The biography of the mining engineer Enrique Abella y Casariego is presented for the first time, whose life path was determined by his accomplishments in the Bureau of Mines of the Philippine Islands, which he joined in 1877 and left after the loss of the colony in 1898. Abella developed an intensive geological and mining research in the Philippines and, as head of the Bureau, he worked actively not only in the mining service, but also supporting the colonial government. His collaboration with Gene-ral Camilo García de Polavieja, Governor and Captain General of the Philippines in 1896, also defined his markedly conservative political career, being deputy in the legislatures between 1899 and 1907. Nevertheless, Abella did not leave aside his interests in mining at his return of the Philippines. He was appointed director of two of the main state mining establishments, the Almaden cinnabar mine and the Arrayanes lead mine in Linares.