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Jose P. Laurel | |
|---|---|
 Laurel in 1943 during his visit to Tokyo to attend the Greater East Asia Conference. | |
| 3rd President of the Philippines | |
| In office October 14, 1943 – August 17, 1945 | |
| Vice President |
|
| Preceded by | Manuel L. Quezon[c] |
| Succeeded by | Sergio Osmeña[d] |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office December 4, 1942 – October 14, 1943 | |
| Presiding Officer,PEC | Jorge B. Vargas |
| Preceded by | Benigno Aquino Sr. |
| Commissioner of Justice | |
| In office December 24, 1941 – December 2, 1942 | |
| Presiding Officer,PEC | Jorge B. Vargas |
| Preceded by | Teófilo Sison |
| Succeeded by | Teófilo Sison |
| Senator of the Philippines | |
| In office December 30, 1951 – December 30, 1957 | |
| Constituency | At-large |
| In office June 2, 1925 – June 2, 1931 Serving with Manuel L. Quezon | |
| Preceded by | Antero Soriano |
| Succeeded by | Claro M. Recto |
| Constituency | 5th district |
| 34thAssociate Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court | |
| In office February 29, 1936 – February 5, 1942 | |
| Appointed by | Manuel L. Quezon |
| Preceded by | George Malcolm |
| Succeeded by | Court reorganized |
| Majority Floor Leader of the Senate of the Philippines | |
| In office June 2, 1925 – June 2, 1931 | |
| Senate President | Manuel L. Quezon |
| Preceded by | Francisco Enage |
| Succeeded by | Benigno Aquino Sr. |
| 10thSecretary of the Interior | |
| In office February 9, 1923 – July 17, 1923 | |
| Preceded by | Teodoro Kalaw |
| Succeeded by | Felipe Agoncillo |
| Undersecretary of theDepartment of Interior and Local Government | |
Ad interim | |
| In office May 22, 1922 – February 9, 1923 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | José Paciano Laurel y García (1891-03-09)March 9, 1891 |
| Died | November 6, 1959(1959-11-06) (aged 68) Santa Mesa,Manila, Philippines |
| Resting place | Tanauan City Public Cemetery,Tanauan,Batangas, Philippines |
| Political party | Nacionalista (1925–1942; 1945–1959) |
| Other political affiliations | KALIBAPI (1942–1945) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Jose B. Laurel, Jr. Jose S. Laurel III Natividad Laurel-Guinto Sotero Laurel II Mariano Laurel Rosenda Laurel-Avanceña Potenciana Laurel-Yupangco Salvador Laurel Arsenio Laurel |
| Alma mater | University of the Philippines Manila (LLB) University of Santo Tomas (LLM) Yale University (SJD) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Years of service | 1943–1945 |
| Rank | Commander-in-Chief |
| Battles/wars | |
José Paciano García Laurel Sr. (March 9, 1891 – November 6, 1959) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, and judge, who served as the President of theSecond Philippine Republic from 1943 to 1945, which was aJapaneseally duringWorld War II.
Laurel was the runner-up in the1949 Philippine presidential election. In the1951 Philippine Senate election, he was elected to theSenate of the Philippines for theNacionalista Party. He headed a mission to negotiate trade and other matters with the United States, which led to theLaurel–Langley Agreement of 1954.
Since the administration of PresidentDiosdado Macapagal (1961–1965), Laurel has been recognized by later administrations as a former president of the Philippines.
