Jovito Salonga, former Senate President and champion of democracy, passes away

Former Senate President Jovito Salonga has passed away on Thursday at the age of 95.

Human Rights commissioner Chito Gascon said Salonga's nephew called him Thursday afternoon to relay the news that the former senator has passed away at around 3 p.m.

Lawyer Roberto Mendoza, a partner at the Salonga Hernandez Mendoza law office, said Salonga’s son Steve informed him that the former senator had been in critical condition last night and was confined at the Philippine Heart Center.

He was elected to the Senate three times, topping the race in 1965, 1971, and 1987.

Salonga was among the victims of the Plaza Miranda bombings in 1971, when two hand grenades were thrown on stage during an opposition party rally. Nine people were killed, while Salonga was rendered blind in one eye and deaf in one ear.

A champion for Philippine democracy and a staunch opponent of the Marcos regime, Salonga defended political prisoners detained without charges after Martial Law was declared in 1972. 

After democracy was restored, Salonga headed the Philippine Commission on Good Government, which was tasked with the recovery of ill-gotten wealth from the dictator and his cronies.

He served as Senate President from 1987 to 1991, helping shepherd key legislation during the first years of the restored democracy. 

He was also part of the "Magnificent 12" senators along with Agapito "Butz" Aquino, Joseph Estrada, Teofisto Guingona Jr, Sotero Laurel II, Ernesto Maceda Jr, Orlando Mercado, Aquilino Pimentel Jr, Rene Saguisag, Wigberto Tañada, Victor Ziga, and Juan Ponce Enrile who voted to reject the country's bases treaty with the United States in 1991.

Salonga's vote as Senate President was key, breaking the 11-11 deadlock among the legislators to decide the tie.

He sought the presidency in 1992 as the standard-bearer of the Liberal Party, losing to Fidel Ramos.

Salonga was awarded the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service for his exemplary integrity and substance of his long public career in service to democracy and good government in the Philippines. 

Humble beginnings

He was born on June  22, 1920 to poor parents in Pasig, Rizal. His father was a Presbyterian pastor while his mother was a vendor. His parents instilled in the Salonga siblings the idea that education was their way out of poverty.

Salonga's education was interrupted during the Japanese occupation, when he joined the resistance movement. He was captured, tortured, and sentenced by a military court to years of hard labor.

He was released in 1943 and took the bar examinations a year after, topping it with a grade point average of 95.3 percent, together with Jose Diokno.

He earned his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines in 1946 — he went back to school after passing the bar — a master’s degree in law from Harvard Law School in 1948, and a doctorate in jurisprudence from Yale Law School in 1949.

He turned down a faculty position in Yale Law School because he felt he should take part in post-war reconstruction in the Philippines.

He then served as a law professor in various Philippine universities as well as a visiting lecturer in Canada, Japan, and the United States. He also authored several tax texts that are used in the country and abroad.

Overwhelming mandate

His political career began when he won for Congress, representing the second district of  Rizal from 1961 to 1965.

According to his Senate profile, his distinguished record as congressman won for him "the overwhelming mandate of the Filipino electorate as he consistently topped three senatorial elections despite lack of material means and at against all odds – a record without precedent in Philippine political history."

During the Marcos regime, the Philippines Free Press named him the "Nation's Fiscalizer" for persistently exposing the troubling anomalies of dictator.

He, along with others, was arrested and detained without any investigation and charges in 1980 after the bombing of the Asian Society of Travel Agents’ conference at the Philippine International Convention Center.

When he was released from military custody, he was offered a visiting scholarship. He returned to the country on January 21, 1985 to revive the political opposition against Marcos.

Among legislations he authored in the Senate were the Anti-Plunder Law, the State Scholarship Law, the Disclosure of Interest Act, the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

Retirement

Salonga retired from the government service  but remained active in pushing for his advocacies through his nongovernment organizations Bantay Katarungan (Sentinel of Justice) and Kilosbayan (People's Action).

He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 2007.

"To Salonga politics is not a game. There is a right and a wrong. Democracy is right. Social justice is right. The rule of law, honest and competent government, compassion for the poor, pride in country-all are right," his Ramon Magsaysay Award citation stated.

In his response, Salonga cited his religious upbringing as his motivation to serve the people.

"Because of my own religious upbringing-my father was a Presbyterian pastor and my mother was a woman of faith and spirituality-it was inevitable that my Christian beliefs and values should motivate and influence my thinking and my acts every day and every hour," he said.

He donated his $50,000.00 cash award to  Bantay Katarungan (Sentinel of Justice) and Kilosbayan (People's Action) and Silliman University, where his brother Benjamin who supported him, finished his degree in Chemistry. —with Xianne Arcangel/JST, GMA News