Juan Cailles y Kauppama

Teacher, Filipino Freedom Fighter, Census Bureau Supervisor, 

Governor

The U.S. Census Bureau has always highlighted American diversity through 

its decennial snapshots of the population. As the United States grew and 

the population became more diverse, the Census Bureau’s workforce 

adapted to represent the country’s people and needs. As immigration 

from non-European countries increased in the 19th century, the Census 

Bureau tried to hire enumerators who spoke the same language and lived in 

the same neighborhoods as the people they counted. Others were hired to 

help with operations in Washington, DC. From the first surges of Chinese 

immigration into California in the 19th century, immigrants of Asian and 

Pacific Islander heritage have long contributed to the Census Bureau’s 

mission, both at headquarters and in the field.

Born on November 10, 1871, in Nasugbu, Batangas, Juan Cailles y Kauppama, lived with his French 

father, Hippolyte Cailles, his Anglo-Indian mother, Maria Kaauppama, four older siblings, and two 

younger siblings. While the current historical record is vague about his education, Juan graduated 

from Ateneo de Manila University in 1890 and worked as a teacher in four different public schools 

over 5 years.

With the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution on August 24, 

1898, in Manila, Juan organized his pupils’ fathers into an 

organized fighting unit and earned numerous promotions as 

he fought the Spanish forces. By the end of the of the 

Filipino’s revolt against the Spanish, Juan commanded the 

Battalion Trias as a brigadier general in General Emilio 

Aguinaldo’s, the leader of the Filipino revolutionary army, 

forces. Although the Filipinos’ revolt against the Spanish 

ended in victory, Juan and many other Filipino revolutionaries 

worried about the danger posed by the American forces, 

although they had helped them defeat the Spanish, and 

commenced hostiles in February 1899.

During the war’s early months, Juan fought U.S. forces using conventional military tactics and even 

defeated a significant American force under Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin F. Cheetham at the Battle 

of Mabitac, on September 17, 1900. However, Juan resorted to using guerilla warfare after U.S. 

forces occupied the Laguna province and other provinces in Luzon. Following a series of military 

and political setbacks, Juan surrendered to U.S. forces on June 24, 1901. While military leaders 

typically punished insurrectionist leaders, U.S. government officials paid Juan $5,000 for his troops 

to give-up their weapons, appointed him governor of Laguna, and tasked him with assisting the 

American military’s efforts to end threats posed by Juan’s former comrades. 

 

A little more than 1 year after Juan’s surrender, the U.S. Congress passed the Philippine Organic 

Act of 1902 and officially declared an end to the conflict. Under the act, a representational

Brigadier General Juan Cailles (right) 

surrenders to U.S. forces in June 1901.

U.S. National Archives, 111-sc-98028
HB-24-0002

Philippine Assembly would govern the Philippines, and this required a census of the islands. 

However, the Organic Act stipulated that the U.S. could not conduct a census until the cessation of 

hostilities and that the formation of the Assembly could only happen if 2 years of peace followed

the completion of the census. Therefore, the 1903 Census of the Philippine Islands had major

implications for the governance of the islands. 

Because of this idea of a new government coupled with 

widespread illiteracy and mistrust of the American 

government, the Census Bureau determined that the

provincial governors should be the district supervisors 

of the census. Although some of the governors were 

relics of the old Spanish system of cronyism, Juan won 

his local election to continue serving as Laguna’s 

governor in 1902 and was thus prepared to serve as a

supervisor for the 1903 Census of the Philippines. In 

December 1902, Juan spent 2 weeks in Manila going 

over the district maps and learning how to conduct the 

census. In mid-January, all the governor-supervisors 

collected their materials in Manila for distribution to 

and training of their enumerators and special agents,

who then passed on their training to the local 

presidentes (mayors). On March 2, 1903, the Philippine census began, and Juan successfully 

spearheaded the count of 418,616 people in the Province of La Laguna.

Following the success of the 1903 Census, Juan continued to 

serve as the province’s governor until 1910 when he lost his

re-election bid. Juan would eventually serve as Laguna’s 

governor on three more separate occasions (1916–1925, 

1932–1938, and for part of 1945). After his second term,

Juan served as the Mountain Province representative to 

Philippine Legislature from 1925–1931. 

During his time various terms as governor, Juan encouraged 

his constituents to send exhibition materials for the larger 

Philippines Exhibit at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition; fought 

bandits terrorizing local communities, proposed a plan to 

build a road from Pagsanjan, Laguna, to Maubuan, Tayabas, 

thus creating a transportation route between Laguna de Bay and the Pacific Ocean (1904); and 

suppressed the Sakdal Uprising, which began on May 2, 1935, among a host of other 

accomplishments. 

Ultimately, the current historic record is silent about Juan’s final 4 decades of life. We know that

Juan married Emilia Trinidad Prudente and they had one child together. However, he also had 11 

children with other partners. On June 28, 1951, Juan died from a heart attack and was buried at the 

Old Cemetery of Santa Cruz, Laguna. In 2014, the government transferred Juan’s remains to 

Libingan ng mga Bayani, one of the Philippines’s national cemeteries that serves as the final resting 

place for significant figures in Filipino history. Today both the U.S. Census Bureau and the people of 

the Philippines remain grateful for Juan’s service as a teacher, warrior, Census Bureau supervisor, 

and public servant.

Governor-Supervisor Juan Cailles (front-center) and 

Presidentes, Province of La Laguna (Tagalogs),

c. 1903.

From the 1903 Census of the Philippines.

Juan Cailles statue at Gen. J. Cailles Memorial District 

Hospital in Pakil, Laguna.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons