Joaquin Luna

Joaquin Luna was born on December 11, 1864. Brother to painter Juan Luna, violinist Manuel Luna, and General Antonio Luna,[1][2] his parents were Don Joaquin Luna de San Pedro y Posadas and Doña Laurena Novicio y Ancheta.[3]

Joaquin Luna (center front row) and the staff of La Independencia in 1898

He was involved in the Philippine Revolution and served with the rank of colonel.[4] Afterwards, he was La Union's representative to the Malolos Congress. La Union would later declare him as an adopted son years later. During the American occupation, he forwarded a collaborative stance and became associated with the group Asociacion de Paz as its treasurer that sought to establish cooperation with the colonizers by disengaging from anti-American revolt.[1][5]

By 1904, he became governor of La Union[1] and the representative of La Union's 1st legislative district during the 2nd and 3rd Philippine Legislature from 1910 until 1916.[6]

When he was appointed governor of the Mountain Province in 1916, succeeding E.A. Eckman, he was the first Filipino to hold such position.[7] In the same year, he became Senator for the 12th senatorial district for the 4th Philippine Legislature that included Baguio, Mountain Province, Nueva Vizcaya, and the then Department of Mindanao and Sulu.[8]

Through the Act of the Philippine Legislature No. 2623 that he authored and introduced in the Congress, he created the Conservatory of Music in the University of the Philippines on February 4, 1916.[9]

He died on November 7, 1936 in Mountain Province, Commonwealth of the Philippines at the age of 71 years old.