15 Facts About Cornelio Balmaceda

Cornelio Agor Balmaceda was a former Secretary of Commerce and Industry in the Philippines.

Cornelio Balmaceda was one of the original board of trustees and then later became president of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement.

Cornelio Balmaceda was born on September 15,1896, in San Miguel, Ilocos Norte.

Cornelio Balmaceda attended elementary school in Sarrat and the first three years of high school in Laoag, Ilocos Norte.

Cornelio Balmaceda left for Manila when he was sixteen to finish his last year of high school in the Manila High School.

Cornelio Balmaceda was among the first five Filipino newspapermen who wrote in English.

Cornelio Balmaceda enrolled in the University of the Philippines where he finished a degree in Bachelor of Arts in 1918.

Cornelio Balmaceda was granted a government scholarship to study in Harvard University where he obtained an MBA, major in Foreign Trade in 1922.

Cornelio Balmaceda finished a law degree at the University of Manila in 1927 and passed the Philippine bar in December of the same year.

Cornelio Balmaceda married Monica Jamias with whom he has seven children: Cornelio, Jr.

Under President Manuel Roxas, Cornelio Balmaceda proposed the creation of the Department of Commerce and Industry and became its first Acting Secretary.

Under President Elpidio Quirino, Cornelio Balmaceda was appointed Secretary of Commerce and Industry and held this position for five consecutive years.

Cornelio Balmaceda led the campaign among the Asian contending countries for Manila to get the site and won in the final ballot by just one vote over Japan.

Cornelio Balmaceda was a top grade Cabinet minister of the old school of civil servants.

Cornelio Balmaceda died at the age of 85, on April 17,1982, barely four weeks after his wife's death.