Edilberto Evangelista

Edilberto Evangelista was a Filipino civil engineer and a revolutionary.

He was born in Sta. Cruz, Manila, on February 24, 1862. Evangelista finished his Bachelor of Arts at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in 1878. He was awarded a medal of excellence in Mathematics. Poor health made him to drop his idea of studying medicine. After this, he became a teacher, a cattle dealer, a tobacco merchant between Cebu and Manila, and later a contractor of public works. He soon went to Madrid in 1890. It was during this time that he befriended many Filipino patriots, including Jos Rizal, who advised him to study engineering in Belgium. He therefore enrolled at the University of Ghent, one of the worlds top engineering schools, and finished civil engineering and architecture with highest honors. He then received profitable offers of employment from several institutions in Europe but he declined because of his zeal to serve his country.

Source: Wikipedia