Manuel Tinio - Some More Notes On The Man, and His Death

Some More Notes On The Man, and His Death

Manuel Tinio, together with his fellow Freemasons (most of the revolucionarios were members of that Brotherhood), spearheaded the establishment of the first Masonic Lodge in Nueva Ecija at Cabanatuan City, which is now named after him.

He was also a pioneering businessman aside from being an hacendero. Having first-hand knowledge of the severe labor shortage that came about due to the widespread conversion of jungles into vast rice farms from 1903–1920, he and his fellow hacenderos established the Samahang Magsasaka in 1910. The Samahan imported and operated the first rice thresher in the country. This was a gargantuan machine run by a wood-fired steam engine and was many times bigger than the huge trilladoras popular during the 50s and 60s. Eventually, the company went on to provide electricity to Cabanatuan City, and continues to do so today.

He also founded in 1911, one of the first soft drink companies in the country. The Marilao Mineral Water Co. had a bottling plant located beside a spring in Marilao, Bulacan who later became Coca-Cola.

The widespread conversion of forests into ricelands during the fist two decades of the 20th century produced abundant surpluses of grain. By the 2nd decade, Nueva Ecija had superseded Pangasinan as the rice granary of Luzon, and Cabanatuan was on its way to becoming the gathering and distribution center of rice for Central Luzon. Numerous rice mills mushroomed all over the capital. Manuel Tinio established one of the first and biggest ricemills in Cabanatuan. In those days, owning a ricemill was like owning a bank. The palay or unhusked rice deposited in the mill could be traded several times over until the owner finally retrieved his stock, the mill owner already having made a profit on every transaction.

Nueva Ecija was the main source of livestock and meat for Manila throughout the 19th century until WW II.

It came as no surprise, therefore, when Gen. Tinio established a cattle ranch in the foothills of Pantabangan.

When he died, he left over 2,200 heads of cattle to his children.

On January 1924, Manuel Tinio was confined in a Manila hospital for cirrhosis of the liver. So greatly regarded was he by everyone that Manuel Quezon, upon hearing that Gen. Tinio was gravely ill, Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo immediately rushed to the hospital, clad only in his pajamas! He died at the age of 47 on Feb. 22, 1924, leaving a widow and 12 children.

Due to his services to the nation, the insular government engaged a special train to carry his coffin to Cabanatuan. The funeral train stopped at every station along the way, so that the officials of each town could conduct necrological services for him. Gen. Manuel Tinio was finally buried in Cabanatuan on March 2, 1924. Gen. Aguinaldo and other surviving revolutionary generals, Quezon, Osmeña and other government dignitaries were there to pay their respects to this remarkable, honorable man.