Nation mourns Salonga, statesman, freedom fighter

MANILA, Philippines - The man who cast the deciding vote to shut down the US bases 25 years ago has died. Former Senate president Jovito Salonga, one of the country’s most esteemed statesmen, was 95.

Salonga died yesterday after a lingering illness at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City.

Salonga could best be remembered as the leader of the Senate when the chamber rejected a new bases treaty that would have allowed the United States to continue using its military facilities here for 10 more years.

He had made it his personal crusade to block any attempt to extend the treaty. That was not easy on his part, considering that he was close to then president Cory Aquino, who wanted the US’s use of the bases extended. Salonga won as senator as part of the administration ticket.

One rainy day shortly before the Senate was to vote on the new bases agreement, a drenched Aquino, accompanied by some of her officials, children and journalists, trooped to the Senate to lobby for the approval of the treaty.

Tea was all Salonga could offer his visitors.

On Sept. 16, 1991, Salonga and 11 colleagues, all of whom were his personal friends, voted to reject the new treaty, ending US use of its bases and other facilities in Subic and Clark.

Those who voted with their Senate leader included Aquino’s brother-in-law, Agapito “Butz” Aquino, and her former Palace legal counsel, Rene Saguisag.

The nine other senators who rejected the new bases agreement were Joseph Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, Teofisto Guingona Jr., Sotero Laurel, Ernesto Maceda, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Victor Ziga, Wigberto Tañada Jr. and Orlando Mercado.

Sixteen votes, or two-thirds of the 24-member Senate, were needed to ratify the treaty.

According to the Senate website, Salonga headed the chamber from 1987 to 1991. Among the pieces of legislation he authored were the State Scholarship Law, Disclosure of Interest Act, Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and the law defining and penalizing the crime of plunder.

Life, love, struggles, politics 

Born in Pasig City on June 22, 1920, Salonga was the youngest of five sons of pastor Esteban Salonga and vendor Bernardina Reyes.

He married Lydia Busuego in 1948.

Salonga topped the Bar examinations in 1944 with a score of 95.3 percent. He obtained his Masters of Law degree from Harvard Law School in 1948 and his Doctor of Law degree from Yale Law School in 1949.

Upon his return to the country, he practiced and taught law, quickly gaining the reputation as one of the most brilliant practitioners in the country.

When then president Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972, he was one of its most outspoken critics. He served as lawyer to those who opposed martial law and the Marcos regime.

In 1980, Salonga was arrested and detained without charges. He was later released and went into exile in the US.

He returned in 1985. In February 1986 when Aquino was swept to power, Salonga was appointed chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which was tasked to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.

Salonga ventured into politics in 1961, when he was elected congressman of Rizal province. He became senator in 1965, topping that year’s polls.

He was seriously injured in the Plaza Miranda bombing on Aug. 21, 1971, which left him blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. This did not stop him from again topping the senatorial elections that year.

Palace tribute, condolences 

Malacañang paid tribute to Salonga, a statesman that public officials, especially those seeking election this May, could emulate for what he stood for all his life.

“With heads bowed in grief and respect, we extend our sympathies to the family of Senator Jovito Salonga. His passing marks the departure from this life of another of those brave, committed individuals who lit a candle during the darkness of the dictatorship; and who contributed to the restoration of democracy after the triumph of people power,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.

Senate President and Liberal Party (LP) vice chairman Franklin Drilon joined the nation in mourning the death of Salonga.

“I send my sincere condolences to his family even as I pray that the Lord will strengthen them as they go through this sad and difficult time,” Drilon said.

Vice President Jejomar Binay mourned the death of Salonga. “He was a pillar of the protest movement who steered the Senate during the difficult years of transition from dictatorship to democracy,” Binay said.

LP presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II called Salonga a “great Filipino” and a “lover of freedom.” Salonga was a former president of LP.

“Ka Jovy was more than a man fortunate to have been raised to the Senate presidency and elected to the Senate by the Filipino people – he was, himself, an exemplar of what it means to be a Filipino,” Roxas said.

Speaker leads mourning

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. led yesterday the House of Representatives in mourning the loss of Salonga, whom he described as “a bastion of Philippine democracy.”

Belmonte said Salonga had “staunchly fought for our freedoms in various arenas and in various capacities.”

“Jovy was many things. He was a World War II hero incarcerated and tortured by the Japanese; a noted constitutionalist who topped the bar in 1944, received a law scholarship and doctorate in the US and yet returned to the country to participate in the country’s recovery after the war,” he said in a statement.

“We condole with his family and feel the loss not only of one of the founding fathers of the Liberal Party but of this nation. We owe a debt of gratitude to Jovy for dedicating his talents, bravery and his life’s work to the Filipino people. He is a tough act to follow and a source of pride for us,” he said.

“Goodbye for now, Uncle Jovy, and our heartfelt thanks for everything,” he added.

Belmonte said that throughout his life as lawyer, congressman, senator and Cabinet secretary, as well as in his brave battle against Marcos during the martial law years, Salonga remained focused on his goal to attain and safeguard democracy in the Philippines.

He said Salonga was a close friend of his family and of his late wife, STAR founding chairman Betty Go-Belmonte. – With Christina Mendez, Helen Flores, Alexis Romero, Paolo Romero