Senator Tomas Cabili Marker

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One of the more important landmarks in Iligan City is the Senator Tomas Cabili Marker located just a few meters away from the seaport.  The memorial features a bust and a monumental  plaque attached to an obelisk, commemorating Iligan City's honorable constituent - the late Senator Tomas Cabili.h

Iliganons are most familiar with this structure because it is located where most jeepneys pass when going to the city center. The marker was built to serve as the focus for memory of a person with an undying love to Iligan and the Muslims.  Unfortunately, more and more Iliganons refuse to take notice of and fail to consider its significance which make this memorial one of the now-ignored markers of Iligan City.

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SENATOR TOMAS L. CABILI
1946-1955

“One of the First Senators of the First Congress and First Congressional Representative of undivided Lanao in Mindanao who refused to sign the 1935 Constitution, as a delegate on the grounds that the rights of the muslims was not protected.”

Senator Tomas L. Cabili was born in Iligan, Lanao del Norte on March 7, 1903. His parents were Guillermo Cabili and Epifania H. Lluisima. He was also known as Sultang Demasang kay-ko-Ranao.

Cabili studied at Iligan Primary School, (1911-1915) and Iligan Elementary School (1915-1918 ). From 1919 to 1923, he enrolled in four different schools to complete his secondary education; the Zamboanga Provincial High School, (1919 to 1920) Cebu High school, (1920 to 1921) Siliman Institute, (1921 to 1922) and finally, the Cebu Provincial High School, (1922 to 1923).

Cabili received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines-Cebu in 1925, then pursued a law course at the Visayan Institute, also in Cebu, from 1925 to 1927. He transfered to the Philippine College of Law, where he completed his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1929. After passing the bar examinations, he practiced law in his home province.

In 1934, he was appointed justice of the peace of the municipal district of Lanao as well as of Dansalan. He became a delegate to the Constitutional Assembly. In 1935, he was elected assemblyman for his district in the First National Assembly, serving on the committees on agriculture, codes, franchises, provincial and municipal government, national language, public instruction, Mindanao and special provinces, appropriations, civil service, and public lands.

He was the only delegate to the Constitutional Convention who did not sign the 1935 Constitution, which was formally ratified on February 8, 1935. He thundered his refusal on seven reasons:

1. That it carries no provision to promote the progress of the non-Christians as provided in Article XII, Section 5 of the proposed draft;

2. That it places too much power in the Executive Department, which might inspire the establishment of a dictatorial government;

3. That it carries no provision for municipal and provincial autonomy;

4. That it might encourage communism because of the allowance given to the government to appropriate and substitute landed estates;

5. That the safeguards provided against the acquisition of agricultural lands by the foreigners are not sufficient;

6. That there is no provision made for the nationalization of the retail trade; and

7. That there was too much intervention from outside, especially from President Quezon in the drafting of the Constitution.

In 1938, Cabili was reelected to the Second National Assembly. He was chairman of the Committee on Privileges and member of the committees on agriculture, appropriations, forest, Minadanao and Special provinces, and national companies.

He was senator from 1946-1955.

Cabili was married to Felicitas N. Pepito of Cebu, they had five children namely: Vismindo, Camilo, Fe, Fulgencio and Teodoro Delano. He died along with President Ramon Magsaysay and 23 others on a plane crash on March 17, 1957 at Mount Manunggal, Cebu, at the age of 54.