Claro M. Recto | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines | |
| In office July 3, 1935 – November 1, 1936 | |
| Appointed by | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | Manuel Moran |
| Senate Majority Leader | |
| In office July 16, 1934 – November 15, 1935 | |
| Preceded by | Benigno Aquino Sr. |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished (Next held byMelecio Arranz) |
| Senate Minority Leader | |
| In office July 16, 1931 – June 5, 1934 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Vacant[a] (Next held byCarlos P. Garcia) |
| Senator of the Philippines | |
| In office April 3, 1952[b] – October 2, 1960 | |
| In office July 9, 1945[c] – May 25, 1946 | |
| In office June 2, 1931 – November 15, 1935 | |
| Preceded by | Jose P. Laurel |
| Succeeded by | Senate abolished[d] |
| Constituency | 5th Senatorial District |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office October 19, 1943 – August 17, 1945 | |
| President | Jose P. Laurel |
| Preceded by | Position Established[e] (Previously held byFelipe Buencamino as Secretary of Foreign Relations) |
| Succeeded by | Elpidio Quirino |
| Commissioner of Education, Health and Public Welfare (Philippine Executive Commission) | |
| In office January 26, 1942 – October 14, 1943 | |
| Governors-General | Masaharu Homma Shizuichi Tanaka Shigenori Kuroda |
| Preceded by | Position established[f] |
| Succeeded by | Gabriel Mañalac (acting) |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives fromBatangas'3rd district | |
| In office June 3, 1919 – June 5, 1928 | |
| Preceded by | Benito Reyes Catigbac |
| Succeeded by | José Dimayuga |
| President of the1934 Constitutional Convention | |
| In office July 30, 1934 – February 8, 1936 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Claro Recto y Mayo (1890-02-08)February 8, 1890 |
| Died | October 2, 1960(1960-10-02) (aged 70) Rome, Italy |
| Political party | Nacionalista (1934–1942; 1949–1957)[1] |
| Other political affiliations | NCP (1957–1960) KALIBAPI (1942–1945)[2] Democrata (1917–1934)[3] |
| Spouse(s) | Angeles Silos Aurora Reyes |
| Relations | Ralph Recto (grandson) Alfonso M. Recto (brother) |
| Children | 7 (includingRafael) |
| Alma mater | Ateneo de Manila (BA) University of Santo Tomas (LL.M) |
Claro Mayo Recto Jr. (February 8, 1890 – October 2, 1960) was a Filipino lawyer, jurist, writer, author, columnist, diplomat, and statesman who served as asenator of the Philippines from 1931 until his death in 1960.[4] Recto was the primary author of the1935 Philippine Constitution,[5][6] one of the foremost figures in thePhilippine Independence from the United States, and is remembered as the "Great Dissenter" and the "Great Academician", as a fierce opponent of U.S.neocolonialism in Asia in his later years,[4][7] and a staunch Filipinonationalist throughout his career.[6][7]
Recto began his political career as the representative for the3rd District ofBatangas in 1919 and held the position until 1928, emerging as a prominent member of theDemocrata Party. He was elected as a senator to the10th Philippine Legislature, where he opposed theHare-Hawes-Cutting Act, and later became president of the1934 Philippine Constitutional Convention that drafted the 1935 Constitution. Recto and future presidentManuel L. Quezon personally presented the constitution toU.S. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, who also appointed Recto as anAssociate Justice of theSupreme Court of the Philippines—the last to be appointed by theUnited States.
At the height ofWorld War II, Recto was detained by the United States for suspected collaboration with the Japanese, but was nonetheless reelected in 1941, garnering the highest number of votes among the elected senators. He joined theKALIBAPI during theJapanese occupation of the Philippines and served in PresidentJose P. Laurel's wartime cabinet. Recto was faced with treason and collaboration charges at the end of the war, but refused theamnesty issued by PresidentManuel Roxas and chose to defend himself in court instead. He was acquitted of all charges.[8][9]
He was reelected to the Senate in 1949 and 1955, where he was an outspoken critic of continued American influence in Asia—as well as PresidentsElpidio Quirino andRamon Magsaysay—for which he was targeted by theUnited States Central Intelligence Agency.[10][11][12] FollowingCarlos P. Garcia's assumption to the presidency in 1957, Recto and SenatorLorenzo Tañada defected from Nacionalista and established theNationalist Citizens' Party (NCP). The pair ran under the NCP in the hotly-contested1957 presidential election, but ultimately lost, ending up fourth in the national vote.
In 1960, Recto was appointed theAmbassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Philippines' cultural envoy. He died under mysterious circumstances (reported as a heart attack) on October 2, 1960, inRome, on a diplomatic mission en route to Spain. Historians believe that the CIA may have had a hand in his death.[10][11][12]
He is the father of formerBatasang Pambansa assemblymanRafael Recto and grandfather ofSecretary of FinanceRalph Recto.
Claro M. Recto was born inTiaong, Tayabas (now part of Quezon province), Philippines, to educated, upper-middle-class parents—Claro Recto Sr. ofRosario, Batangas, and Micaela Mayo ofLipa, Batangas. He began studying Latin at the Instituto de Rizal in Lipa from 1900 to 1901. He continued his education at Colegio del Sagrado Corazón of Don Sebastián Virrey and completed his secondary schooling in 1905 at the age of 15.
He then moved to Manila to attend theAteneo de Manila, where he consistently earned outstanding scholastic marks, graduatingmaxima cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1909. He went on to obtain a Master of Laws degree from theUniversity of Santo Tomás, and in 1969, he was conferred a Doctor of Laws degreehonoris causa byCentral Philippine University.[8][9]
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Recto launched his political career in 1916 as a legal adviser to the firstPhilippine Senate. In 1919, he was elected representative from the second district ofBatangas.
Recto joinedJuan Sumulong's opposition party, thePartido Democrata National (Democrata Party), and was its candidate for Speaker of the House in the1922 elections. The party won 25 seats,[13] though Recto was defeated by theNacionalista-Colectivista candidateManuel Roxas, and instead became House Minority Floor Leader until 1925.[8]
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On July 17, 1923, all Filipino members ofGovernor-General of the PhilippinesLeonard Wood's Council of State resigned en masse in the 1923 Philippine Cabinet Crisis, following prolonged tensions over Wood's perceived autocratic actions. Recto and the Democrata Party sided with Wood on the matter, for which then-Senate PresidentManuel L. Quezon labeled them as "traitorous" during thespecial senatorial election of 1923.[14]
Meanwhile, when news of the crisis reached Washington in early 1924, support for Philippine autonomy surged in the68th United States Congress, and a flood of congressional resolutions and bills ranging from immediate Philippine independence to complete autonomy with an option for freedom were introduced.[14]
By March, a bill byIndiana RepresentativeLouis W. Fairfield gained the most popularity. It proposed a commonwealth with an elected Filipino leader, a 25-year transition period, continued U.S. military bases, and American control over foreign relations, debt, and defense until full independence. Support for the bill proved overwhelming, though the rapid pace alarmed theCoolidge administration. Wood was urged to publicly oppose Congress's hasty push for independence, to no avail.[14]
Likewise, Quezon and senatorSergio Osmeña felt that—although Congress had meant well—the bill's terms were unsatisfactory and it was being advanced too quickly. They launched the 1924 Philippine Independence mission to theUnited States in an attempt to delay the Fairfield bill.[14]
To ensure bipartisan support, Quezon invited Recto to join the mission, along with Osmeña andResident Commissioners of the PhilippinesIsauro Gabaldon andPedro Guevara. They arrived in early May, and after a private meeting between Quezon andUS Secretary of WarJohn W. Weeks, the Fairfield bill was successfully delayed. In the same year, Recto was admitted to the American Bar.[14]
However, Recto—despite not being present at the meeting—somehow acquired key documents of the exchange, and in November 1924, revealed that Quezon had accepted terms falling short of full independence. In doing this, Recto attempted to position the Democrats as defenders of immediate independence and take revenge for Quezon's insult in 1923.[14]
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His plot backfired, however, as Quezon and Osmeña was able to rally the legislature to their version of events. They insisted that they had rejected the Fairfield bill outright and would accept only full independence or continued "slavery" under American rule. Recto would again be defeated by Roxas (now under the reunitedNacionalista Party) in another bid for the House Speaker title in the1925 elections.[15]
After his congressional term ended in 1928, Recto temporarily retired from politics and dedicated himself to the teaching and practice of law, joining the Guevara, Francisco, & Recto law firm.[15] He would describe the world of academia to be "restrictive and soporific" and reentered politics in 1931.[citation needed]
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He was elected senator from theFifth Senatorial District in the1931 Senate elections but simultaneously lost his bid for Senate President against the incumbent Quezon. Recto would serve as the Senate Minority Floor Leader until 1934, becoming known as the "one-man fiscalizer"[citation needed] during this period. Recto switched to the Nacionalista Party in the1934 senate elections and was elected Senate Majority Floor Leader.
