Franklin Drilon | |
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.jpg) Drilon in 2018 | |
| 22nd, 24th, & 27thPresident of the Senate of the Philippines | |
| In office July 22, 2013 – June 30, 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Jinggoy Estrada (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Aquilino Pimentel III |
| In office July 23, 2001 – July 24, 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Aquilino Pimentel Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Manny Villar |
| In office July 12, 2000[1] – November 13, 2000 | |
| Preceded by | Blas Ople |
| Succeeded by | Aquilino Pimentel Jr. |
| President pro tempore of the Senate of the Philippines | |
| In office July 25, 2016 – February 27, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Ralph Recto |
| Succeeded by | Ralph Recto |
| Senate Majority Leader | |
| In office January 26, 1998 – July 12, 2000 | |
| Preceded by | Francisco Tatad |
| Succeeded by | Francisco Tatad |
| Senate Minority Leader | |
| In office February 28, 2017 – June 30, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Ralph Recto |
| Succeeded by | Koko Pimentel |
| Senator of the Philippines | |
| In office June 30, 2010 – June 30, 2022 | |
| In office June 30, 1995 – June 30, 2007 | |
| Chair of thePhilippine Senate Finance Committee | |
| In office July 26, 2010 – July 22, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Edgardo Angara |
| Succeeded by | Francis Escudero |
| 25thExecutive Secretary of the Philippines | |
| In office July 15, 1991 – June 30, 1992 | |
| President | Corazon Aquino |
| Preceded by | Oscar Orbos |
| Succeeded by | Peter Garuccho |
| 44th and 46thSecretary of Justice | |
| In office July 1, 1992 – February 2, 1995 | |
| President | Fidel V. Ramos |
| Preceded by | Silvestre Bello III |
| Succeeded by | Demetrio G. Demetria |
| In office January 4, 1990 – July 14, 1991 | |
| President | Corazon Aquino |
| Preceded by | Sedfrey A. Ordoñez |
| Succeeded by | Silvestre Bello III |
| Secretary of Labor and Employment | |
| In office January 5, 1987 – January 2, 1990 | |
| President | Corazon Aquino |
| Preceded by | Augusto A. Sanchez |
| Succeeded by | Dionisio C. dela Serna |
| 13th President of theLiberal Party | |
| In office August 10, 2004 – November 5, 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Florencio Abad |
| Succeeded by | Mar Roxas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Franklin Magtunao Drilon (1945-11-28)November 28, 1945 (age 79) |
| Political party | Liberal (2003–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Independent (2000–2003) LAMMP (1998–2000) Lakas (1995–1998) UNIDO (1987–1988) |
| Spouse(s) | Violeta Calvo (died) Mila Serrano-Genuino |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence(s) | Iloilo City,Iloilo San Juan,Metro Manila |
| Alma mater | University of the Philippines Diliman (BA,LL.B.) |
| Occupation | Lawyer,Politician |
Franklin Magtunao Drilon (Tagalog pronunciation:[dɾiˈlɔn]; born November 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and former politician.[2] He has served thrice aspresident of the Senate: in 2000, from 2001 to 2006, and from 2013 to 2016.
Having also served asSenate president pro tempore,Senate Majority Leader, andSenate Minority Leader, he is the only senator to have held all four of the Senate's major leadership positions. A member of theLiberal Party since 2003, he has previously led the party as president, chairman, and vice-chairman.
He also served asSecretary of Labor and Employment,Secretary of Justice, andExecutive Secretary in the administration of PresidentCorazon Aquino. He became Secretary of Justice again during the administration of PresidentFidel V. Ramos.
Drilon was born and raised inIloilo City and studied law at theUniversity of the Philippines. He placed third in the 1969Bar Exams and worked as a private practice lawyer before joining the government.
Drilon was born on November 28, 1945, inIloilo City,Iloilo and is the eldest son of Cesar Drilon Sr. and Primitiva Magtunao. He took his elementary education at the Baluarte Elementary School inMolo, Iloilo City, and graduated in 1957. He finished his secondary education at theU.P. - Iloilo College (nowUniversity of the Philippines High School in Iloilo) in 1961.
