DR. JOSÉ MARÍA DE LA VIÑA Y DE LA ROSA

By Historian Franco R. Villegas 

Physician, Constitutional Figure, and Administrator of the de la Viña Estate

Dr. José María de la Viña y de la Rosa, born in Binondo on 23 March 1856, belonged to the same distinguished de la Viña y de la Rosa family as Don Diego de la Viña y de la Rosa.

Educated at the Ateneo Municipal and the University of Santo Tomás, José María pursued medicine and eventually practiced as a physician in Pampanga and Negros Occidental. His career, however, extended well beyond the medical profession. He became a public figure in the political life of the country, representing Negros Occidental in the Philippine Assembly and taking part in the constitutional work of the revolutionary period. Historical sources identify him among those involved in the commission that studied and drafted the Malolos Constitution.

His place in the family history becomes even more significant when the judicial records are examined.

José María was not merely the brother of Diego. He became closely involved in the management of Diego's extensive agricultural interests and later served as administrator of his testamentary estate.

In Philippine National Bank v. José Maria de la Viña, the Supreme Court recorded that Diego had contracted an agricultural loan of ₱160,000, with José María acting as his attorney-in-fact and executing the mortgage over Diego's property.

In the 1926 case In re Will of Diego de la Viña, the Supreme Court specifically identified Dr. José M. A. de la Viña y de la Rosa as the former administrator of Diego's testamentary estate and examined the accounts of his administration.

These judicial records shed light on a consequential chapter in the history of the family: the decline and eventual disposition of the great de la Viña hacienda.

The estate was burdened by substantial financial obligations and became the subject of extensive transactions and litigation. The 1926 Supreme Court decision records ₱269,382.72 in liabilities attributed to José María in his capacity as administrator, subject to the Court's determinations.

Family tradition further relates that, following these difficulties, the hacienda was eventually sold to the Tabacalera, before later being repurchased by members of the Lopez clan of Iloilo and Negros Occidental. The subsequent intermarriages between members of the Lopez family and the de la Viña family add another fascinating layer to the story, linking families whose histories became intertwined through both land and marriage.

José María's personal life was likewise connected to prominent family lines. He first married Rita Marcaida y Blanco (relative of actress Jackie Lou Blanco and singer Rico Blanco) and later married a woman surnamed Araullo.

Thus, Dr. José María de la Viña y de la Rosa occupies a remarkable place in the family chronicle: physician, public servant, constitutional participant, brother and confidant of Don Diego, attorney-in-fact, administrator of a substantial estate, and witness to the passing of a great family hacienda from one generation and one clan to another.

His story is more than a biography. It is a chapter in the larger history of the de la Viña, de la Rosa, Lopez, Marcaida, Blanco, and Araullo families, and in the transformation of the old landed families of the Philippines during the turbulent years between the Spanish colonial period and the birth of the Philippine nation.

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