Rafael Corpus

Born in San Antonio, Zambales in 24 October 1880, Rafael Corpus pursued his studies at the Ateneo de Manila where he obtained his degree of Bachelor of Arts at the age of sixteen. He took up law at the Escuela de Derecho (now the Manila Law College) where he graduated in 1903. (“Cornejos Commonwealth Directory of the Philippines”; p. 1654) He left for the United States and took a special course in the George Washington University, Washington D.C. in 1906, one of the first batch of pensionados.

His work for the government involved posts as Examiner of Titles and Register of Deeds in the Province of Cebu from 1903 to 1905; Assistant Attorney in the Bureau of Justice; Legal Adviser in the House of Representatives; Member of the lower house of the Philippine Legislature from 1912 to 1914; Solicitor General from 1914 to 1916; Director of Lands from 1915 to 1916; Under-Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources from 1917 to 1919; and Secretary of Agriculture from 1921 to 1923. He was elected a Director of the Philippine National Bank in 1920 and was president of the institution in 1923. (Lim, Rodrigo; “Who's Who in the Philippines”; p. 56-58, 1921.)

He was married to Eleuteria Pablo with whom he had six children. The eldest was Sergio Corpus who many consider one of the founding fathers of what is now the a flourishing Philippine insurance industry.

Philippine Biographical Directory (1908, p. 17)

Official Directory of the Philippine Assembly (1913, p. 107)

Encyclopedia of the Philippines: The Library of Philippine Literature, Art and Science, Volume 9: Builders of the New Philippines (1936, p. 163-165, Images 173-175)

Cornejo’s Commonwealth Directory of the Philippines (1939), by Miguel Cornejo (p. 1654)

Who's Who in the Philippines: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men of the Philippines, Volume II 1940-1941 (1940), by Franz J. Weissblatt (p. 42, Image 90)