Pedro Abad Santos (31 January 1876 – 15 January 1945) was a Filipino doctor, lawyer, Marxist and politician who later became a leader of the first of two Philippine communist rebellions from the 1930s to the 1950s.
There are no extant evidence of his activities during the Philippine Revolution of 1896 but he was already a major in the revolutionary forces, under Gen. Maximino Hizon, during the Philippine-American War. He was eventually captured by the Americans and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for his guerrilla activities. But his family, who hired the prominent American lawyer John Haussermann to defend him during his trial, was apparently able to secure a pardon.
In 1906, Pedro was admitted to the bar and began a legal career that followed the career paths of politicians of his generation. From 1907 to 1909, he served as justice of the peace in his hometown. He served as councilor of his hometown from January 1910 to March 1912. From 1916 to 1922, he represented the second district of Pampanga in the Philippine Assembly for two terms. In 1922, he was also a member of the Philippine Independence Mission to the United States, headed by Sergio Osmeña.
But in 1926, when his younger brother Jose was already an undersecretary in the Department of Justice of the American colonial government.