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Jose Paciano Laurel y García was born on March 9, 1891, in the town ofTanauan,Batangas. His parents were Sotero Laurel y Remoquillo and Jacoba García y Pimentel, both from Tanauan. His father had been an official in the revolutionary government ofEmilio Aguinaldo and a signatory to the1899 Malolos Constitution. Like many other presidents, he was ofChinesemestizo descent.[1] His second given name Paciano was in honor ofPaciano Rizal.[2]
Laurel studied at the San Jose College in Tanauan before transferring in 1903 toColegio de San Juan de Letran inManila. He later attended "La Regeneracion", where he completed the Spanish secondary course of instruction. In 1907, he finished the intermediate grades at Manila public schools.[3]
Laurel completed his high school education atManila High School in 1911.[3] While still a teenager, Laurel was indicted for attempted murder when he almost killed, with afan knife, a rival suitor of the girl he stole a kiss from. While studying atlaw school, he argued for and received an acquittal in 1912.[4]
Laurel received his law degree from theUniversity of the Philippines College of Law in 1915, where he studied under DeanGeorge A. Malcolm, whom he would later succeed at theSupreme Court of the Philippines. In the same year, he took thePhilippine bar examination and placed second. He then obtained aMaster of Laws degree from theUniversity of Santo Tomas in 1919. Laurel was later awarded a scholarship atYale Law School, where he obtained hisJ.S.D. degree in 1920. In the same year, he was admitted to the Bar by theSupreme Court of the United States and theSuperior Court andCourt of Appeals of the District of Columbia. He later traveled extensively throughout theUnited States andEurope, where he also took special courses ininternational law atOxford University inEngland and at theUniversity of Paris inFrance before returning to the Philippines in 1921.[2] He also earned his Doctorate in Jurisprudence at the School of Law in Manila and Humanities at theUniversity of Santo Tomas, also in Manila.[5]
Laurel began his life in public service while he was a student. He served as a messenger in the Bureau of Forestry, then as a clerk in the Code Committee tasked with thecodification of Philippine laws, and as a law clerk in the Executive Bureau. During his work for the Code Committee, he was introduced to its head, Thomas A. Street, a futureSupreme CourtJustice who would be a mentor to the young Laurel.[6]
In 1921, Laurel was also appointed as a lecturer at University of the Philippines, particularly at the College of Liberal Arts and at the College of Law.[3]
Laurel was appointed first as ad interim Undersecretary of the Interior Department in 1922 (with two stints as acting secretary),[7] then promoted asSecretary of the Interior in 1923. In that post, he would frequently clash with the AmericanGovernor-GeneralLeonard Wood, and eventually, in 1923, resign from his position together with other Cabinet members in protest of Wood's administration. His clashes with Wood solidified Laurel's nationalist credentials.
Laurel was a member of the Philippine fraternityUpsilon Sigma Phi.[8]
In1925, Laurel was elected to thePhilippine Senate, beating incumbent SenatorAntero Soriano. Serving from the5th district, he would serve for one term before losing his re-election bid in1931 to fellow BatangueñoClaro M. Recto.[9]
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He retired to private practice, but by 1934, he was againelected to public office, this time as a delegate to the 1935 Constitutional Convention. Hailed as one of the "Seven Wise Men of the Convention", he would sponsor the provisions of the Bill of Rights.[9] Following the ratification of the1935 Constitution and the establishment of theCommonwealth of the Philippines, Laurel was appointedAssociate Justice of theSupreme Court on February 29, 1936.[10]
Laurel's Supreme Court tenure may have been overshadowed by his presidency, yet he remains one of the most important Supreme Court justices in Philippine history.[according to whom?] He authored several leading cases still analyzed to this day that defined the parameters of the branches of government as well as their powers.
Angara v. Electoral Commission,63 Phil. 139 (1936), which is considered as the Philippine equivalent ofMarbury v. Madison,5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), is Laurel's most important contribution to jurisprudence and even the rule of law in the Philippines. In affirming that the Court had jurisdiction to review the rulings of the Electoral Commission organized under theNational Assembly, the Court, through Justice Laurel's opinion, firmly entrenched the power of Philippine courts to engage injudicial review of the acts of the other branches of government, and to interpret the Constitution. Held the Court, through Laurel:
The Constitution is a definition of the powers of government. Who is to determine the nature, scope, and extent of such powers? The Constitution itself has provided for the instrumentality of the judiciary as the rational way. And when the judiciary mediates to allocate constitutional boundaries, it does not assert any superiority over the other departments; it does not in reality nullify or invalidate an act of the legislature, but only asserts the solemn and sacred obligation assigned to it by the Constitution to determine conflicting claims of authority under the Constitution and to establish for the parties in an actual controversy the rights which that instrument secures and guarantees to them.[11]
Another highly influential decision penned by Laurel wasAng Tibay v. CIR,69 Phil. 635 (1940). The Court acknowledged in that case that the substantive and procedural requirements before proceedings in administrative agencies, such as labor relations courts, were more flexible than those in judicial proceedings. At the same time, the Court still asserted that the right todue process of law must be observed and enumerated the "cardinal primary rights" that must be respected in administrative proceedings. Since then, these "cardinal primary rights" have stood as the standard in testing due process claims in administrative cases.
