Cipriano Primicias Sr.

Primicias was born in September 14, 1901 at Alcala, in the northern Philippine province of Pangasinan to Javier Crescini Primicias and Cristeta Purugganan. He completed his elementary education with highest honors, his high school courses with second-highest honors and passed the government first grade civil service tests when he was still in high school in 1919. He enrolled in the National Law College and at the same time worked as a clerk in the Bureau of Commerce in 1919 where he rose to the rank of Chief, Commercial Section. He finished his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1923 with highest honors and passed the bar examinations in the top five that same year. Legal career In 1924, he quit his post at the Bureau of Commerce and began his law practice as an assistant attorney in the law office of then-Senator Alejo R. Mabanag. By 1936 he was the President of the Pangasinan Bar Association, a post he held till 1945. ==Political career==

House of Representatives A ranking member of the Nacionalista Party (NP), Primicias entered politics in 1934 when he was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives from the fourth district of Pangasinan. He represented his district for three consecutive terms beginning in 1934, 1941 and 1946. Being in the then-minority party at the time, Primicias was an oppositionist and fiscalizer in the House of Representatives. Bell Trade Act of 1946 at extreme right. In the middle are Senators Justiniano Montano, Mariano Jesús Cuenco, Enrique B. Magalona, and Francisco Delgado. In the foreground is Senator Edmundo B. Cea. , 1955.' Clockwise, from top left:'' Senator Edmundo B. Cea, Former President José P. Laurel Sr., Senator Primicias, Senate President Eulogio A. Rodriguez Sr., President Ramon F. Magsaysay, & House Speaker José B. Laurel Jr. :''' During a lull in both their reelection campaigns, Senator Primicias shares a light moment with his partymate and close friend, Senator Jose Locsin, to whom he conceded the last seat in the Senate though he was leading in the still-ongoing count. Primicias eventually won the seat. During his last term in the House, Primicias was one of nine Congressmen and three senators who opposed the ratification of the United States' Bell Trade Act of 1946 (also called the Philippine Trade Act of 1946) mostly because it required amending the Philippine Constitution to give American citizens and corporations equal access with Filipinos to the Philippines' natural resources. In addition the law also gave U.S. citizens the right to import goods without paying import duties and fixed the value of the Philippine peso to the U.S. dollar. Primicias and other opponents of the Bell Trade Act considered the measure an inexcusable surrender of Philippine sovereignty. During his last term in the House (1946–1949), Primicias served as the Minority Floor Leader. From 1946 till 1964 he was the Nacionalista Party Vice-President. Senate In the 1951 Philippine midterm elections, Primicias was elected in an 8-0 shut-out by the Nacionalista Party to his first term as a Senator. While in the Philippine Senate he became chairman of the following Committees: Finance (1952–1953), Labor (1952–1953), Public Works (1953), Justice (1958–1960), Appointments (1958–1960) and the powerful Committee on Rules (1953–1963) as well as a member of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (1954–1963). He was reelected to the Senate for a second term in 1957. From 1953 till 1963 Senator Primicias was the Senate Majority Floor Leader. ==Other positions==

• Four-time Vice-President, World Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference: 1954 (Vienna), 1956 (Bangkok), 1958 (Rio de Janeiro), and 1960 (Tokyo). • Member, Council of State, 1953 to 1963. Senator Primicias was also the former Dean of the College of Law in Orient College, President of the Pindangan Agricultural Company and the Lingayen Gulf Fishing Company and was a member of the Knights of Columbus. ==Personal life==

In 1930, Primicias married Miss Pangasinan Nieves Ocampo Benito, with whom he had nine children: Cipriano Jr. (Tito) – himself a former Congressman and Governor of Pangasinan; Ma. Corazon (Marietta); Ricardo; Juan Augusto; Ramon; Edmundo; Carlos; Perla; and Baby Nieves. An ardent Hispanist, Primicias spoke fluent Spanish and regularly debated on the Senate floor in that language. He also spoke English, Filipino, Ilocano, and Pangansinense with equal facility. He died a week after his 64th birthday in Quezon City, Philippines, on September 20, 1965. . ==Footnotes==