Prominent former Philippine senator Salonga dies at 95

Manila: One of the Philippiness’ best known statesmen, Jovito Salonga, passed away on Thursday afternoon. He was 95 years old.

As a senator during the late 1980s until the 1990s, Salonga’s leadership of the Senate was instrumental in forming policies and restoring democracy in the country.

Salonga was president of the Senate in 1991 when the chamber — then among the organs of government revived following two decades of President Ferdinand Marcos’ martial rule — delivered a historic vote to rescind the decades-old basing agreement with the United States.

The repercussions of that decision, which asserted Philippine independence from the United States, still affects Filipinos to this day.

“Together with other legislators from both chambers of Congress, he defied coup plotters in 1989 and made history in the historic vote on the US Bases Agreement in 1991,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Imprisoned twice in his lifetime — by the Japanese occupational forces during the Second World War and during Marcos’s Martial Law during the 1970s — Salonga left a legacy of nationalism and deep sense of justice.

“His passing marks the departure from this life of another of those brave, committed individuals who lit a candle during the deep darkness of the dictatorship; and who contributed to the restoration of our democratic way of life after the triumph of People Power,” Lacierda said.

Salonga was the first chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) a body whose chief task was to recover the ill-gotten gains of the family and cronies of former president Marcos.

Salonga’s success in life as a statesman did not come easy.

He was born to poor parents in Pasig, Rizal, on June 22, 1920. But he rose above the difficulties earned his law degree from the University of the Philippines and later, a master’s degree in law from Harvard Law School (1948).

In 1949, he earned a doctorate in jurisprudence from Yale Law School.

He became the first Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the first Senate President of the restored Philippine Senate in 1987.

“His life stands as a reproach to all those who would put personal gain ahead of public service, who would lower the standards of public discourse and who would sacrifice human rights and the rule of law either for personal or partisan advantage,” said Lacierda. “He joins the ranks of those who have made the position of senator of the Republic an honorable, and respectable thing. His passing challenges all who would seek election to live up to a life well lived as a patriot and citizen.”