Calalang v. Williams,70 Phil. 726 (1940) was a seemingly innocuous case involving a challenge raised by a private citizen to a traffic regulation banningkalesas fromManila streets during certain afternoon hours. The Court, through Laurel, upheld the regulation as within thepolice power of the government. But in rejecting the claim that the regulation was violative ofsocial justice, Laurel would respond with what would become his most famousaphorism, which is to this day widely quoted by judges and memorized by Filipino law students:
Social justice is neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy, but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the competent elements of society, through the maintenance of a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments on the time-honored principle ofsalus populi est suprema lex. Social justice, therefore, must be founded on the recognition of the necessity of interdependence among divers and diverse units of a society and of the protection that should be equally and evenly extended to all groups as a combined force in our social and economic life, consistent with the fundamental and paramount objective of the state of promoting the health, comfort, and quiet of all persons, and of bringing about "the greatest good to the greatest number.[12]
While an associate justice, Laurel also held other appointive posts. Laurel was appointed by PresidentManuel L. Quezon as a member of the Moral Code Committee in 1939 and as member of the Code Committee in 1940. In 1941, he was also appointed as Professor of Civil Law at the Central College of Law. He was also named as actingSecretary of Justice and actingChief Justice in December of the same year and Commissioner of Justice in January 1942.[3] His time as associate justice ended on February 5, 1942
TheJapanese occupation of the Philippines was launched on December 8, 1941, soon after the Pearl Harbour attack. On December 10, Associate Justice Laurel was appointed by President Manuel L. Quezon as acting Secretary of Justice.
Lacking air cover, theUnited States Asiatic Fleet withdrew to Java on December 12. General Douglas MacArthur was ordered out, leaving his men at Corregidor on March 11, 1942, for Australia. Some 76,000 American and Filipino defenders inBataan surrendered on April 9, 1942.
Laurel was among the Commonwealth officials instructed by the Japanese Imperial Army to form a provisional government when it took control of the country. He cooperated with the Japanese, in contrast to Chief JusticeJosé Abad Santos, who was shot for refusing to cooperate.[13] Laurel was well known to the Japanese as a critic of US rule and had demonstrated a willingness to serve under the Japanese Military Administration, and held a series of high posts in 1942–1943.
He was appointed Commissioner of Justice by the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Forces on January 26, 1942, but this was effective on January 23. On December 2, 1942, he was relieved of the post to become Minister of the Interior, a position he had previously held as Secretary two decades before.[3] He relinquished the post on October 14, 1943, when he was inaugurated President of the Second Philippine Republic.
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On June 5, 1943, Laurel was playing golf at theWack Wack Golf and Country Club, then in theCity of Greater Manila, when he was shot around four times with a.45 caliber pistol.[14] The bullets barely missed his heart and liver.[14] He was rushed by his golfing companions, among themFar Eastern University presidentNicanor Reyes Sr., to thePhilippine General Hospital where he was operated on by the Chief Military Surgeon of the Japanese Military Administration and Filipino surgeons. Laurel recovered from his wounds.[14]
Two suspects to the shooting were reportedly captured and swiftly executed by theKempetai.[15] Another suspect, a former boxer named Feliciano Lizardo, was presented for identification by the Japanese to Laurel at the latter's hospital bed, but Laurel then professed unclear memory.[15]
However, in his 1953 memoirs, Laurel would admit that Lizardo, by then one of his bodyguards who had pledged to give his life for him, was indeed the would-be-assassin.[15] Still, the historianTeodoro Agoncillo in his book on the Japanese occupation, identified a captain with a guerilla unit as the shooter.[15]
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| Presidential styles of Jose P. Laurel | |
|---|---|
| Reference style | His Excellency[16] |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
| Alternative style | Mr. President |
The presidency of Laurel understandably remains one of the most controversial in Philippine history. After the war, he would be denounced[who?] as awar collaborator and even a traitor, although his indictment for treason was superseded byPresident Roxas' Amnesty Proclamation.[17]
When Japan invaded, PresidentManuel L. Quezon first fled toBataan and then to the United States to establish a government-in-exile. Quezon ordered Laurel, Vargas and other cabinet members to stay. Laurel's prewar, close relationship with Japanese officials (a son had been sent to study at theImperial Japanese Army Academy in Tokyo, and Laurel had received an honorary doctorate fromTokyo Imperial University) in 1938, placed him in a good position to interact with the Japanese occupation forces.
