Leonardo A. Quisumbing (November 6, 1939 – January 20, 2019)^[1] was anAssociate Justice of theSupreme Court of the Philippines. He was appointed byPresidentFidel Ramos in 1998 and retired as the most senior Associate Justice of the Court on his 70th birthday in 2009.

Hailing fromMasbate City,Masbate, Quisumbing graduated valedictorian from the Masbate High School in 1955. He was a prominent campus figure as an undergraduate student at theManuel L. Quezon University, where he edited The Quezonian. He graduated magna cum laude with a degree of A.B. Journalism. After graduating, he enrolled at theU.P. College of Law. While at U.P., he was the president of the University Student Council, the president of the Student Councils Association of the Philippines, and an editor of thePhilippine Collegian. He earned his law degree in 1966. He placed 12th in the bar examinations in the same year and he pursued his post-graduate studies atCornell Law School, obtaining aMaster of Laws degree. He was also an NEC-AID Scholarship grantee. Quisumbing was a member of the National Debating Team to Australia that won the Wilmot Cup. On a Fulbright Youth Leader grant, he visitedHarvard University,Columbia University,Georgetown University, and other universities. He was also a delegate to the 11th International Student Conference in 1965 at Christchurch, New Zealand.^[2]

Quisumbing became a technical assistant to Executive SecretaryRafael Salas in 1965, and then became an assistant state counsel at theDepartment of Justice from 1966 to 1968. After a stint in private practice from 1968 to 1983, he joined the administration ofPresidentCorazon Aquino as senior executive assistant to the defense minister in 1986 and Undersecretary for theDepartment of National Defense in 1987. In 1992, he ran for senator under theLakas-NUCD but lost. During the administration ofFidel Ramos, he would first serve asSenior Deputy Executive Secretary in 1993, then, acting executive secretary in 1994. He also became the officer-in-charge of the Office of the Executive Secretary in September 1995, before being appointed asSecretary of the Department of Labor and Employment from 1996 to January 1998. It was from the DOLE that he was appointed to theSupreme Court on January 27, 1998, by Ramos. Before his present appointment, he also held the rank of Commodore of the Philippine Coast Guard, 106th Auxiliary Squadron.

He was a lecturer of the Philippine College of Commerce (now Polytechnic University of the Philippines) and theU.P. College of Law from 1977 to 1989.^[3] He also served briefly as dean at Northwestern University inLaoag City. For his academic and government service, he received the Presidential Order of Merit award, a Ph.D. honoris causa from theUniversity of Pangasinan and a doctorate degree in public administration from thePolytechnic University of the Philippines.

Quisumbing had special training in Management of Public Agencies at theCornell University Graduate School, in Research atGeorgetown University Communications at theMichigan State University, and in Public Sector Negotiations atHarvard University. While serving as a trade union officer, he attended international law and labor conferences in Geneva, Moscow, Beijing and Jakarta.

His published works include: Constitutional Control of the Election Process; Compensation in Land Reform Cases, Comparative Public Law Study; Asean Comparative Law (Vol. IV ed., Corporation Law) in the EEC and Asean, Two Regional Experiences; Law on Taxation in the Philippines; Labor Law and Jurisprudence (1992–1998); and Access to Justice, a lecture delivered before the 1993 Asean Law Association Conference in Singapore.

Quisumbing was married toDr. Purificacion Valera Quisumbing, who died in December 2011, the former chairperson of theCommission on Human Rights. They had two children: Josefa Lourdes and Cecilia Rachel.^[4][5]

Known as an activist, Quisumbing had a long record of union service since the 1970s. He was the former chairman of the Confederation of Industry Unions of the Philippines, (CINUP), former president of the National Alliance of Teachers and Allied Workers (NATAW), and former secretary-general of the Lakas Manggagawa Labor Center (LMLC).

• Cojuangco v. Sandiganbayan (1998) —on constitutional right of accused tospeedy trial
• Samson v. Aguirre (1999) —onconstitutionality of law creating acity ofNovaliches
• Cyanamid Phil. v. CA (2000) —on taxability of improperly accumulated profits or surplus
• Tijing v. CA (2001) —onadmissibility ofDNA evidence
• People v. Mojello (2004) - Dissenting Opinion —on right of anaccused to anindependent counsel of his own choice (joined by J.Vitug andTinga)
• MIAA v. Airspan Corp. (2004) —on authority of MIAA to increaseairport rental fees
• Poe v. Macapagal-Arroyo (2005) —on dismissal of election protest againstPresidentArroyo on account of the death of ProtestantFernando Poe, Jr.
• Republic v. Orbecido (2005) —on right to remarry of a Filipino after beingdivorced by a formerly-Filipino spouse who had obtainedforeign citizenship
• Henares, Jr. v. LTFRB (2006) —onmandamus as a means to compel the use ofcompressed natural gas injeepneys and otherpublic utility motor vehicles
• supremecourt.gov.ph/news, PET Junks Legarda’s Poll Protest against VP De Castro

• Justice Leonardo A. Quisumbing (Official Supreme Court Webpage)

• Associate justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
• 1939 births
• 2019 deaths
• 20th-century Filipino judges
• Cornell University alumni
• University of the Philippines alumni
• Manuel L. Quezon University alumni
• Lakas–CMD (1991) politicians
• People from Masbate
• Secretaries of labor and employment of the Philippines
• Ramos administration cabinet members
• Corazon Aquino administration personnel
• Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Merit (Philippines)
• 21st-century Filipino judges
• Philippine Collegian editors

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