León Guinto

Guinto, after serving briefly as private secretary to Senate President Manuel Quezon, launched his political career in 1922 by running as member of the Provincial Board of the then Tayabas Province, home province of his wife Marta Montes.

By 1925, he pursued the position of representative of the 2nd district of Tayabas under the Lower House of the Philippine Legislature. He held the post of legislator for six years until 1931.

He was elected governor of Tayabas province in 1931 but his term was cut short when he was appointed as Commissioner of Public Safety by then American Governor-General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. In the later part of 1933, Governor-General Frank Murphy named undersecretary of the Interior Department. By 1934, the Departments of Interior and Labor were merged and Guinto continued to serve as undersecretary.

In 1940, Guinto was appointed Secretary of Labor in the Commonwealth government of President Manuel L. Quezon.

By 1942, Guinto was appointed by Jorge B. Vargas, (Chairman of the Japanese created government structure called the Philippine Executive Commission) to assume the position mayor of Greater Manila, and look after the city's administration during the Japanese occupation during the Second World War.

Guinto's close relations with the labor sector proved useful to his administration of Greater Manila, of which a number of labor leaders served as heads of the city government departments.

In 1945, Guinto was indicted as a war criminal for collaborating with the Japanese forces. A blanket amnesty was issued before the granting of Philippine Independence on July 4, 1946, sparing the former Manila mayor of a war crimes trial.

Guinto went into the private sector, taught in the academe and even served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of the Lyceum of the Philippines University.

In 1955, Guinto returned home to Quezon Province and was elected governor, only to lose re-election in 1959.