Tañada, Lorenzo M.
HS 1918
DECEASED
1972
DLSAA Distinguished Lasallian Awardee
1974
DLSAA Distinguished Lasallian Awardee
Lorenzo M. Tañada goes down in history as the Galahad of Philippine politics. He was born in Gumaca, Tayabas (now Quezon) province, on August 10, 1898, took his intermediate and high school studies at DLSC in Manila where he graduated in 1918. The young student from Tayabas was active in sports, and made the baseball and soccer football teams. Recalling those school days, Tanny remembered that practically all of the older students were either sons of foreigners or mestizos. Only two of his classmates were brown-skinned. Promptly Tanny formed an all-Filipino trio. "I believe that started my obsession with nationalism," he said. Tariada took his BA and Llb. at the U.P., his Master of Laws at Harvard .in Boston in 1928, and his doctorate in civil law at the University of Santo Tomas in 1936. He was one of the many assistant fiscals of Manila after returning from the United States in 1929, and became an active member of the Civil Liberties Union, which turned into a secret anti-Japanese group known as the Free Philippines. He gained national attention when he was appointed Solicitor General by President Manuel A. Roxas in 1945 and named chief special prosecutor of the Department of Justice to go after Filipinos who had collaborated with the Japanese during the war. The Liberal Party, an offshoot of the Nacionalista Party founded by Sergio Osmena and Manuel Quezon, was firmly in the political saddle. President Roxas occupied Malacañang Palace and could dispense many favors to its followers, and the Liberals chose young Tariada as one of the eight party candidates for the Senate. Among his colleagues in the ticket were Don Vicente Madrigal, the wealthy Bicolano; Mrs. Geronima T. Pecson, feminist leader; Emiliano Tria Tirona of Cavite; Fernando Lopez of Iloilo; Camilo Osias of the Ilocos region; and Pablo Angeles David of Pampanga. Tanny, as all his friends called him, surprised veteran politicians by emerging top-notcher in that election. Obviously, the Filipino electorate wanted a new face in insular politics, one of unimpeachable integrity. Disgusted by the anomalies committed during the 1949 presidential elections, Tanada resigned from the Liberal Party, and formed his own, the Citizens Party, composed of men of high principles like Soc Rodrigo, Raul Manglapus, Manuel Manahan, Peping Ansaldo, and many others. The new party gathered sufficiently large numbers to elect senators, but failed to boost Claro M. Recto to the presidency in 1957. Manahan, who had switched to the newly formed Progressive Party, tolled 600,000 votes more than Don Claro. Tanny was re-elected to the Senate more times than any other politician, holding the office from 1947 up to the end of 1971. He was chosen the "fearless, vigilant public servant imbued with a passion for clean government" by local newspapers and received Ateneo's Ozanam Award for his "outstanding leadership in the service of God through service of the community." He has been conferred honorary doctorates in education by De La Salle, laws by Philippine Women's University, philosophy by the Philippine College of Commerce, and humane letters by Ateneo de Manila. He has defended the labor sector and led the opposition to the nuclear power plant in Bataan province. He was chairman of the political entity of the Lakas Ng Bayan (LABAN), during the martial law regime, and recently headed the Justice for Aquino, Justice for All (JAJA) movement that advocated a boycott of the 1984 elections. L.M. TAIC/ADA Supreme Court Justice Claudio Teehankee, his former junior law partner, summarized Tanada's character with these words: "Many times Tanny's adherence to his ideals and principles were to lead him to lonely paths and he was to be derided by self-proclaimed practical real-ists as quixotic and a frustrated Sir Galahad, but none could question his sincerity and integrity."