From theUniversity of the Philippines Diliman (U.P.) where he received hisBachelor of Arts Political Science degree in 1965. At U.P., he was the associate editor of the student newspaperPhilippine Collegian and served as councilor of the U.P.Student Council. Among his classmates were future politiciansMiriam Defensor Santiago andRonaldo Zamora. In 1969, he completed hisBachelor of Laws (LL.B) at theUniversity of the Philippines College of Law in UP Diliman. He placed 3rd in the 1969 Philippine Bar Examinations with an 86.85% bar rating.[3]
In the same year, he served as an associate lawyer ofSycip, Salazar, Luna, Manalo & Feliciano Law Offices[4] (now SyCip, Salazar, Hernandez & Gatmaitan). He moved to Angara, Abello, Concepcion, Regala & Cruz Law Offices[5] (ACCRALaw) in 1974, where he still serves as Senior Counsel. ACCRALaw elevated him topartner in 1975,co-managing partner in 1981 andmanaging partner in 1986.
Drilon was also a Bar Examiner on Labor and Social Legislation in the 1979 and 1984bar examinations. He also became the vice-president and governor of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and the vice-president, Board member and treasurer of the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP).
Drilon served the government and public corporations through the following positions:
As Justice Secretary, Drilon was instrumental in the prosecution and conviction of MayorAntonio Sanchez ofCalauan,Laguna, who masterminded the rape-slaying of aUP Los Baños coed and the murder of his friend; and Claudio Teehankee Jr., who was figured in the gun slaying of Maureen Hultman. Both cases ended up in convictions.
In 1992, most of the Aquinocabinet were drafted for the Senate candidate line-up of the newly created party,Lakas; Drilon opted to helpPresident Aquino finish her term. He was again given the opportunity to run as a senatorial candidate of theLakas–Laban Coalition in the1995 election. He got the fourth highest number of votes in that Senate race. In 1998, he bolted Lakas and joined theLaban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino (LAMMP) and supportedJoseph Estrada in the presidency contest. He was selected as Senate Majority Floor Leader the same year. In 1999, he was among those who voted in favor of the ratification of theVisiting Forces Agreement.
WhenMarcelo Fernan died of cancer the same year, he made concessions withBlas Ople in sharing the seat of theSenate President. They agreed that Ople will serve as Senate President from 1999 to 2000 and he would serve from 2000 to 2001. Ople served his term from July 1999-July 2000. Drilon was installed as Senate President in July 2000.In October 2000 he issued a statement about theJuetengate Scandal of PresidentJoseph Estrada. He was removed the next month through a Senate revamp andAquilino Pimentel Jr. was installed as Senate President (Drilon would also be succeeded by his sonAquilino Pimentel III as Senate President in 2016). In December 2000, animpeachment case was filed against President Estrada in the Senate. During the January 13, 2001, session of the impeachment proceedings, he was one of those who voted in favor of the opening of a mysterious second bank envelope. Their vote was outnumbered and Drilon was remembered as the Senator who cried in front of Senate President Pimentel together with SenatorLoren Legarda, as impeachment lawyers walked out of the session hall in protest.Joseph Estrada was subsequently ousted that very evening by what would be remembered as thesecond EDSA People Power Revolution. Drilon allowed Pimentel to occupy the Senate presidency until the end of the regular session in June 2001.
When the session resumed in July 2001, Pimentel was replaced by Drilon as Senate President. Pimentel bolted the administration coalition and joined forces with the opposition coalition.
Drilon ran again for the Senate as independent but was under the People Power Coalition senatorial line-up. The lineup was carefully chosen and the first letter of the candidate's surname (except for Roberto Pagdanganan) ended up with the line VOT FOR D CHAMMP. The line became a hit, and it led to the election of most of the coalition's senatorial candidates including Drilon. He again served as Senate President from 2001 to 2006.
In 2003, administration coalition partnerLiberal Party, to which President Arroyo's father,Diosdado Macapagal, served as chairman in the 1960s, invited Drilon to be its member. Days later, Drilon was elected chairman of the political party. Before the2004 elections, Drilon invited SenatorRodolfo Biazon to be a party member. Biazon bolted Raul Roco'sAksyon Demokratiko (Aksyon) only days after he joined that party's convention to become a Liberal.
Drilon had close contacts with PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo since 2001 and actively supported her when she ran for a fresh mandate to occupy the office of the President. That relationship ended on July 8, however, when Drilon—together with Biazon and some prominent Liberals—decided to withdraw their support for her and asked for her resignation. In Arroyo's 2005 State of the Nation Address, Drilon was the only one noticed not applauding throughout the entire program. Drilon has been a vocal critic of the NorthRail project, a Chinese government-backed project to overhaul Manila's decrepit railway system. The railway was to be the first double-tracked railway in the country, and was expected to eventually extend toClark in Pampanga and, according to the architects, as far north asSan Fernando, La Union. During his second term as Senate President, Drilon spearheaded the Senate's confronting the excesses of the executive branch by authorizing the Senate standing committees to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation; he led the Chamber in opposing Executive Order No. 264, which prohibited members of the Cabinet from attending hearings of Congress, the Senate in particular, without permission from the President; he also opposed Proclamation No. 1017, which imposed a state of national emergency in the country. The Supreme Court sustained the Senate's stand on the two issues. He was hailed by all as the leading defender of the Senate's independence and of its constitutional duties. Drilon likewise led the Senate in opposing moves by the House of Representatives to amend the Constitution that would supposedly shift the legislature to a unicameral legislature, abolishing the Senate.
