14 Facts About Basilio Valdes

Basilio Jose Segundo "Basil" Pica Valdes was a Filipino doctor, general and minister.

Basilio Valdes was born on July 10,1892, in San Miguel, Manila, in the Captaincy General of the Philippines as the third child of a family of four.

Basilio Valdes's parents were the Filomena Pica and the Benito Salvador Valdes, a doctor and former classmate of Jose Rizal in Madrid.

Basilio Valdes became the founder of the UST Student Association in 1913, and became its first President.

Basilio Valdes worked in the military hospital as a surgeon for the French Red Cross.

Basilio Valdes became brigadier general and chief of the Constabulary in 1934.

Basilio Valdes later took his oath of office as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army on May 4,1936, and with the retirement of Chief of Staff General Paulino Santos, Valdes assumed this office by presidential appointment on January 1,1939.

Basilio Valdes reentered Manila on February 6,1945, and was reunited with his family after three years of separation.

Basilio Valdes received one of 20 original facsimiles of the Instrument of Surrender, being one of eight personal guests of MacArthur, and his document is currently owned and curated by The International Museum of World War II in Natick, Massachusetts.

In January 1946 Valdes was appointed as one of the judges at the Military Tribunal of Japanese General Masaharu Homma in view of the war crimes committed by his command during the invasion of the Philippines, sitting on the bench along with Leo Donovan, Robert G Gard, Arthur Trudeau, and Warren H McNaught.

Basilio Valdes became the consort of Rosario "Bombona" Roces Legarda during the 1921 Manila Carnival Queen.

Basilio Valdes was an avid polo player, and was a member of the Los Tamaraos Polo Club in Paranaque.

Basilio Valdes was head of the Philippine Cancer Society, vice-president of the Philippine Tuberculosis Society, chairman of the Deans Committee for the Veterans Memorial Medical Center and became the medical director of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital from 1948 until his death.

Basilio Valdes died on January 26,1970, and was given a full military funeral.