Jose Vasquez Aguilar

Jose Vasquez Aguilar (March 23, 1900 – January 31, 1980) is the first Filipino who received the Ramon Magsaysay Award (considered as Nobel Prize of Asia) (also the first awardee of the said award for Government Service). He is also a recipient in the government service category of the said award which he shared with Chintaman Deshmukh in 1959. He is also recognized as the Father of the Community School Movement in the Philippines, pioneering reforms to ensure that community life is integrated in the education system. His community school model banks on the partnership between teachers, parents, and community with the goal of ensuring a practical education using the vernacular as a medium of instruction.

Personal life Born on March 23, 1900, Jose Vasquez Aguilar was the second of eight children of Martin Aguilar and Sofia Vasquez. As a child he won oratorical contests because of his deep and booming voice. He finished his elementary education at Cadiz Central School in 1915 and graduated from Negros Occidental High School in 1920.

He was sent off to Iloilo together with his older brother Martin Jr. to stay with their aunt Patrocinio Gamboa, best known in Philippine history for her role in transporting the Katipunan flag. In Iloilo, he entered the Jaro Industrial School which would later on become known as Central Philippine University. Then Baptist missionary and teacher Rev. William Orison Valentine encouraged Aguilar to continue his college education at Denison University in Ohio. Seeing the young man's intelligence and diligence, Valentine wanted to marry him off to his daughter but at that time, Aguilar was already in love with Ramona Deysolong, the daughter of a senator's administrator. the first barrio councils replaced the grassroots-based community school. Ironically, this executive order was created under the leadership of Ramon Magsaysay himself. Year later, the Philippine Center for Language Studies produced results contrary to early findings on using the vernacular, in favor of returning to English to be the main language for early education teaching.

Honors For his contributions to the Philippine educational system and community welfare, Aguilar received numerous awards, the most prominent being the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 1959. He also received an honorary doctorate degree from the Central Philippine University in 1952.