In 2006, Drilon was succeeded as Senate President by SenatorManny Villar in accordance with a term-sharing agreement they forged in early 2004. And from 2006 to the end of his second term as Senator on 2007, Drilon served as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and worked firmly for the enactment of the new national budget law on 2007.
Drilon was re-elected to the Philippine Senate in 2010 and was then honored for his 15-year service to the senate (1995–2010). He served as the Assistant Majority Leader and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and led the Senate in enacting the national budget laws on time for 2011, 2012 and 2013. He likewise primarily authored a law that created an oversight body of all government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) which would check them from incurring financial excesses and as well as ensuring their financial stability and makes them fiscally responsible. On 2012, after SenatorRalph Recto stepped down as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, Drilonas its vice-chairman took over as its new chairman and worked firmly for the enactment of the Sin Tax Law that would impose higher taxes on the cigarettes and liquors. Drilon proudly called it as "anti-cancer law" for he firmly believes that the law would discourage the people from taking cigarettes so that they will not suffer lung cancer.
During the impeachment trial of then Chief JusticeRenato Corona in early 2012, he acted as one of the Senator-Judges and later voted for his conviction and removal from office and disqualification from holding any elective or appointive government office.
Halfway through the Presidency ofBenigno Aquino III, Drilon won the majority of votes after being voted as Senate President, following the resignation of former Senate PresidentJuan Ponce Enrile. It was predicted long after the resignation of Enrile, that Drilon would have the majority. Enrile was subsequently elected as Minority Leader but was then imprisoned.
Drilon is the acknowledged father ofcorporate lawyers in the Philippines, having sponsored and wrote the Revised Corporation Code in 2018.[6]
Drilon was married to fellow lawyer and ACCRA senior partner Violeta Calvo, with whom he had two children, Eliza and Patrick. During his candidacy for a Senate seat in 1995, Drilon often traveled to the US to be with his wife who was then being treated forlung cancer. Mrs. Drilon died of the disease in September 1995, two months after her husband assumed his Senate seat. Two years after, Drilon proposed to close family friend Mila Serrano-Genuino, who was a widow. They married with former Presidents Aquino and Ramos as wedding sponsors.
Drilon has a nephew named Rock who is married to ABS-CBN Broadcast Journalist Cecilia Victoria Oreña, also known as Ces Drilon. Drilon is also a second cousin of formerIloilo City MayorJed Patrick Mabilog.
Drilon is a member of theRotary Club,Makati Chapter. He was an active member of theIntegrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) where he was a former President of thePasay–Makati–Mandaluyong–San Juan Chapter. Although he was born in Iloilo, he is a registered voter of Greenhills,San Juan.
Central Philippine University bestowed upon him an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities (Honoris Causa).
| Year | Office | Party | Votes received | Result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | % | P. | Swing | |||||
| 1995 | Senator of the Philippines | Lakas–NUCD | 11,032,476 | 42.87% | 5th | — | Won | |
| 2001 | Independent | 11,301,700 | 38.34% | 4th | -4.53 | Won | ||
| 2010 | Liberal | 15,871,117 | 41.60% | 4th | +3.26 | Won | ||
| 2016 | 18,607,391 | 41.37% | 1st | -0.23 | Won | |||
| Senate of the Philippines | ||
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| Preceded by | Majority leader of the Senate of the Philippines 1998–2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Senate of the Philippines 2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Senate of the Philippines 2001–2006 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of thePhilippine Senate Finance Committee 2010–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Senate of the Philippines 2013–2016 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President pro tempore of the Senate of the Philippines 2016–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Minority Floor Leader of the Senate of the Philippines 2017–2022 | Succeeded by | |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Sedfrey Ordoñez | Secretary of Justice 1990–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Eduardo Montenegro | Secretary of Justice 1992–1995 | Succeeded by Demetrio Demetria |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | President ofLiberal Party 2004–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman ofLiberal Party 2006–2011 | Succeeded by |
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Senatorial history of Franklin Drilon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| International | |
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| National | |
