Francisco Tongio Liongson

Francisco Tongio Liongson
A portrait of Francisco Tongio Liongson
Senator of the Philippines from the Third Senatorial District
In office 1916–1919 Serving with Isauro Gabaldon
Preceded by	Post created
Succeeded by	Ceferino de Leon
Governor of Pampanga
In office 1912–1916
Personal details
Born	(1869-12-03)December 3, 1869 Bacolor, Pampanga, Captaincy General of the Philippines
Died	February 20, 1919(1919-02-20) (aged 49) Manila, Philippine Islands
Education	Doctor of Medicine and Surgery, Bachelor of Arts
Known for	The first Pampango Senator.

Francisco Tongio Liongson (December 3, 1869 – February 20, 1919) belonged to a generation of Philippine colonial subjects who struggled to evolve a national identity for their homeland in the fringes of the Spanish Empire. Late in the 18th century, the concept of being a Filipino was still nebulous and infantile. The name did not even originally apply to all the inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago, but to a small group of Spaniards born there. Motivated by the injustices prevalent in the Philippines, small colonies of native expatriate students in Europe involved themselves in the Propaganda Movement with the purpose of exposing these abuses and in the process began to assume a consciousness articulating reforms of a national interest that was consequently distinct from Spain. Liongson was one of these Filipino students in Madrid. He walked among peers who would one day become Philippine National Heroes.

Scion of the Philippine sugar gentry, Liongson was born in Pampanga's ancient capital, Villa de Bacolor to Emigdio Liongson and Eulalia Tongio. It was an exciting time in colonial Philippines. The Suez Canal opened a month earlier on November 17, 1869 establishing a regular steamship service between the Philippines and Europe. The implementation of the Education Decree of 1863 saw the establishment of a primary school for boys and girls in each town of the country. The resulting boom in trade and influx of new ideas gave rise to an emerging educated and moneyed elite.

After completing his primary education in Bacolor, Liongson studied at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila and earned his diplomas in Bachiller en Artes (1887), Titulo de Profesor en Segundo Enseñasa (1888) and Titulo de Agrimensor y Perito Tasador de Tierras (1889). He arrived in Spain on August 24, 1889 on board the mail steamer Santo Domingo to study medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid where he obtained his Licenciado en Medicina y Cirujia in June 1894 and his Doctorado en Medicina y Cirujia on October 19, 1895. To broaden his medical knowledge further, he trained in different hospitals in Paris while studying at the famous Institut Pasteur.