorial District comprising the Provinces of Iloilo and Capiz, he sponsored Act 2724 of the 4th Philippine Legislature which re-established the former Province of Romblon. As delegate for Capiz during the 1934 Constitutional Convention, he was Chairman of the Committee on Suffrage which sponsored Article V of the Constitution, and which provision formally recognized the right of Filipino women to vote.

As Senator for Capiz during the 4th Philippine Congress from 1916 to 1919, and upon the petition of its inhabitants, Jose Cortes Altavas sponsored the separation of the former Municipality of Jimeno from the Municipality of New Washington (formerly Lagatic) and its renaming into Altavas.

Jose Cortes Altavas personified the real Capizeño of his times, who saw Capiz as an undivided whole. He lived through a Capiz which combined Capiz and Aklan, the former with the town of Capiz and the latter with the town of Kalibo as the centers of trade and commerce. He thought of Capizeños and Akeanons, of Aklanon and Kapisnon, as one people, free from whatever distinction and division. He breathed both as a Kapisnon and as an Akeanon. And throughout his political career spanning 45 years from 1903 to 1948, he sought and fought to preserve Capiz as a single constituency comprised of three (3) Congressional Districts.

Jose Cortes Altavas was well aware of the inevitable loss of Aklan if nothing was done to counter what he himself firmly believed were valid separatist sentiments of Akeanons.

Distance between and among the 32 towns of Capiz as well as her political subdivision were the two (2) factors which had a direct impact on the lives of Capizeños between 1900 to 1950. Distance, because proximity determined accessibility and efficiency in movement towards economic and social goals. Political subdivision, because the distribution thereof determined its constitution and representation among the populace. In both instances, Akeanons believed they were at a disadvantage in the scheme of things and thus left out of the mainstream.

Inaccessibility isolated many towns from the capital and Seat of Government, which was the municipality of Capiz (now Roxas City). And the isolation was particularly felt in the far-off towns of the Third District, those lying in the northwest of the capital starting with Kalibo and upwards to Numancia, Makato, Tangalan, Ibajay, Nabas, Buruanga and Malay.

Aklan was merely the name of the section comprising the western half of the Province of Capiz. Reduced to a mere appendage, Akeanons had long agitated for recognition of a separate identity as a separate province since the Spanish era. The struggle for separation and to become an independent province continued until the American regime.

Jose Cortes Altavas believed he had an answer which could counter the separatist movement of Akeanons and thereby prevent the dismemberment of Capiz in order to keep it whole. And that answer was to move the Seat of Government from the then Municipality of Capiz to the Municipality of Altavas.

He believed that Altavas town was a potential geographic middle ground amidst all the broiling controversy between Kapisnons and Akeanons. Together with the towns of Batang (now Batan) and Sapi-an, she was the nearest to the midline of the central towns of Capiz and Kalibo. Province wide, she was the midpoint between Pilar in the northeast and Malay in the northwest. Situated midway between the two (2) traditional centers of trade and commerce of the then Capiz Province, she was a compromise town that could forever remove the age-old competition and rivalry between the towns of Capiz and Kalibo. With Altavas town at the center, distances between Capiz and Malay as well as that between Kalibo and Pilar, were considerably reduced. Her closer proximity to the southernmost and interior towns of Dumarao, Tapaz, Libacao, and Madalag provided an edge over Kalibo and Capiz, which are both located farthest north on the coasts of Sibuyan Sea.

He saw both a competitive and comparative advantages in the geographic locations of Altavas town to that of Capiz and Kalibo. She was economically competitive with a large area of arable land suited for agriculture, substantial inland fishery resources, and the natural harbor of the New Washington River right at her doorstep. She had the strategic advantage of substantially reducing distance between all the 32 towns of Capiz Province. As a Seat of Government, her comparative advantage was that she could crush the waves of separatist sentiments by Akeanons, which neither Capiz nor Kalibo towns had been able to prevent since time immemorial.

Jose Cortes Altavas believed that Altavas town was the key, the missing link which could forever put to rest the separation issue. Without Altavas town becoming the Seat of Government, Altavas’ dismembered Province of Capiz is a foregone conclusion.

And Jose Cortes Altavas was right. During the 2nd Congress from 1949 to 1953 of the Republic of the Philppines, House Bill No. 334 was introduced by Congressman Godofredo P. Ramos, which Bill renewed the Aklan separation.

At 1:05 in the morning of April 25, 1956, and by virtue of Proclamation No. 990 President Ramon Magsaysay signed Republic Act No. 1414 of the 3rd Congress of 1953 to 1957, officially and finally converted Aklan into a separate and distinct province. The new Province of Aklan officially came into being on July 14, 1956 and was formally inaugurated on November 8, 1956. /MP