Lorenzo Tañada

The Honorable Lorenzo Tañada CCLH
Senator of the Philippines
In office December 30, 1947 – December 30, 1971
Minority leader of the Senate of the Philippines
In office 1953–1957
Preceded by	Carlos P. Garcia
Succeeded by	Ambrosio Padilla
Solicitor General of the Philippines
In office July 1, 1940 – June 30, 1941
President	Manuel Quezon
Preceded by	Roman Ozaeta
Succeeded by	Sixto dela Costa
In office July 1, 1945 – December 30, 1947
President	Sergio Osmeña Manuel Roxas
Preceded by	Sixto dela Costa
Succeeded by	Manuel Lim
Personal details
Born	Lorenzo Tañada y Martínez (1898-08-10)August 10, 1898 Gumaca, Tayabas, Captaincy General of the Philippines[note 1]
Died	May 28, 1992(1992-05-28) (aged 93) Manila, Philippines
Nationality	Filipino
Political party	Nationalist Citizens' Party (formerly Citizen's Party)
Other political affiliations	Liberal (1947-1953) Citizen's Party (1953-1957) LABAN (1978-1986, Campaign Manager) Bayan
Spouse(s)	Expedita Ebarle
Relations	Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada (grandchild)
Children	9, including Wigberto, Lorenzo Jr.
Alma mater	University of the Philippines Harvard University University of Santo Tomas
Website	https://lorenzomtanada.org/
Association football career Position(s) Goalkeeper National team Years Team Apps (Gls) c.1923–1925 Philippines Honours Men's football Representing  Philippines Far Eastern Championship Games 1923 Osaka Team 1925 Manila Team

Lorenzo "Ka Tanny" Martinez Tañada Sr. CCLH (Tagalog: [tɐˈɲada], born Lorenzo Tañada y Martínez; August 10, 1898 – May 28, 1992) was a Filipino nationalist, lawyer, solicitor general, senator, national athlete, and human and civil rights defender best known for his many contributions to Philippine nationalism and independence. As first post-war solicitor general, longest serving senator for 24 years, and staunch opposition to martial law under Ferdinand Marcos. He is also equally renowned for his efforts to stop the continued presence of US military bases in the Philippines through the Anti-Bases Coalition (ABC).^[1][2] Senator Tañada was a founder of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), which is the largest group of human rights lawyers nationwide. Tañada was also the chairman of the Justice for Aquino, Justice for All (JAJA) movement that sought to oust Marcos after the assassination of former Sen. Ninoy Aquino. He was also the founding chairman of a merged party called Bayan that opposed Marcos in the 1978 elections, and he founded the Nuclear-Free Philippines Coalition or NFPC, which successfully prevented the opening of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant under the Marcos administration. Serving in the Philippine Senate for 24 years beginning in 1947 up until 1971, he is the longest-serving senator in Philippine history and is referred to as the "Grand Old Man of Philippine Politics."^[3]

In his youth, he was also a national football team goalkeeper^[2] and was part of the Philippine national team that bagged silver medals at the 1923 and 1925 Far Eastern Championship Games, the precursor to the famous Asian Games.^[4]

He is the father of former Philippine Senator Wigberto Tañada and the grandfather of former Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada.

Early life[]

Tañada was born in Gumaca, Quezon, on August 10, 1898; the son of Vicente Tañada, who served as the last gobernadorcillo of Gumaca town in Quezon under the Spanish colonial government, and Anastacia Martinez-Tañada. His actions in life were governed by the philosophy ingrained in him by his mother. The phrase "fear of God is the start of wisdom" guided him in all his social dealings. As an elementary student in Gumaca, , Tañada joined a protest against his school's American principal. The protest was prompted by the principal's order for school children to stay during weekends to build a playground, which prevented them from going home to their parents. Tañada said he was the smallest child and remembered when the principal was shocked to see he was one of the complainants. This was considered to be his very first rally. In 1915 Tañada moved to the new De La Salle College, Manila, now called De La Salle University or DLSU, a school run by the Christian Brothers and graduated at the top of the class in 1918. He claimed it was the first time he saw his mother very emotional as she pinned the special medal on Tañada's breast during the ceremony, which he later deemed as one of the biggest highlights of his life. As a law student at the University of the Philippines (U.P.), Tañada, completed his Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) prior to the academic Philippine educational system and obtained the rank of major, and was a lead actor in plays. He was also a national football team goalkeeper^[2] and was part of the Philippine national team that bagged silver medals at the 1923 and 1925 Far Eastern Championship Games, the precursor to the Asian Games.^[4] It was during his years as a college student, during U.P.'s Armistice Day, when he exhorted "his fellow cadets to take their training seriously as they will soon be called upon to use their skill against the Americans if the country's independence is not granted".^[2] He recalled being allowed to make this speech at the request of the Filipino administrators. Though after the speech the Filipino administrators told him to resign from the ROTC before the American general may try to punish him. In 1924 he topped the government's examination for pensionados and obtained a free scholarship to study in America. In 1928, he obtained his Master of Laws from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was the principal protégé of American Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter. He also acquired a Doctor in Civil Law meritissimus from the University of Santo Tomas.

In 1947, together with prominent justices and lawyers, they founded the MLQ Law School, which became the Manuel L. Quezon University in 1958 upon signing of the charter granted by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture. The Monzon Hall is currently situated in R. Hidalgo Street while the Law Building is at Arlegui Street. Tañada was also a founder of the Civil Liberties Union in 1937 together with friend J.B.L. Reyes.

Political career[]

Tañada served as the pre-war and first post-war solicitor general from 1940-1941 and 1945-1947, tasked with the monumental collaboration cases against many prominent figures, where he earned the respect and admiration of many of his peers and countrymen.

Tañada was first elected to the Philippine senate in 1947 where he topped the elections, placing 1st among senatorial candidates, the first of his 4 successful senatorial elections.^[5]: 192

Tañada is described to be a "person who metamorphosed from a graftbuster to a nationalist and... a crusader of various causes." Apart from being characterized as an esteemed nationalist, Tañada was also regarded as the leader of the "parliament of the streets". He had an infallible stance against graft and corruption, inequality, and tyranny. He was also the chief prosecutor against Japanese collaborators. Because of his political reputation, Tañada became a Filipino praised by all sectors of Philippine society, a person honored by both the Communist Party of the Philippines and the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, and a man who was acknowledged as a man of principles even by Benigno Aquino, Sr., grandfather of Pres. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, who Tañada himself once charged as a "collaborator".^[2] He was one of the petitioners in the landmark Supreme Court case Tañada vs. Tuvera, which declared that unpublished laws (a characteristic of the Presidential Decrees of Marcos) are without effect.

Opposition partnership with Jose W. Diokno[]

Jose "Ka Pepe" Diokno, a friend and partner of Tañada

Tañada was also a longtime opponent of the U.S. role in the Philippines. He was the organizer of the Anti-Bases Coalition (ABC) together with lawyer and former senator Jose W. Diokno and also led other groups that rallied public opposition to the presence of American troops in the Philippines, previously they both also founded FLAG and Diokno led the Civil Liberties Union (CLU), an organization founded by Tañada in 1937. A large reason for their partnership happened after the death of mentor nationalist Claro M. Recto. Diokno who was a recent senator at that time realized that Recto was targeted by the American press as a communist and attacked from all sides, and so her proposed to divide the leadership. Specifically Tañada and Diokno would focus on the political front as the duo attacking military bases and later the protest movement Diokno called "pressure politics" against Ferdinand Marcos.^[6] Moreover the U.S. intervention was the cause of human rights violations and militarization, as it gave Marcos guns and support that did not bother the middle class but slowly angered the people especially after Aquino's assassination. Thus the movement and the pressure politics type of protest developed in the 1980s as the dominant form to withstand the opposition and convince Americans of their government's interference and deliberate repression of third world countries.^[7]

Lorenzo Tañada is often called the "grand old man of Philippine politics" and the "Sir Galahad or politics", due to his reputation as one of the Philippine's foremost nationalists and his old age, as he was literally born a month before independence in 1898. He was a familiar fixture during the Martial law era of Marcos's dictatorship, leading rallies and demonstrations being the founding chairperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan with student leader Lean Alejandro. Due to his esteem among national democrats, Tañada chaired some national democrats coalitions in his later years to oppose Marcos in the streets, although Tañada himself was never regarded by others as a radical leftist. After Marcos oppositionist Ninoy Aquino was assassinated, JAJA was formed with co-leader Diokno, who acquired the title of the father of human rights advocacy, which made JAJA the first united front built to stop Marcos. Tañada was elected the chair of the alliance. However JAJA could not unite the different competing focused on cause-oriented groups and ideologies, and eventually former members left to form different alliances, with the largest being the Kongreso ng Mamamayang Pilipino (Congress of the Filipino People) or "KOMPIL", of which Tañada served as one of the chief delegates. KOMPIL was actually formed from member JAJA groups such as Diokno's KAAKBAY, the Alliance of Makati Associations or AMA, Tañada's smaller human rights law firm called Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism Inc. (MABINI), the ATOM, and many other groups. It was the ATOM group led by Butz Aquino which called on mostly the AMA, plus some other groups to join the center-left and leftist coalition of JAJA to create the KOMPIL, which argued whether to boycott, as many JAJA members did, or to support a call for meaningful elections or CAMEL, as AMA and Corazon Aquino did.^[8] During Corazon Aquino's presidency, he was a staunch anti-U.S. Bases activist and an anti-nuclear power plant advocate.^[2] Both Diokno and Tañada also worked on founding the Anti-Bases Coalition or ABC, with Diokno being Chairman of the Executive Council while Tañada being chairman in general, essentially confusing the Marcos administration of the lack of a monopolized leadership.

On September 16, 1991, Tañada received a standing ovation from the Philippine Senate after its rejection of a new lease for the U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay, which was the last American military installation in the Philippines.^[2] He then exclaimed, "Mabuhay" or "Hurrah". It was the triumph in a long battle for nationalism.

Later life and legacy[]

Tañada passed away in 1992, on the way to a hospital, at the age of 93. Days before his death, Tañada had already been undergoing kidney dialysis. He was survived by his wife, Expedita Ebarle-Tañada, nine children, including his son former Senator Wigberto Tañada, and some grandchildren, and including his grandson Erin Tañada.^[1] Tañada also is survived by his great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. He is buried at Loyola Memorial Park.

He received the Philippine Legion of Honor, highest rank of Chief Commander (CCLH) in 1988.^[9]

In his in hometown of Gumaca, Quezon, August 10 is celebrated every year as Lorenzo M. Tañada Day, a special non-working holiday.^[10]

He was a 1988 The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) awardee for Freedom Advocacy.^[11] His son Wigberto Tañada also received a TOFIL award in 1999 for Government and Public Service.

Tañada's name is inscribed on the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Wall of Remembrance, which recognizes heroes who fought against martial law in the Philippines under the deposed dictator Marcos.^[12]

There have been movements and calls, as well as bills have been filed in both senate and house of representatives in the 16th Philippine Congress, to rename Commonwealth avenue to Sen. Lorenzo Tañada avenue, to honor his legacy of Filipino nationalism and independence. Other calls have been made to rename Marcos Highway to Lorenzo Tañada Ave.; along with Shaw Blvd. to Jovito Salonga Blvd.; Taft Ave. to Jose Diokno Ave.; and Imelda Ave. to Sen. Geronima Pengson Ave. De La Salle University put up a special museum called the Lorenzo M. Tañada Memorabilia Room as a permanent part of the campus. Visits require early appointments. They have also instituted the Lorenzo M. Tañada CHIMES Award for faculty.

Books about his life include The Odyssey of Lorenzo Tañada by Agnes Bailen published 1998, The Essential Tañada by Renato Constantino published in 1989, Lorenzo M. Tañada, in celebration of his 100th birth anniversary, 1898-1998 published by the Lorenzo M. Tañada Foundation in 1998, and Lorenzo M. Tañada as Others Saw Him: Contemporaneous Observations on a Filipino Leader and Hero by Jose N. Endriga published in 1998.

Other features include "Lorenzo Tañada, Brief life of a Philippine patriot: 1898-1992" by Christopher Capozzola, in the Nov-Dec 2020 issue of Harvard Magazine,^[13] "Sen. Lorenzo Tañada Sr. – national heartthrob" by Argyll Geducos, Mario Casayuran, and Hannah Torregoza published August 5, 2018,^[14] and "A Tañada Dynasty or Legacy?" published by Action for Economic Reforms in March 2013.^[15]

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