The 1931OsRox mission culminated in theHare–Hawes–Cutting Act (1933), which sought to establish thePhilippine Commonwealth as a transition government for 12 years and promised the country full independence on July 4, 1946. However, the act would also have required the Philippines to exempt American goods from customs duties and essentially allowed the indefinite retention of U.S. military and naval bases in the Philippines, as well as the American imposition of high tariffs and quotas on Philippine exports such as sugar andcoconut oil.
Opposition sparked in response to the controversial provisions, with the ruling Nacionalista Party dividing into two factions pending the act's ratification: Recto joined Quezon's faction (dubbed the "Antis") who opposed the act, against Osmeña's faction (the"Pros"), who supported it.[16] In the end, the Philippine Legislature rejected the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act.[17]
Quezon spearheaded another Philippine Independence mission to the US in 1934, securing the passage of theTydings–McDuffie Act.[18] The act formally established the Commonwealth as the transitional government of the Philippines, and specified a framework for the drafting of a Philippineconstitution along with several mandatory constitutional provisions, including the approval of both the United States president and the Filipino people. Before independence, the act also allowed the U.S. to maintain military forces in the Philippines and to call all military forces of the Philippine government into U.S. military service. Finally, the act mandated U.S. recognition of the independence of the Philippine Islands as a separate and self-governing nation after a ten-year transition period.[19]
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Recto presided over the1934 Philippine Constitutional Convention, which that drafted the1935 Philippine Constitution, from 1934 to 1935, under the stipulations of theTydings–McDuffie Act. He was the primary author of the constitution, thus becoming known as the "Father of the Philippine Constitution."
Together with Quezon, who was later elected the first president of theCommonwealth of the Philippines, Recto personally presented the 1935 Constitution to United States PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt. The consensus among many Philippine political scholars of today judges the 1935 Constitution as the best-written Philippine charter ever in terms of prose.[20]
He was appointedAssociate Justice of theSupreme Court of the Philippines on July 3, 1935, by President Roosevelt, and would be the last Associate Justice appointed by the United States, holding the position until November 1, 1936.
During World War II, Recto was arrested by the US colonial government forcollaboration charges with the Japanese. Despite this, he ran for senator in the1941 senatorial elections and reaped 1,084,003 votes, the highest number of votes among the 24 elected senators. However, Imperial Japan invaded on December 8, 1941, preventing the elected senators from taking the oath. Thus, they were not seated until 1945.
