Lorenzo Tañada
Encyclopedia
Lorenzo Martinez Tañada was a Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

 politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. Elected to the first Philippine Senate in 1947, he was the longest-serving senator in Philippine history. He served as a Philippine senator for 24 years.

Early life

Tañada was born in Gumaca, Quezon
Gumaca, Quezon
The Municipality of Gumaca is a 1st class municipality in the province of Quezon, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 63,778.-History:...

 on August 10, 1898. The son of Capitan 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 La Salle, Manila, a school run by the Christian Brothers, Tañada joined a protest against his school’s American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 principal. The protest was prompted by the principal’s order for school children to stay during weekends to build a playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...

 which prevented them from going home to their parents. As a law student at the University of the Philippines
University of the Philippines
The ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...

 (U.P.), Tañada was a Reserved Officer’s Training Course (ROTC) major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

, a lead actor in plays, and a national football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 team goalkeeper. It was during his years as a college student, during U.P.’s Armistice Day
Armistice Day
Armistice Day is on 11 November and commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh 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”. In 1924 he topped the governments examination for pensionados. In 1928 he obtained his Masters in Law from the Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also acquired a Doctor in Civil Law meritissimus from the University of Santo Tomas.

Political career

Tañada is described to be a “person who metamorphosed from a graft
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

buster 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
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

 of the streets”. He had an infallible stance against graft and corruption, inequality, and tyranny. He was also the chief prosecutor against Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 collaborator
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...

s. 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
Communist Party of the Philippines
The Communist Party of the Philippines is a leading communist party in the Philippines. It remains an underground political organization since its founding on December 26, 1968 and has been operating in clandestine manner since its founding...

 and the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, and a man who was acknowledged as a man of principles even by Benigno Aquino, Sr.
Benigno Aquino, Sr.
Benigno Simeon Aquino, Sr. , also known as Benigno S. Aquino or Benigno S. Aquino, Sr., was a Filipino politician who served as Speaker of the Second Philippine Republic National Assembly from 1943 to 1944....

, who Tañada himself once charged as a “collaborator”.

Tañada was also a longtime opponent of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

's role in the Philippines. He was the organizer of the Anti-Bases Coalition and other groups that rallied public opposition to the presence of American troops in Philippines. Lorenzo Tañada is often called the “grand old man of Philippine politics”, due to his reputation as one of the Philippine’s foremost nationalists. He was a familiar fixture during the Martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...

 era of Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. was a Filipino leader and an authoritarian President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate...

, leading rallies and demonstrations being the founding chairperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. During Corazon Aquino
Corazon Aquino
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office in Philippine history. She is best remembered for leading the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines...

’s presidency
Presidency
The word presidency is often used to describe the administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation...

, he was a staunch anti-U.S. Bases
Military base
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...

 activist and an anti-nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...

 advocate
Advocate
An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...

.

On September 16, 1991, Tañada received a standing ovation
Standing ovation
A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim...

 from the Philippine Senate after its rejection of a new lease for the Subic Bay
Subic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...

 naval base
U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay
U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay was a major ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility of the United States Navy located in Zambales, Philippines. It was the largest U.S...

, which was the last American military installation in the Philippines.

Final years

Tañada died in 1992, on the way to a hospital, at the age of 93. Days before his death, Tañada had already been undergoing kidney
Kidney
The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...

 dialysis
Dialysis
In medicine, dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure...

. He was survived by his wife, Expedita Tañada, and nine children, including Philippine Senator Wigberto Tañada
Wigberto Tañada
Wigberto "Ka Bobby" Ebarle Tañada, Sr. is a Filipino politician. He is member of the Liberal Party and a former member of the Senate of the Philippines and Philippine House of Representatives representing the Quezon's 4th District . He is the son of the the late former senator Lorenzo M...

.

See also

  • Lorenzo Tañada III
    Lorenzo Tañada III
    Lorenzo "Erin" Reyes Tañada III is a Filipino politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines representing the 4th District of Quezon beginning in 2004...

  • Wigberto Tañada
    Wigberto Tañada
    Wigberto "Ka Bobby" Ebarle Tañada, Sr. is a Filipino politician. He is member of the Liberal Party and a former member of the Senate of the Philippines and Philippine House of Representatives representing the Quezon's 4th District . He is the son of the the late former senator Lorenzo M...

  • Gumaca, Quezon
    Gumaca, Quezon
    The Municipality of Gumaca is a 1st class municipality in the province of Quezon, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 63,778.-History:...

  • Nationalist Citizens' Party
    Nationalist Citizens' Party
    The Nationalist Citizens' Party was a Philippine nationalist party established by Claro M. Recto and Lorenzo Tañada in 1957. Recto became its presidential candidate for the 1957 presidential election, where he was defeated, getting 9% of the vote...

  • Liberal Party of the Philippines
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