Gaudencio Antonino

Gaudencio Embuscado Antonino (9 February 1909 - 13 November 1967) was a Filipino politician, civil engineer, and businessman who served as a member of the Philippine Senate from 1961 until his death in a helicopter crash in 1967

Early life and career
Gaudencio E. Antonino was born in Jaen, Nueva Ecija. He obtained his civil engineering degree at the University of the Philippines and placed 7th in the licensure examinations. He then worked as an assistant engineer in the bureau of Public Works from 1933 to 1936.

During the Second World War, he served in the USAFFE and later in the guerrilla movement as a 2nd lieutenant in the 101st Engineer Battalion and a first lieutenant in the Western Luzon sector in 1945.

After the war, Antonino worked as a business executive, specializing in the lumber industry.

Senator
Antonino was elected to the Senate as a candidate of the Liberal Party in 1961 and became the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Works and Communications and National Defense and Security. He became known for opposing a massive increase of allowances to congressmen in 1965 which generated a national scandal. He also introduced the insurance program for barangay officials and sat as a concurrent member of the monetary board of the Central Bank of the Philippines. He sought the presidential nomination of the Nacionalista Party for the 1965 Philippine presidential election but lost to Ferdinand Marcos. He thereafter identified as an independent.

Personal life and death
Antonino died while campaigning for reelection in the crash of his personal helicopter in Dolores, Quezon, a day before the 1967 Philippine Senate election. Despite his death, he came out third in the balloting and was substituted by his widow, Magnolia (née Welborn), herself a Congresswoman of La Union's 1st district who filled out his term until the Senate was closed following the declaration of Martial Law in 1972. They had five children.