By 1943, the Commonwealth established agovernment-in-exile in Washington, DC; however, many politicians stayed behind and collaborated with the occupying Japanese, among them Recto and then-Minister of InteriorJosé P. Laurel. The Japanese installed Laurel as the President of theSecond Philippine Republic on October 14, 1943. Recto was appointed as Commissioner of Education in 1942 and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1943 to 1944. As Minister, he signed the Philippine-Japanese Treaty of Alliance alongside the Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Sozyo Murata on October 20, 1943.[21]
After the war, Recto, along with Laurel, Minister of EducationCamilo Osías, and SenatorQuintín Paredes, was taken into custody and tried for treason, but he defended himself and was acquitted. He wrote a defense and explanation of his position inThree Years of Enemy Occupation (1946), which presented the case of the "patriotic" conduct of the Filipino elite during World War II.[citation needed]
On April 9, 1949, Recto attacked the impositions of the U.S. government in theMilitary Bases Agreement of March 14, 1947, and later in theMutual Defense Treaty of Aug. 30, 1951, and especially theTydings Rehabilitation Act, which required the enactment of the controversial parity-rights amendment to the constitution. He debated against U.S. PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower'sAttorney GeneralHerbert Brownell Jr. on the question of U.S. ownership of military bases in the Philippines.[22]
Recto was reelected to the Senate on November 8, 1949.[23]
In his later years, Recto denounced the influence and coercion of theCatholic Church on voters' decisions—the Philippines had a 90% Catholic majority at the time. In a 1958 article in "The Lawyer's Journal," Recto suggested a constitutional amendment to make the article on theseparation of church and state clearer and more definitive. He also argued against the teaching of religion in public schools.
He was reelected to his fourth and final term in the Senate in 1955.[citation needed]
Recto also foresaw the demands of a fast-moving global economy and the challenges it would pose. In a speech on the eve of the1957 presidential election, he petitioned all sectors of society and implored Philippine youth:[24]
The first task to participate seriously in the economic development of our country (is to) pursue those professions for which there is a great need during an era of rapid industrialization. Only a nationalistic administration can inspire a new idealism in our youth and, with its valid economic program, make our youth respond to the challenging jobs and tasks demanding full use of their talents and energies.
Recto was a staunch critic of theMagsaysay administration, especially with theLaurel-Langley Agreement. This led to his expulsion from the Nacionalista Party.[25]: 43–44 He would then lose the election to incumbent presidentCarlos P. Garcia, winning just 8 percent of the vote.[26] Garcia later appointed Recto as Cultural Envoy with the rank ofAmbassador on a cultural mission to Europe and Latin America in 1960.[citation needed]
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Recto was known as anabogado milagroso (lawyer of miracles), a tribute to his many victories in the judicial court.[citation needed]He wrote a three-volume book on civil procedures,[citation needed]which, in the days beforeWorld War II was the standard textbook for law students.
His prominence as a lawyer paralleled his fame as a writer. He was known for his logic and lucidity of mind in both undertakings.
Recto took part in many landmark cases. In "Hall v. Piccio" (G.R. No. L-2598), the landmark civil case involving Articles of Incorporation as a requisite to becoming a de facto corporation, Recto lost the case toRamon Diokno and his sonJose W. "Ka Pepe'' Diokno.[27] Recto and the former later collaborated and won in "Nacionalista Party v. Felix Angelo Bautista", against Felix Angelo Bautista, then theSolicitor-General of the Philippines.[28]
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He was raised and educated in theSpanish language, his mother tongue alongsideTagalog, and he was also fluent inEnglish. He initially gained fame as a poet while a student at the University of Santo Tomás when he published a bookBajo los Cocoteros (Under the Coconut Trees, 1911), a collection of his poems in Spanish. As a staff writer ofEl Ideal andLa Vanguardia, he wrote a daily column,Primeras Cuartillas (First Sheets), under thepen name "Aristeo Hilario." They were prose and numerous poems of satirical pieces. Some of his works still grace classic poetry anthologies of the Hispanic world.
Among the plays he authored wereLa Ruta de Damasco (The Route to Damascus, 1918), andSolo entre las sombras (Alone among the Shadows, 1917), lauded not only in the Philippines, but also inSpain andLatin America. Both were produced and staged in Manila to critical acclaim in the mid-1950s.
In 1929, his articleMonroismo asiático (Asiatic Monroism) validated his repute as a political satirist. In what was claimed as a commendable study in polemics, he proffered his arguments and defenses in a debate with Dean Máximo Kálaw of the University of the Philippines, where Kálaw championed a version of theMonroe Doctrine with its application to the Asian continent, while Recto took the opposing side. The original Monroe Doctrine (1823) was U.S. PresidentJames Monroe's foreign policy of keeping the Americas off-limits to the influence of the Old World, and states that the United States,Mexico, and countries in South and Central America were no longer open to European colonization. Recto was passionately against its implementation in Asia, wary ofJapan's preeminence and its aggressive stance towards its neighbors.
