Tomas Eduardo Morato' y Bernabeu (July 6,1887 - March 6,1965)
- He was the last Municipal President and the first to be elected Mayor of Calauag (1935 to 1939). He was also the first Mayor
of Quezon City, and first Congressman (1st congress) in the 2nd district of Tayabas (Quezon province) from 1946 to 1949.
He was born in Javea, Alicante (now part of Valencia) on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. He was a full-blooded Spaniard
and the only son in the family. His father was Francisco Arabi Morato', a ship captain who sailed from Spain to the Philippines,
he was 12 years old when his father brought him here. The Treaty of Paris in 1889 made him a Filipino
While in the Phippines his father worked in a local shipping company, i.e.transporting cargo of lumber and copra to the
coastal towns of Calauag and Baler. It was in Baler where he met President Manuel L. Quezon and became the best of friends.
In 1904 he left the boat and stayed in Calauag where he started his lumber business. It was Manuel L. Quezon who encouraged
and forced him to join politics. When he was in his second term as Mayor of Calauag, Manuel L. Quezon asked him to come to
Manila to join him to build a new city, and he could not refuse him.
Technically, Morato was the first Mayor of Quezon City, because although his appointment paper dated November 30, 1939,
he made retroactive on October 12, 1939, the day Quezon City was officially created.
Frame# H-02 |
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Frame# H-03 |
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Changing the name Tayabas to Quezon Province. ( Sept. 7,1946) |
The law was signed by Pres. Roxas in the presence of Congressmen Morato
and Suarez, Gov. Yanza, Mrs. Aurora Quezon, Mrs. Consuelo Morato', Baby Quezon, Nene Quezon and other prominent citizens of
the Province.
On the right side of DonTomas was his friend Leon Guinto who became the private secretary to then
Philippine Senate President, Manuel L. Quezon in 1920.
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Frame# H-04 ( 1913 ) |
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The Sawmill in Pulo Apad |
Frame# H-05 ( Calauag 1915 -1918 ) |
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On May 19,1909, the Philippine
commission passed Act No. 1905 granting further concessions to the Manila Railroad Co. By this same Act the designated Southern
Lines was to be extended to Calauag ( Province of Tayabas ).
Early 1920's |
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St. Peter's Church |
Frame# H-06 |
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Frame# H-09 ( 1930 ) |
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Above picture: The boy seated on the floor is Eduardo (Dading) Morato';
On the 1st row (L-R): Arturo (Turing) Morato', Josefina (Fining) Morato', Dona. Cecilia Racoma Morato',
Mrs. Marta Montes Guinto and Tomas (Tomasing) Morato' Jr. At the back standing is Don Tomas Morato and Atty. Leon Guinto who
was a regular guest of the house . About this time Guinto was the representative of the 2nd district of Tayabas under
the Lower House of the Philippine Legislature.
(Above picture) front row: (L-R) Teresita Morato', Cecilia Hidalgo,
Lolita Morato'. 2nd row: (L-R) Manuel (Manoling) Morato', Mrs. Ma.Teresa de la Costa Morato', Dona Consuelo Lim Morato',
baby - Antonio (Tony) Hidalgo, Mrs. Josefina Hidalgo, Jaime (Jimmy) Hidalgo.
The ancestral house of the Moratos' was constructed in 1926 on a hill overlooking the Calauag Bay. It was also in this
house where the late President Manuel L. Quezon would spend his free time to unwind and have a nice chat with his good friend
Tomas.
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A colonial architecture from the 18th and early 19th century w/ 2 storey porch. |
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