of 24. By 1906, he was one of two teachers at the Central School in Magdalena, the other being his American supervisor. Later, he became the school principal. His ambition then turned to law. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar on October 12, 1912, and practiced as a lawyer and notary (notario publico) in Magdalena. Laico ran in the elections for the Philippine House of Representatives in June 1925, after a friend convinced him to enter national politics during a train trip from Magdalena to Manila. He narrowly won over the incumbent assemblyman for the Second District of Laguna, Aurelio Palileo, 4913 votes to 4565. Laico served as assemblyman in the 7th Philippine Legislature, a member of the Consolidado faction of the ruling Nacionalista Party. From this position, he earned the title 'Honorable.' He ran in the next election, in 1928, but lost to Arsenio Bonifacio. In the 1930s, Laico held the office of provincial sheriff of Laguna. One of his cases, Jose H. Guevarra v. Ananias Laico, et al., reached the Supreme Court of the Philippines in 1937 and became a legal precedent used by lawyers in the Philippines. It involved the eviction of a tenant by a landlord. Death Ananias Laico died on January 9, 1939, in Magdalena, a few weeks before his 62nd birthday. His cause of death was nephritis acidosis, a form of inflammation of the kidneys, though he also suffered from hypertension. His spouse Rosario survived him; she died on July 14, 1952. Laico was originally buried in the Catholic Parish Cemetery in Magdalena, however his remains (along with his wife's) were later transferred to the Manila South Cemetery. Legacy In 1957, the Philippine Congress passed an Act changing the name of the Magdalena Elementary School to the Ananias Laico Memorial Elementary School. A son, Jaime Laico, became a pioneering plastic surgeon in the Philippines and the author of many medical papers published there as well as in the United States. Personal life Laico married his third cousin Maria Rosario San Carlos Evidente, the daughter of Don Roman Bernardo Evidente and Doña Roberta Rato San Carlos of Magdalena, on April 11, 1899, at the Santa Maria Magdalena Catholic Church in Magdalena. The Evidente family was also prominent locally. Both Rosario's grandfather and father had been capitanes municipales of Magdalena; her first cousin Maximo Evidente was later presidente municipal of the same town. Ananias and