In his deliberation, he wrote about foreseeing the danger Japan posed to the Philippines and other Asian countries. His words proved prophetic when Japan invaded and colonized the region,including the Philippines from 1942 to 1945.
His eloquence and facility with the Spanish language were recognized throughout the Hispanic world. TheEnciclopedia Universal says of him: "Recto, more than a politician and lawyer, is a Spanish writer, and that among those of his race" (although he had Irish and Spanish ancestors), "there is not and there has been no one who has surpassed him in the mastery of the language of his country's former sovereign."[29]
Recto died of aheart attack in Rome, Italy, on October 2, 1960, while on a cultural mission to Spain, where he was to fulfill a series of speaking engagements. His body was flown back to the Philippines to be buried inManila North Cemetery.
The U.S.Central Intelligence Agency is suspected of involvement in his death. Recto, who had no known heart disease, met with two mysterious Caucasians in business suits before he died. United States government documents later showed[10] that a plan to murder Recto with a vial ofpoison was discussed byCIA Chief of Station Ralph Lovett and the US Ambassador to thePhilippines AdmiralRaymond Spruance years earlier.[12]
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Recto is referred to by some as the "Great Academician"[8] or the "finest mind of his generation".[30] Teodoro M. Locsín ofPhilippines Free Press, defined Recto's genius:
Recto is not a good speaker, no. He will arouse no mob. But heaven help the one whose pretensions he chooses to demolish. His sentences march like ordered battalions against the inmost citadel of the man's arguments and reduce them to rubble; meanwhile, his reservations stand like armed sentries against the most silent approach and every attempt at encirclement by the adversary. The reduction to absurdity of Nacionalista senator Zulueta's conception of sound foreign policy was a shattering experience; the skill that goes into the cutting of a diamond went into the work of demolition. There was no slip of the hand, no flaw in the tool. All was delicately, perfectly done... Recto cannot defend the indefensible, but what can be defended, he will see to it that it will not be taken.[30]
Critics claim that Recto's brilliance is overshadowed by his inability to capture nationwide acceptance. His lack of popularity frequently saw him at the bottom of senate votes, and he sometimes lost the senate elections. He was seen as out of touch with the poor and only garnered less than nine percent of votes when he ran for the presidency in 1957. His appeal was limited to the intellectual elite and the nationalist minority of his time, though others argue that he was just too ahead of his time.[31][unreliable source?]
Political editorialistManuel L. Quezon III, laments:
Recto's leadership was the curious kind that only finds fulfillment from being at the periphery of power, and not from being its fulcrum. It was the best occupation suited to the satirist that he was. His success at the polls would be limited, his ability to mold the minds of his contemporaries was only excelled by Rizal's... But he was admired for his intellect and his dogged determination to never let the opposition be bereft of a champion, still, his opposition was flawed. For it was one that never bothered to transform itself into an opposition capable of taking power.[30]
However, one possible explanation as to why Recto was never able to capture full national acceptance was because he dared to strongly oppose the national security interests of the United States in the Philippines, as when he campaigned against the US military bases in his country.[12] During the 1957 presidential campaign, theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) conducted black propaganda operations to ensure his defeat, including the distribution of condoms with holes in them and marked with `Courtesy of Claro M. Recto' on the labels.[12]
Recto married Ángeles Silos y Jamora on 10 February 1912.[32]
Claro Mayo Recto had seven children in all: four children from his first marriage with Angeles Jamora Silos,[32] and two sons with his second wife, Aurora Reyes. He is the grandfather ofRalph Recto.
His children with Angeles Silos were:
His children with Aurora Reyes were:
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
Media related toClaro M. Recto at Wikimedia Commons| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by Thomas A. Street | Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines 1935–1936 | Succeeded by |
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