Eulogio Rodriguez

Eulogio "Amang" Adona Rodriguez, Sr. (January 21, 1883 – December 9, 1964) was a Filipino politician who twice served as President of the Senate of the Philippines. He was known for vehemently confronting corruption during the administration of Carlos P. Garcia, alleging he held a list of corrupt officials close to the president which the media dubbed the "White Paper".

Rodriguez was born on January 21, 1883, in Montalban (now Rodriguez), to Petronilo Rodriguez and Monica Adona. At the time of his birth, Montalban was part of the province of Manila but it was later renamed Rodriguez in his honor. His younger brother, Julian, would become a last appointed mayor of Davao City from 1954 to 1955, where he become a successful landowner after moving there. He first studied at the Spanish-run public school in Montalban, then took his secondary course at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila, where he later completed his Bachelor of Arts in 1896. He then studied law under a private tutor. To help himself in his studies, he worked as a farmer.

Rodriguez first served as Municipal President of Montalban, Rizal from 1906 to 1916 and became Governor of Rizal from 1916 to 1919 and from 1922 to 1923. He was appointed mayor of Manila by Governor General Leonard Wood on July 23, 1923, and later appointed as Representative of Nueva Vizcaya from February 1924 to May 1925. He became the elected Representative of the Second District of Rizal from 1925 to 1928 and from 1931 to 1935.

He was also appointed Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce by Governor-General Frank Murphy on July 26, 1934, re-appointed by President Manuel L. Quezon on November 15, 1935, and served as such until 1938. After his resignation as Mayor of Manila, which he held once again from 1940 to 1941, he campaigned for a seat in the Senate and was elected senator in 1941. However, he would begin serving his first Senate term in 1945 due to Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II. In the middle of his first Senate term, he ran for Vice President in 1946 as the running mate of President Sergio Osmeña, but lost to fellow Senator Elpidio Quirino. He initially lost his Senate re-election bid in 1947, but was proclaimed winner due to an electoral protest filed against Carlos Tan. He returned to the Senate in 1949, re-elected in 1953 and 1959, and served until his death in 1964.

On May 20, 1953, he was elected Senate President, a position he occupied for the next ten years. As the third highest government official, he steered the Senate into greater heights in terms of legislation. He was replaced by then-Senator Ferdinand Marcos, then the Minority Floor Leader, as Senate President in a leadership coup in 1963, ending his long leadership of the Upper Chamber.

Rodriguez began his political career as a member of the opposition party, known as the Democrata, but later switched to the Nacionalista Party, the ruling party, in 1933, following a political realignment prompted by the contentious debate over the Independence Law. He remained a loyal member of the Nacionalista Party for the rest of his life, spanning over three decades until his death, thus earning him the nickname "Mr. Nacionalista". Unlike many politicians of his time, he did not switch parties for personal convenience.

Rodriguez had seven children by his first wife, Juana Santiago-Rodriguez (1881-1954): Eulogio Jr., Jose, Ruperto, Leonor, Isidro Sr., Constancio and Adelaida. Juana, the namesake of the street in Quezon City (now known as Broadway Avenue, adjacent to E. Rodriguez, Sr. Avenue), predeceased him. Rodriguez subsequently remarried Doña Luisita Canoy. With her, he had three children: Adelaida, Erlinda and Rafael. He later married a third wife, Pilar Leyba.

His grandchildren include former Rizal congressman Isidro S. Rodriguez, Jr. and great-grandchildren Eulogio L. Rodriguez, III.