Maria Kalaw Katigbak

Maria V. Kalaw-Katigbak (born Maria Villanueva Kalaw; February 14, 1912 – December 10, 1992) was a Filipina politician, journalist and beauty queen. She served as a Senator of the Philippines from 1961 to 1967 during the Fifth Congress.

Early life and education Kalaw Katigbak was born Maria Villanueva Kalaw on February 14, 1912 to Filipino journalist, politician and former revolutionary Teodoro M. Kalaw, Sr. of Batangas and Filipino-Spanish Purificación "Pura" G. Villanueva-Kalaw of Arevalo district in the city of Iloilo, who also the first Manila Carnival Queen as the Queen of the Orient. Her father was a prominent politician who worked under Manuel L. Quezon's administration as executive secretary and later secretary of the Interior. Her mother was a civic rights leader and was crowned as the first Manila Carnival Queen in 1908.

Maria was the eldest of the Kalaw's four surviving children. She studied at the Jefferson Elementary School and St. Scholastica's College Manila for about a year while taking religion courses. In 1928, she graduated high school valedictorian at Philippine Women's University (PWU). Her essays appeared in the Literary Apprentice: “Far Away” (1954) and were included in Filipino Essays in English: 1910-1954; "An Appeal to Husbands" and "May We Have Our Say?" appeared in the Philippine Review issues of August 1943 and February 1944. In 1983, she wrote a book about her mother entitled Legacy: Pura Villanueva Kalaw, Her Times, Life, and Works, 1886-1954.

In 1984, she translated from Spanish to English her father Teodoro's work Aide-de-Camp to Freedom, in which she inserted a chapter about former president Manuel Quezon.

From 1981 to 1986, she headed the Board of Review for Motion Pictures and Television (BRMPT), which would later be MTRCB. The precursor agencies of BRMPT and MTRCB, Philippine Board of Censorship for Motion Pictures was headed first by her father after its creation in 1929.

Other activities Kalaw Katigbak was the president of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines for many years. She also headed the Municipal Symphony Orchestra, Quezon City Girl Scouts Council, and the Philippine Women's Writers Association.

From 1962 to 1964, she became a member of the UP Board of Regents. She also held several positions at the Catholic Women's League, Catholic Charities of Manila, as the governor of the Philippine Red Cross, the Board of National Education, Board of State Colleges, Philippine Normal College, Philippine College of Commerce, Philippine College of Arts and Trade, Samar Institute of Technology, Mindanao Institute of Technology, Philippine Board of Scholarships for Southeast Asia and the Commission on Appointments.

Maria Kalaw Katigbak died on December 10, 1992, aged 80.

Legacy Senator Maria Kalaw Katigbak Memorial School, formerly Marawoy (CADRE) Elementary School in Lipa, Batangas.