Jose P. Laurel

His Excellency José P. Laurel
File:Ph pres laurel.jpg
3rd President of the Philippines President of the 2nd Republic
In office October 14, 1943 – August 17, 1945
President	Manuel L. Quezon (1941-1944) Sergio Osmeña (1944-1946)
Preceded by	Jorge B. Vargas (Head of the Philippine Executive Commission)
Associate Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court
In office February 29, 1936 – February 5, 1942
Preceded by	George A. Malcolm
Succeeded by	None
Personal details
Born	(1891-03-09)March 9, 1891 Tanauan, Batangas
Died	November 6, 1959(1959-11-06) (aged 68) Manila
Political party	Kapisanan ng Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas (KALIBAPI)
Spouse	Pacencia Hidalgo
Signature

José Paciano Laurel y García (March 9, 1891 – November 6, 1959) was the president of the Republic of the Philippines during World War II, from 1943 to 1945.

Laurel was not subsequently officially recognized as a Philippine president until the administration of Diosdado Macapagal.

Early life

José P. Laurel was born on March 9, 1891 in the town of Tanauan City, Batangas. His parents were Sotero Laurel, Sr. and Jacoba García. His father had been an official in the revolutionary government of Emilio Aguinaldo and a signatory to the 1898 Malolos Constitution.

While a teen, Laurel was indicted for attempted murder when he almost killed a rival suitor of his girlfriend. While studying and finishing law school, he argued for and received an acquittal.

Laurel received his law degrees from the University of the Philippines in 1915 where he studied under Dean George A. Malcolm, whom he would later succeed on the Supreme Court. He then obtained a Master of Laws degree from Escuela de Derecho in 1919. Laurel then attended Yale Law School, where he was a member of Law Review and obtained a Doctorate of Law.

Political career

File:Laurel Jose.jpg

Post Presidency of Mr. Laurel

Laurel began his life in public service while a student, as a messenger in the Bureau of Forestry then as a clerk in the Code Committee tasked with the codification of Philippine laws. During his work for the Code Committee, he was introduced to its head, Thomas A. Street, a future Supreme Court Justice who would be a mentor to the young Laurel.

Upon his return from Yale, Laurel was appointed first as Undersecretary of the Interior Department, then promoted as Secretary of the Interior in 1922. In that post, he would frequently clash with the American Governor-General Leonard 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.

In 1925 he was elected to the Philippine Senate. He would serve for one term before losing his re-election bid in 1931 to Claro M. Recto. He retired to private practice, but by 1934, he was again elected 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 on the Bill of Rights. Following the ratification of the 1935 Constitution and the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Laurel was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on February 29, 1936.

Jurisprudence of Justice Laurel

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. 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 of Marbury 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 the National Assembly, the Court, through Justice Laurel's opinion, firmly entrenched the power of Philippine courts to engage in judicial 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."

Another highly influential decision penned by Laurel was Ang 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 to due 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 banning kalesas from Manila streets during certain afternoon hours. The Court, through Laurel, upheld the regulation as within the police power of the government. But in rejecting the claim that the regulation was violative of social justice, Laurel would respond with what would become his most famous aphorism, 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 ensure economic stability of all the component 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 exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi est supremo lex."

Presidency

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II, Laurel was instructed to remain in Manila by President Manuel L. Quezon, who fled to Corregidor and then to the United States to establish a government-in-exile. His prewar, close relationship with Japanese officials (a son had been sent to study at the Imperial Military Academy in Tokyo, and Laurel had received an honorary doctorate from Tokyo University), placed him in a good position to interact with the Japanese occupation forces.

Laurel was among the Commonwealth officials instructed by the Japanese Imperial Army to form a provisional government when they invaded and occupied the country. It was because of his being well-known to the Japanese as a critic of US rule, as well as his demonstrated willingness to serve under the Japanese Military Administration, that he held a series of high posts in 1942-1943. In 1943, he was shot by Philippine guerillas while playing golf at Wack-Wack, but he quickly recovered. Later that year, he was selected, by the National Assembly, under vigorous Japanese influence, to serve as President.

The presidency of Laurel understandably remains one of the most controversial in Philippine history. After the war, he would be denounced in some quarters as a war collaborator or even a traitor, although his indictment for treason was superseded by President Roxas' Amnesty Proclamation, and evidenced by his subsequent electoral success. Today, Laurel is considered as doing his best in interceding, protecting and looking after the best interests of the Filipinos against the harsh wartime Japanese military rule and policies. During his presidency, the Philippines faced a crippling food shortage which demanded much of Laurel's attention. Laurel also resisted in vain Japanese demands that the Philippines issue a formal declaration of war against the United States. There were also reports during his presidency of the Japanese military carrying out rape and massacre among the Filipino population.

Telling of Laurel's ambivalent and precarious position is the following anecdote. In 1944, Laurel issued an executive order organizing the KALIBAPI as the sole political organization to back the government. An attempt was made to organize a women's section of the KALIBAPI, and Laurel hosted several women leaders in Malacañang Palace to plead his case. After he spoke, a university president, speaking in behalf of the group, responded, "Mr. President, sa kabila po kami". ("Mr. President, we are on the other side.") Laurel joined the others assembled in hearty laughter and the KALIBAPI women's section was never formed.

Presidential candidate and Senator

On August 15, 1945, the Japanese forces surrendered to the United States. Gen. Douglas MacArthur ordered Laurel arrested for collaborating with the Japanese. In 1946 he was charged with 132 counts of treason, but was never brought to trial due to the general amnesty granted by President Manuel Roxas in 1948. Laurel ran for president against Elpidio Quirino in 1949 but lost in what was then considered as the dirtiest election in Philippine electoral history.

Laurel was elected to the Senate in 1951, under the Nacionalista Party. He was urged upon to run for President in 1953, but he declined, working instead for the successful election of Ramon Magsaysay. Magsaysay appointed Laurel head of a mission tasked with negotiating trade and other issues with United States officials, the result being known as the Laurel-Langley Agreement.

Retirement and death

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 the Lyceum of the Philippines established by his family. On November 6, 1959, he died in Lourdes Hospital, Manila, of a massive heart attack and stroke.

Family

Laurel was married to Pacencia Hidalgo in 1911, and had nine children. Several of his children became famous politicians in their own right. His eldest son, Jose, Jr., became Speaker of the House of Representatives and a candidate for vice-president in 1957. His younger son, Salvador, was Vice-President from 1986 to 1992.

Three other of Laurel's children would become prominent in politics. Sotero Laurel, named after Laurel's own father, was elected to the Senate from 1987 to 1992; Jose S. Laurel III became Ambassador to Japan; and Mariano H. Laurel became president of the Philippine Banking Corporation. The youngest son, Arsenio ("Dodie") earned fame in a wholly different field, as a race car driver, but he would die tragically young in a racing accident.

External links

• The Philippine Presidency Project

References

• Laurel, Jose P. (1953). Bread and Freedom.
• Zaide, Gregorio F. (1984). Philippine History and Government. National Bookstore Printing Press.
• Sevilla, Victor J. (1985). Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Vol. I. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers. pp. pp. 79-80, 174–176. ISBN 971-10-0134-9. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
• Malcolm, George A. (1957). American Colonial Careerist. United States of America: Christopher Publishing House. pp. pp. 103-104, 96–97, 139, 249–251. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
• Aluit, Alfonso (1994). By Sword and Fire: The Destruction of Manila in World War II 3 February - 3 March 1945. Philippines: National Commission for Culture and the Arts. pp. pp. 134-138. ISBN 971-8521-10-0. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)