Honorific-Prefix: | The Honorable |
León G. Guinto Sr. | |
Birth Name: | León Gawaran Guinto |
Birth Date: | June 28, 1886 |
Birth Place: | Bacoor, Cavite, Captaincy General of the Philippines |
Death Place: | Manila, Philippines |
2nd Mayor of the City of Greater Manila | |
Term Start: | January 27, 1942 |
Term End: | July 17, 1944 |
Appointer: | Jorge B. Vargas |
1Namedata: | Hermenegildo Atienza (as Vice Mayor for Manila) |
Predecessor: | Jorge B. Vargas |
Successor: | Hermenegildo Atienza (as Mayor of Manila) |
Title1: | Member of the National Assembly from Manila |
Status1: | Ex officio |
Term Start1: | September 25, 1943 |
Term End1: | February 2, 1944 |
Alongside1: | Alfonso E. Mendoza |
Title2: | 5th Secretary of Labor |
President2: | Manuel L. Quezon |
Term Start2: | 1940 |
Term End2: | December 1941 |
Predecessor2: | Sotero Baluyut |
Successor2: | Basilio Valdes |
Title3: | Member of the House of Representatives from Tayabas's 2nd district |
Term Start3: | 1925 |
Term End3: | 1928 |
Predecessor3: | Rafael R. Vilar |
Successor3: | Marcelo T. Boncan |
Title4: | 19th Governor of Tayabas |
Term Start4: | December 30, 1955 |
Term End4: | December 30, 1959 |
Predecessor4: | Vicente Constantino |
Successor4: | Claro Robles |
Term Start5: | 1928 |
Term End5: | 1933 |
Predecessor5: | Filemon Perez |
Successor5: | Maximo Rodriguez |
Title6: | Member of the Tayabas Provincial Board |
Term Start6: | 1922 |
Term End6: | 1925 |
Party: | Nacionalista (1922-1942; 1945-1962) |
Otherparty: | KALIBAPI (1942-1945) |
Restingplace: | Manila South Cemetery |
Spouse: | Marta Montes |
Children: | 3 |
Alma Mater: | Colegio de San Juan de Letran |
Occupation: | Politician |
León Gawaran Guinto Sr. (June 28, 1886 - July 10, 1962) was a public servant in the Philippines from the Commonwealth period up to the post-war era, best remembered as the war-time Mayor of the City of Greater Manila in the Philippines.
Guinto was born to Juan P. Guinto and Pia Gawaran in the village of San Nicolas in Bacoor, Cavite province. He completed his early education from his home town and earned his college degree from the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. He first got work at the Weather Bureau, married Marta Montes from Atimonan, Tayabas Province (now Quezon). The union produced three sons and two daughters.
By 1916, Guinto left his job at the Weather Bureau to pursue law studies at the old Escuela de Derecho and by 1920, after completing his law studies and qualifying as a bona fide lawyer, Guinto was employed as private secretary to the then Senate President, Manuel L. Quezon.
Guinto, after serving briefly as private secretary to Senate President Manuel L. Quezon, launched his political career in 1922 by running as member of the Provincial Board of the then Tayabas Province, the home province of his wife Marta Montes.
By 1925, he pursued the position of representative of the 2nd district of Tayabas under the Lower House of the Philippine Legislature. He held the post of legislator for six years until 1928.
He was elected provincial governor of Tayabas in 1928 but his term was cut short when he was appointed as Commissioner of Public Safety by then American Governor-General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. In the later part of 1933, Governor-General Frank Murphy named undersecretary of the Interior Department. By 1934, the Departments of Interior and Labor were merged and Guinto continued to serve as undersecretary.
In 1940, Guinto was appointed Secretary of Labor in the Commonwealth government of President Manuel L. Quezon.
By 1942, Guinto was appointed by Jorge B. Vargas, the then incoming chairman of the Japanese-created government structure called the Philippine Executive Commission, to assume the position of mayor of City of Greater Manila and look after the city's administration during the Japanese occupation during World War II. Guinto's close relations with the labor sector proved useful to his administration of Greater Manila, of which a number of labor leaders served as heads of the city government departments. He held the position until the city's disestablishment in 1944.
In 1945, Guinto was indicted as a war criminal for collaborating with the Japanese forces. A blanket amnesty was issued before the granting of Philippine Independence on July 4, 1946, sparing the former Manila mayor of a war crimes trial.
Guinto went into the private sector, taught in the academe and even served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of the Lyceum of the Philippines University.
In 1955, Guinto returned home to Quezon Province and was elected governor, only to lose re-election in 1959.
Guinto died in 1962 at the age of 76 in Manila, Philippines.
Leon Guinto Street (formerly Pennsylvania Street), which runs through the Ermita and Malate districts, was renamed in his honor.
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