Potenciano Lesaca
Potenciano Lesaca y García was a Filipino politician, revolutionary, and legislator who served as the first civil governor of Zambales from 1901 to 1903. He later became a delegate to the 1934 Philippine Constitutional Convention and served in the 1st National Assembly of the Philippines.
Early life and career
Born on 1 January 1871, in Botolan, Zambales, Philippines, the son of Luis Lesaca y Navarro and Juana García y Abellana. His father was the son of Fray Mariano Tutor de San José from Ólvega, Soria, Castile and León, Spain. he became the first civil governor of Zambales, a province of the Philippines in the Central Luzon region.He completed his course on commerce in 1898 at Ateneo de Manila. He first worked as a census inspector and later president of the commission which installed the civil government of Zambales. He was an honorary member of the mission that represented the Philippine Islands in the Universal Exposition at St Louis Missouri in 1904. During the Philippine Revolution, he was a major under General Antonio Luna. He was considered as an expert accountant and youngest of the provincial governors by American authorities.
Lesaca was married to Irene Gonzales and had nine children. He later became a landowner, farmer, and a stockman.
Political career
From 1935 to 1938, he represented Zambales at the 1st National Assembly of the Philippines. This meeting of the legislature of the Commonwealth of the Philippines passed a total of 415 laws. As a lawmaker, Lesaca had interests in the agricultural industry, specifically livestock.Death
He died on October 4, 1941, months before the Japanese invasion of the Philippines.Selected publications
- Report on the Negritos of Zambales
- Report of the Supervisor of the Census for the Province of Zambales