Manuel Nieto

Manuel Martínez Nieto Sr. (born Manuel Nieto y Martínez; June 13, 1892 – September 15, 1980), also referred to as Manolo Nieto, was a Filipino footballer, businessman, Army of the Philippines officer, politician and diplomat.

An academic and cultured man, his father was owner of the tobacco estate businesses and controller of the monopoly around Northern Luzon, especially in Isabela which Nieto inherited. During his younger days he was a refined athlete as well who competed in track and field but was best known for his football talent. As a football player of the 1910s and 1920s he spent his years at Bohemian SC as a Defender and was widely regarded as the best Filipino full-back of all time in the eyes of the sports journalists, watchers and athletes of that period. He participated also at the two most remembered Far Eastern Championship Games in 1913 and 1917, football-wise, all while he continued his studies and from time to time having to take brakes from the sport. In that stretch of years, in 1916, he met Manuel L. Quezon at the time elected as Resident Commissioner to the United States and, right after his graduation from the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, he offered his services to him. The two became close friends and formed a strong bond between them. So Manolo, as how he was called by his close acquaintances, began his life as a public servant when he was first appointed by Quezon as a secretary of the Senate while also continuing his father business and studies. From there he became member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and when Quezon became President of the Philippines, Nieto started the Officer's Training Camp in Baguio, where he graduated and was commissioned as the Captain of the Philippine Army in the Reserve Corps. Right after, he was named his aide-de-camp and then his Cabinet Secretariat, roles that he served until President Quezon's death. He continued afterwards to serve the country becoming an ambassador to Spain, a duty he covered two times and the last until he died.

Early life and education

Nieto was born in Ilagan, in the province of Isabela, the year of 1892. The son of Spaniard Manuel Nieto y Noriega from Cantabria, Spain and Victoria Cabal Martinez from Isabela. He first took his education at his parental home and then graduated at the Escuela Catolica in Ilagan. When he grew up enough, to enter college, he was sent by his parents to the capital city in Manila to continue his studies and attended the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. He was a very applied and laborious student and his teachers, as well as his schoolmates, were very proud of him. After reaching his final year he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree and decided to embark on a trip to Spain where he studied at the Escuela Superior de Comercio de Barcelona. Some years later, after receiving his degree in commerce, he returned to the Philippines, this time, at the University of Santo Tomas where he got his Bachelor of Laws. Besides being a knowledgeable individual he had a lot of qualities and a strong personality that helped him throughout his life and be successful in the multiple fields he part-taken while carrying a leading role.

Football career Bohemian Sporting Club

When President Quezon was urged to go outside of the country to not get captured by the Japanese, Colonel Nieto played a major role and took responsibility in planning particular and correct movements to assure a safe escape. When the Japanese were ready to take over Corregidor and Bataan, Colonel Nieto together with Major General Basilio J. Valdes, Vice President Osmeña, Chief Justice Abad Santos, Father Ortiz and the first family had to move President Quezon in the Southern Islands and jumped aboard in the submarine “Swordfish” by Commander Chester C. Smith of the US Navy. When they resufaced, in Iloilo, they then settled in Negros but had to be on the run again when the enemy's ships were spotted on the island's waters and later when Philippine's vessel "Princess of Negros" was captured by the Japanese. From there Colonel Nieto along with the other officers had to think of how to get away from Negros without alerting the enemy forces. General MacArthur, who would've been with them, communicated to the rest that two PT boats would've waited for them in Dumaguete and be ready to take them away the next days. With the waters still occupied by the Japanese, they decided to risk it and embarked on the motor torpedo boats with Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley in the middle of the night of March 26 and 27 and arrived from Dumaguete to Oroquieta in Misamis. Afterwards they flew with two military planes from Mindanao to Australia. After this difficult mission he was awarded, by order of General MacArthur, with the Silver Star Medal and with the Distinguished Service Star of the Philippines by order of President Quezon. Colonel Nieto arranged with details the movements of the president's family and Cabinet members, executing perfectly his plan and insured the accomplishment of a difficult and dangeorous journey while assuming major responsibility in transporting President Quezon and taking him to safety from the Philippines to Melbourne, Australia and was applauded for demonstrating marked skill and coolness in the face of a greatly superior enemy force. They had to move to the United States when it was decided that the Cabinet had to be moved there and be reorganized. Colonel Nieto was appointed his Cabinet Secretariat and continued to aid President Quezon while accompanying him from different States until his health condition deteriored and died on August 1, 1944.

Diplomatic career Ambassador Nieto Sr. greeting General Francisco Franco in Madrid

Nieto's services to the Nation continued when he was nominated on the 23rd of January in 1956 by President Ramon Magsaysay, succeeded by Carlos P. Garcia, as the ambassador of the Philippines to Spain as well as the Minister Plenipotentiary and ended his first tenure in this role in 1960.

the Spoliarium displayed in the National Museum of the Philippines.

Ambassador Nieto was one of the contributors who worked on bringing back to the Philippines the Spoliarium, Juan Luna's painting from 1884. It was bought and then storaged at the Museo del Arte Moderno in Barcelona in 1887 until the museum was burned and looted during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. The damaged Spoliarium was then transferred in Madrid for restoration where it stayed for 18 years. The calls for the painting's transfer to Manila by the Filipinos and the sympathetic Spaniards in the 1950s led General Francisco Franco to order its complete restoration and donate it to the Philippines. After the restoration was done in late 1957, the painting was turned over to Ambassador Nieto in January 1958 and later sent to the Philippines as a gift from the government of Spain. It was in 1977 when President Ferdinand Marcos appointed him again as an ambassador and he served again in this role until he died in 1980. His successor was his son Manuel Nieto Jr who continued his duty until 1986.

Personal life Born to a wealthy family, he was the youngest of the two sons of Manuel Nieto y Noriega, a Cantabrian businessman who owned multiple tobacco estates around the provinces of Northern Luzon and Victoria Cabal Martínez, a Filipina born in Isabela. His brother was Lope Martínez Nieto, who was also a prominent business executive and was a Masonic lodge officer at the Isabela Grand Lodge n.60. Manuel Nieto married Angela Garcia Hidalgo with whom he had a family with four children. They were Manuel Hidalgo Nieto Jr., Rene Hidalgo Nieto, Antonio Hidalgo Nieto and Lourdes Aurora Hidalgo Nieto. His two sons Manuel and Rene were prominent sportsmen as well with the first who continued his father's work as an ambassador of the country, became a chairman of the Games and Amusements Board and was a politician as well, serving his duty as an ally of Marcos. On the other end Rene, like his father, played as a defender and participated at the 1954 Asian Games in Manila while representing the Philippines national football team.

Honors and awards Football Bohemian S.C. United States Philippines Championship (7): 1912, 1913, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1922 Campeonato del Carnaval: 1913

Philippine national football team Far Eastern Championship Games: (Gold medal) 1913 (Silver medal) 1917

Armed forces National

Foreign