After five years as a prosecutor in Negros Occidental, Zulueta was appointed an assistant judge of a Court of First Instance on June 11, 1929.

From 1939 until the invasion of the Japanese in World War II, Zulueta served as Secretary of the Interior of the Commonwealth of the Philippines under President Quezon.

During the Japanese occupation, Zulueta was one of the most important members of the National Assembly of the Second Philippine Republic, representing Bacolod City and serving as Floor Leader from 1943 to 1944.

While performing this duties, Zulueta died in 1947 at the age of 55 after the military transport plane he was in, the Lili Marlene, crashed into Mount Makaturing in Lanao.

All 17 people on board, including Philippine Air Force Commander Colonel Edwin Andrews, were killed.