TY - ADVS TI - Dionisio Abella Jakosalem KW - Men and women in politics and government KW - 1012 KW - 1907 KW - 1916 KW - arsenio KW - cebu KW - cebuanos KW - dictionary of philippine biography KW - government KW - governors KW - lawyers KW - politics KW - sergio osmena sr KW - visayans KW - visayas N1 - Jakosalem was governor of Cebu from August 1907 to October 1912. It was Sergio Osmena, a classmate and fellow Cebuano, who urged him to enter politics. Dionisio Jakosalem was born on May 8, 1878, in Dumanjug, Cebu, the second child of Alfonso Jakosalem and Apolonia Abella. After finishing his primera enseñanza at the town''s school, he went to Cebu where he enrolled in the College of San Carlos (1889-1894). He was a classmate of Sergio Osmeña, Sr. and completed there his elementary education. Then he went to Manila to study at the University of Santo Tomas, receiving his A.B. degree in 1894, and subsequently his licenciado en jurisprudencia. In 1900, he was appointed municipal secretary of his hometown and in 1903 was named justice of the peace of Cebu. He was elected to the municipal council of Cebu the following year, 1904. Osmeña urged him to enter politics. In 1906, he was elected as member of the Philippine Assembly, he was appointed in August, 1907, to continue the latter''s unexpired term. He was provincial governor up to the expiration of his term in October 1912 and on February 1, 1913, he was appointed acting provincial fiscal, which position he filled until the end of the year. On January 18, 1917, he was appointed Secretary of Commerce and Communications by Governor F.B. Harrison, thus becoming the first Filipino to occupy that position. During his incumbency as Secretary he managed to prevent a rice shortage, created by World War II, by dealing firmly with profiteers. In 1919, he was named member of the first Philippine Independence Mission sent to the United States under the leadership of Senate President Quezon. After his retirement from public service, he practiced law in Cebu, accepted the administratorship of the Hospicio de San Jose de Barili founded by Benita and Pedro Cui. He joined the faculty of the Visayan Institute, where later he became dean of the college of law. He died of blood poisoning from pyorrhea on July 1, 1931 at the age of 53. He was a theosophist and a member of the Rosicrucian Order of America. By his wife, Generosa Teves, he had the following children: Salud, Silbano, Maria, Fernando and Epifania; With prints UR - http://retrato.com.ph/retratoimages/Midsize/PP/PP00446a.jpg UR - http://retrato.com.ph/retratoimages/Thumb/PP/PP00446a.jpg UR - http://www.retrato.com.ph/photodtl.asp?id=PP00446 ER -