Under vigorous Japanese influence, the National Assembly selected Laurel to serve as president in1943.[18] He took the oath of office on October 14, 1943, at the Legislative Building (now theNational Museum of Fine Arts) in Manila. The oath was administered byChief JusticeJosé Yulo.[3][19]
During Laurel's tenure as president,hunger was the main worry. Prices of essential commodities rose to unprecedented heights. The government exerted every effort to increase production and bring consumers' goods under control. However, Japanese rapacity had the better of it all. On the other hand,guerrilla activities and Japanese retaliatory measures brought the peace and order situation to a difficult point. Resorting to district-zoning and domiciliary searches, coupled with arbitrary arrests, the Japanese made the mission of Laurel's administration incalculably exasperating and perilous.[20]
During his presidency, the Philippines faced a crippling food shortage which demanded much of Laurel's attention.[21] Rice and bread were still available but the sugar supply was gone.[22]
On October 20, 1943, the Philippine-Japanese Treaty of Alliance was signed byClaro M. Recto, who was appointed by Laurel as hisForeign Minister, and Japanese Ambassador to Philippines Sozyo Murata. One redeeming feature was that no conscription was envisioned.[20]
Shortly after the inauguration of the Second Philippine Republic, President Laurel, together with cabinet Ministers Recto and Paredes flew to Tokyo to attend theGreater East Asia Conference which was an international summit held in Tokyo, Japan from November 5 to 6, 1943, in which Japan hosted theheads of state of various component members of theGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The conference was also referred to as theTokyo Conference.
The Conference addressed few issues of any substance, Eradication of Western Opium Drug Trade and to illustrate theEmpire of Japan's commitments to thePan-Asianism ideal and to emphasize its role as the "liberator" of Asia from Westerncolonialism.[23]
Laurel declared the country under martial law in 1944 through Proclamation No. 29, dated September 21. Martial law came into effect on September 22, 1944, at 9 a.m.[24] Proclamation No. 30 was issued the next day, declaring the existence of a state of war between the Philippines and the United States and the United Kingdom. This took effect on September 23, 1944, at 10:00 a.m.[25]
Due to the nature of Laurel's government and its connection to Japan, much of the population activelyresisted the Japanese occupation and his presidency,[26] instead supporting the exiledCommonwealth government.[27]
On October 20, 1944, American and Philippine armed forces landed onLeyte Island during theBattle of Leyte and began theLiberation of the Philippines. Philippine President in exileSergio Osmeña was among them. Other landings on other islands followed. Then on January 9, 1945, Allied forces landed on the south shore ofLingayen Gulf and began tomarch towards Manila.
During theBattle of Manila from February 3 to March 3, 1945, Japanese occupation forces were driven from the capital city. After that, only pockets of Japanese forces remained active in the Philippines.
Beginning in March 1945, President Laurel, together with his family,Camilo Osías,Benigno Aquino Sr., Gen.Mateo M. Capinpin, andJorge B. Vargas evacuated toBaguio. Shortly after the city fell, they traveled toTuguegarao, where they embarked abomber plane to Japan viaFormosa (nowTaiwan) andShanghai,China.
EmperorHirohito of Japan announcedJapan's unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers on August 15, 1945.
