Background
Arsenio Cruz Herrera was born on December 14, 1863, in Manila, Philippines. He was the son of Tomas Cruz and Ambrosia Herrera.
151 Muralla St, Intramuros, Manila, 1002 Metro Manila, Philippines
Colegio of San Juan de Letran where Arsenio Cruz Herrera received his Bachelor of Arts degree.
España Blvd, Sampaloc, Manila, 1008 Metro Manila, Philippines
The University of Santo Tomas where Arsenio Cruz Herrera received his Licentiate of Canon Law and Licentiate of Jurisprudence degrees.
Arsenio Cruz Herrera was born on December 14, 1863, in Manila, Philippines. He was the son of Tomas Cruz and Ambrosia Herrera.
Arsenio Cruz Herrera studied first in a private school directed by Fortunato Jacinto. Later he enrolled in the Colegio de San Juan de Letran where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1880. He continued his studies at the University of Santo Tomas where he received his Licentiate of Canon Law degree in 1889 and a Licentiate of Jurisprudence degree in April 1892. While a student at the university, he worked in the university library.
Arsenio Cruz Herrera opened a law office soon after his graduation. His activities during the Revolution of 1896 are not fully known. Artigas stated that he advised Maximino Hizon to organize forces in the taking of the town of Angeles, Pampanga. In the second phase of the Revolution when Emilio Aguinaldo arrived in Cavite from Hong Kong, Cruz Herrera offered his services to the returned leader. When Felipe G. Calderon arrived in that provincial capital, he saw Cruz Herrera among the counselors of Aguinaldo together with Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, Felipe Buencamino, Sr., and others.
Upon the seat of the Revolutionary government being moved to Malolos, Cruz Herrera was offered the directorship of war, which he declined. This position was given to Antonio Luna as a consequence. He accepted, however, the directorship of public instruction and the management of the official organ of the government, the El Heraldo de la Revolucion and its press. It is due to his initiative, according to Artigas, that the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas was established. In this short-lived institution, he was a member of the law faculty. He was elected to represent Manila in the Malolos Congress and was a member of the commission of internal regulation and the commission formed to draft the constitution.
Before the major work of the Congress could be finished, however, he left for Manila on October 30, 1898, after being convinced that the military elements were gaining the upper hand in Malolos. He also left the revolutionary capital because he learned of the peace plans formulated by the Schurman Commission. Afterward, he advocated for an autonomous form of government supported by a national militia. Pedro A. Paterno's propositions had gone ahead of his, however. When the revolutionary seat of government was moved to Tarlak, he was appointed deputy fiscal in the Audiencia of Tarlak, a position he probably was unable to fill.
It is, therefore, logical to find Cruz Herrera with the group supporting American occupation and collaboration once he was back in Manila. In the latter part of 1900, he formed part of the organizing body which founded the Federal Party, the advocate of assimilation. He became a member of the executive board which was the governing council, its chairman, and for two terms the president of the party. Becoming identified with American occupation aims and one of the spokesmen of the leading party during the period, his appointment as president of the municipal board of the City of Manila found auspicious endorsement. Before this, he had been serving as a member of the school board of Manila under the presidency of Dr. Jose Albert and was enjoying a reputable practice in his profession.
Hence his acceptance of the new office entailed a personal sacrifice, but as J. Alejandrino tried to explain, Cruz Herrera wanted to serve the community. He is reckoned as the first mayor of the city. Before this, the city government had been under military authority. After Act. No. 183 incorporating the City of Manila was enacted on July 31, 1901, by the Philippine Commission, a civil regime really began upon the oath-taking of Cruz Herrera as president, Barry Baldwin and William Tutherly as two members, and A. L. B. Davies as secretary of the board on August 7, 1901, on which date also, by proclamation of the governor the Manila charter went into effect.
The transition from military to civil government "necessitated a prodigious amount of work of reorganization" which taxed Cruz Herrera and his associates in the city government. As the burden of administration fell mainly on the shoulders of his American associates, many of whom were military men, he did not wield power. The constitution of the board was such that he did not have any influence on city legislation. He remained a mere presiding officer of the board much to his dislike and embarrassment. Tired of discharging the duties of a mere figurehead, he was prepared to resign. The opportune time came when he spoke before the audience which received Secretary of War William H. Taft and his party. He criticized Governor Luke E. Wright's policies and his actions in the province of Cavite and Batangas where Colonel Baker of the Constabulary was creating animosities. This speech aroused considerable comment at the time and gained for him the prominence and subsequently, he resigned on September 18, 1905, Felix M. Roxas succeeding him.
Once out of the city hall, he engaged himself more actively in politics and in his profession. When the Federal Party changed its basic objectives and was renamed Partido Nacional Progresista in January 1907, he became its president. In the general elections to elect delegates to the First Philippine Assembly, however, this party only succeeded in garnering sixteen seats as against the fifty-nine of the Nacionalista Party. After the general elections of 1909, it became certain that the rehashed Progresista Party was losing popular favor. Cruz Herrera then forsook the party and joined the Nacionalista Party becoming one of the members of the executive committee.
In the general elections of 1912, he was returned by a small majority of the Nacionalista ticket against Jose Lino Luna, Teodoro Gonzalez, and Felix Ferrer, all of the same party, by the first district of Rizal to the Third Philippine Legislature. As a legislator, he had no single law passed under his sponsorship, although he must have exercised decided influence in the Assembly as he was the chairman of the committee of the whole house, twice chairman of the judiciary committee, besides being a member in several leading committees as in the appropriations, revision of laws, and the committee for the City of Manila. For some unknown reasons, he again deserted the Nacionalista Party and joined the Partido Democrata Nacional.
Although Cruz Herrera was not successful as a politician, his law practice was more lucrative. Before his appointment to the city government in 1901, he was getting an honorarian of some eighty thousand pesos yearly. In his law office began such able young lawyers as Juan Sumulong and Rafael Palma as practitioners. He was one of the organizers of the Colegio de Abogados, a law association revived from the Spanish regime, and at one time became its vice-president when Dewit was its president. He taught civil law, mercantile law, and political economy in the Liceo de Manila from the date of its founding. He also conducted pre-bar classes in the Academia de Leyes in which he was dean.
Cruz Herrera was a modest man, a little admirer of pomp and exhibitions, and a man of no diversions.
Cruz Herrera married Julita Alejandrino on September 9, 1888. The marriage produced eight children, Jose, Rosario, Miguel, Concepcion, Agustin, Natividad, Augusto, and Emmanuela. After the death of his first wife on March 4, 1912, he married Bernarda Sastre. The marriage did not produce children.