Quintín Babila Paredes was a Filipino lawyer, politician, and statesman.
Background
He was born in Bangued, Abra, Philippines in 1884 to Juan Felix Paredes and Regine Babila. He obtained his elementary education at the school his father had established, and also studied at the Colegio Seminario de Vigan and at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran.
Education
He pursued law at the Escuela de Leyes, finishing with degrees in Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws and Master of Arts.
Career
Graduating in 1907, Paredes took and passed the bar examinations the same year, and started his private practice in Manila. He was appointed fourth prosecuting attorney on July 9, 1908, first prosecuting attorney on November 1, 1913, and served until March 1, 1917. He served as Philippine Solicitor General in 1917 and 1918, as Attorney-General from 1918 to 1920, and as Secretary of Justice from 1920 to 1921.
He resumed the practice of law in Manila in 1921.
House of Representatives
He was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives to represent the Lone District of Abra in 1925, 1928, 1931, and 1934, serving as Speaker pro tempore of the House of Representatives from 1929 to 1931, and as the Speaker itself from 1933 till 1935. Under the Tydings–McDuffie Acting that created the Philippine Commonwealth Government, Paredes became its first Resident Commissioner, serving from February 14, 1936, until his resignation on September 29, 1938.
He held this post from 1946 to 1949. Senate
In the Philippine elections of 1949, Paredes topped the Senatorial race as a candidate of the Liberal Party.
He briefly became the President of the Philippine Senate in 1952, and was reelected as a Philippine Senator in 1955, finishing his second term in 1961.
Retiring from politics in 1963, Paredes died ten years later in Manila. Dean of the law school (Escuela de Derecho) of Manila, 1913 to 1917
President of the General Bank & Trust Company, 1963 to 1969.
Membership
As Attorney-General, Paredes was a member of the first parliamentary mission to the United States in 1919. In 1935 he was elected as a member of the Philippine Assembly but he resigned to serve as the Philippines" Resident Commissioner. In 1938 he was again elected a member of the Philippine Assembly, and served as the Majority Floor Leader during this term.
He was also elected as a member of the Philippine Senate from 1941 to 1945 that did not sit in session due to the onset of World World War II and the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines.