Jovito Salonga

Jovito Salonga Reyes ( born June 22, 1920 in Pasig City ) is a former Filipino politician.

Biography

Member of Parliament and Senator

The son of a Presbyterian minister studied post-school law and joined the resistance movement during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. After his capture and torture, he was sentenced by a Japanese military court for many years forced labor.

After his release in 1943 he completed his studies as valedictorian in 1944 and then began a postgraduate study of law at Harvard University, which he finished with a Master of Laws ( LL.M.). However, This was followed by his doctorate at Yale University, after the end of it for an academic career in the United States refrained because he wanted to participate in the reconstruction of the Philippines.

After his return, he quickly gained a reputation as one of the best lawyers in the country. Later he was a professor of law at the leading universities in Manila and worked also the author of numerous tax provisions that have been used at home and abroad.

Salonga, who was regarded as a " tax expert of the nation" ( The Nation's Fiscalizer ), is a reputation earned as a member of the House of Representatives, where he represented 1961-1965 the second electoral district of the province of Rizal.

Subsequently, he was elected a member of the Senate and was this from 1966 until the dissolution of the Senate following the imposition of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1973.

Opponents of the Marcos regime and President of the Senate

After the imposition of martial law in 1972 he was one of its greatest enemies and also worked as a criminal defense of political prisoners of the Marcos regime.

After the bombing in October 1980 at a conference of the Society of Asian travel agencies in the Philippine International Convention Center ( PICC ) Salonga was arrested with several others and detained without examination and without loads.

After his release from military custody, he took a visiting professorship at Yale University, and graduated there during the last years of the Marcos dictatorship from his textbook of international law and at the same time wrote a program for a new democratic system in the Philippines.

From 20 April 1982 to 1 June 1993, he was chairman of the traditional Liberal Party.

On 21 January 1985 Salonga returned to the Philippines and was after the end of the Marcos dictatorship during the People Power Revolution and the beginning of the presidency of Corazon Aquino in February 1986 Chairman of the Presidential Commission for good government (Commission on Good Government ) which dealt with the identification and retrieval of illegally acquired assets of members of the Marcos regime.

In 1987 he was again elected to the Senate with the best result and remained until 1992, in office. During this time he was between 1987 and 1991 and President of the Senate. He earned the reputation again as an outstanding senator, who earned countless legislative initiatives. These topics included how science ( State Scholarship Act ), capital information ( Disclosure of Interests Act ), teachers ( Magna Carta for Public School Teachers ), course of conduct of state employees (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees ) and the punishment of looting (Act Defining and Penalizing the Crime of Plunder ), which is obviously directed against the behavior of former President Marcos, his family and confidante, especially as he campaigned since his youth against corruption and dictatorships.