Two days later on August 17, 1945, fromNara Hotel inNara, Japan, Laurel issued an executive proclamation which declared the dissolution of his regime.[20]
On September 2, 1945, theJapanese forces formally surrendered to the United States.Gen. Douglas MacArthur ordered Laurel arrested for collaborating with the Japanese. Alongside his sonJose Laurel III and Benigno Aquino Sr., he was taken to custody and was imprisoned inYokohama on September 15, 1945. On November 16, 1945, they were transferred toSugamo Prison. While in prison, he was not allowed to have any reading material exceptThe World in 2030, a book by theEarl of Birkenhead that he had received as a gift from his sonSalvador Laurel. Lacking in writing instruments, he used this book to write hisMemoirs.[2]
On July 23, 1946, Laurel, together with Osias, Aquino, and his son Jose III, leftTokyo forManila, having been turned over to the Republic of the Philippines. One month later, he was placed under technical custody at hisPeñafrancia house in Paco, Manila but rather than accepting the given conditions, he preferred to be imprisoned at theNew Bilibid Prison inMuntinlupa,Rizal.[28] He was later provisionally released in September 1946 after posting a₱50,000 bail.[3] He was also charged with 132 counts oftreason in 1946 and was tried by the People's Court. However, the trial ended prematurely due to the generalamnesty granted by President Manuel Roxas in 1948.[17]
Laurel ran for president asNacionalista's presidential nominee against incumbent LiberalElpidio Quirino in the1949 Philippine presidential election but lost in what future Foreign Affairs SecretaryCarlos P. Romulo and Marvin M. Gray considered as the dirtiest election in Philippine electoral history.[29]
Laurel garnered more than 2 million votes and was elected to theSenate of the Philippines as the top vote-getter in the1951 Philippine Senate election, under theNacionalista Party. He was urged to run for president in 1953, but declined, working instead for the successful election ofRamon Magsaysay. Magsaysay appointed Laurel head of a mission tasked with negotiating trade and other issues with United States officials, the result being known as theLaurel–Langley Agreement. Laurel was also named as chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, which he held when he sponsored in 1955 a bill that would makeJosé Rizal's two novels,Noli Me Tángere andEl filibusterismo, as compulsory readings in all universities and colleges.[3]
Laurel considered his election to the Senate as a vindication of his reputation. He declined to run for re-election in 1957. He retired from public life, concentrating on the development of theLyceum of the Philippines established by his family, as well as the Philippine Banking Corporation, which he had established.[3][2]
During his retirement, Laurel resided in a 1957 three-story, seven-bedroom mansion inMandaluyong,Rizal, dubbed "Villa Pacencia" after Laurel's wife. The home was one of three residences constructed by the Laurel family, the other two being inTanauan, Batangas and inPaco, Manila (called "Villa Peñafrancia"). In 2008, the Laurel family sold "Villa Pacencia" to then-Senate PresidentManny Villar and his wifeCynthia.[30]
In 1958, Laurel launched an organization known as Committee of Citizens, which he headed. On the same year, it was announced that his book entitledThinking of Ourselves would be launched andThe Manila Times announced the launching of Unity Movement for National Survival that he sponsored. On his 68th birthday on March 9, 1959, PresidentCarlos P. Garcia conferred him the award ofPhilippine Legion of Honor with the degree of Chief Commander.
In the early afternoon of November 5, 1959, Laurel suffered a stroke. On November 6, 1959, at 1:00 in the morning, he died atOur Lady of Lourdes Hospital inManila,[31] from a massive heart attack and cerebral hemorrhage. President Carlos P. Garcia declared a "period of national mourning" from November 6 to the day of Laurel's interment over Laurel's death.[32] His wake was held at Villa Pacencia in Mandaluyong before being interred on November 8, 1959, at what is now Tanauan City Public Cemetery inTanauan, Batangas.[3][33][34]
National Honor
:Philippine Legion of Honor, Chief Commander - (1959)
:Knights of Rizal, Knight Grand CrossNamesake Structures
He marriedPacencia Hidalgo on April 9, 1911.[3] The couple had nine children:
{{cite book}}:|last= has generic name (help)Japan's efforts to win Filipino loyalty found expression in the establishment (Oct. 14, 1943) of a "Philippine Republic", with José P. Laurel, former supreme court justice, as president. But the people suffered greatly from Japanese brutality, and the puppet government gained little support.
| Offices and distinctions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Senate of the Philippines | ||
| Preceded by | Senator from the5th senatorial district 1925–1931 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Francisco Enage | Majority leader of the Senate of the Philippines 1928–1931 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | Associate Justice of the Supreme Court 1936–1941 | Court reorganised |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary of the Interior of the Philippines 1922–1923 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Secretary of Justice | Commissioner of Justice 1941–1942 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas president of the Philippines | President of the Republic of the Philippines 1943–1945 | Succeeded byas president of the Philippines |
| Preceded by Jorge B. Vargas (de facto) as Presiding Officer of thePhilippine Executive Commission | ||
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Nacionalista Party nominee for President of the Philippines 1949 | Succeeded by |
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