The pre-war councilors of the sister cities of Cebu

In 1937, four municipalities were officially converted into cities, these were Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, and Zamboanga. They were inaugurated by President Manuel L. Quezon or through his representative then Secretary of the Interior, Elpidio Quirino who years later would also become president.

Cebu had the biggest population and electors thus among the four had the most number of members of the municipal board or council, at that time Cebu had eight members, while Davao and Zamboanga had only three each, and Iloilo had four.

In the election held on December 10, 1940, these were the elected members of the municipal board/city council:

Cebu: Dr. Leandro A. Tojong, Atty. Juan Zamora, Atty. Honorato S. Hermosisima, Atty. Florencio Urot, Atty. Florentino D. Tecson, Ramon U. Abellanosa,  Atty. Cecilio dela Victoria, and Atty. Numeriano Estenzo.

Davao: Fundador Villafuerte, Pedro Quitain, and Remedios Ponferrada.

Iloilo: Evilio Zaldivar, Fortunae B. Ybiernas, Antonio San Agustin, and Dominador T. Jover.

Zamboanga: Jose Cabato, Abelardo Bucoy, and Felipe Ramos.

Joining the four cities was Bacolod City which was inaugurated in 1938. It was converted into a city by virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 326 on June 18, 1938 but was officially inaugurated on October 18, 1938. These were its four councilors in 1940: Teopisto Cordova, Fidel Henares, Cirilo Ciocon, and Augusto Villarosa.

The election of the above officials was confirmed by an Executive Order signed on December 28, 1940 by President Manuel Quezon. It was prepared by the country’s first Executive Secretary, Jorge Bartolome Vargas.

Secretary Vargas was the son of Angel Vargas Tiongco and Filomena Celis Trinidad, he was born on August 24, 1890 in Bago, Negros Occidental. He studied at the University of the Philippines and was admitted to the Bar on September 7, 1914. He became the Private Secretary of Commissioner Jaime C. de Veyra (a street in Cebu City is named after him, he is a close friend of Don Sergio Osmeña), a year later (1917-1918) he served as Legislative Secretary of Don Sergio Osmeña at the House of Representatives (Don Sergio is the first Speaker of the Philippine Congress).

Vargas can be considered as the Dean of Philippine Scouting as he served as President of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines for decades and was active from 1935 to 1960. He married Marina Yulo (the name behind the Girl Scout Camp in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City).