Apolinario Mabini y Maranan (July 23, 1864 May 13, 1903) was

a Filipino revolutionary leader, educator, lawyer, and statesman who served first as a
legal and constitutional adviser to the Revolutionary Government, and then as the
first Prime Minister of the Philippines upon the establishment of the First Philippine
Republic.
Two of his works, El Verdadero Decalogo (The True Decalogue, June 24, 1898), and
Programa Constitucional dela Republica Filipina (The Constitutional Program of the
Philippine Republic, 1898) became instrumental in the drafting of what would eventually
be known as the Malolos Constitution.[2]
Mabini performed all his revolutionary and governmental activities despite having lost
the use of both his legs to Polio shortly before the Philippine Revolution of 1896.
Mabini's role in Philippine history saw him confronting first Spanish Colonial Rule in the
opening days of the Philippine Revolution, and then American colonial rule in the days of
the PhilippineAmerican War. The latter saw Mabini captured and exiled to Guam by
American colonial authorities, allowed to return only two months before his eventual
death in May, 1903

Epifanio was considered one of the best Filipino writers in Spanish of his time and
regarded as a literary genius.[11][24] When he was young, he was the first Filipino to
become a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Language, Spanish Royal
Academy of Literature and Spanish Royal Academy of History in Madrid.[20][23] It was
the admiration of his writings thatMarcelino Menndez y Pelayo asked the Real
Academia Espaola to open its door to the benevolent young native scholar.
Epifanio was a young associate editor of the revolutionary paper "La
Independencia"(1898), writing in prose under the pen name G. Solon and also a member
of the Malolos Congress. He also co-founded other newspapers like La Libertad, El
Renaciemento, La Democracia, La Patria and Malaysia. He also made valuable
publications namely; Algo de Prosa (1909),Literatura Tagala (1911), El Teatro
Tagala (1911) Nuestra Literatura (1913), El Proceso del Dr. Jos Rizal (1914), Folklore
Musical de Filipinas (1920). He also authored Filipinos y filipinistas (Filipinos and
Filipinists), Filipinas para los Filipinos,Cuentos y paisajes Filipinos (Philippine Stories
and Scenes) and Criminality in the Philippines (19031908).
He was a member of "Samahan ng mga Mananagalog" which was initiated by Felipe
Calderon in 1904, and it includes active members with the likes of Lope K. Santos, Rosa
Sevilla, Hermenigildo Cruz, Jaime C. de Veyra and Patricio Mariano.[25] He was a
polyglot, being fluent in Spanish, English, French, German, Ita, Tingian, and Ibalao. He
notably translated Florante and Laura classically into sonorous Castilian.[12] As one of
the brilliant writers in the Golden Age of Fil-Hispanic literature who had published
numerous titles and books, he was an honorary member of the Academia Filipina de la
Lengua Espaola.[26]
As a versatile researcher, he also contributed to early Philippine studies
on anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, linguisticsand demographics.[27][28]
Collections[edit]
Epifanio de los Santos traveled to many places in Europe, Asia, and Americas searching
for rare Philippine documents in museums, archives, and libraries. He collected almost
200 paintings and sculpted pieces done by Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion
Hidalgo, Fabin de la Rosa, Arellano, Pablo Amorsolo and Fernando Amorsolo,
Nepomuceno, and Guillermo Tolentino, musical literatures, opera records, valuable
printed materials, documents and manuscripts on the revolution and historical pictures.
According to Zaide, his famous Filipiniana collection was rated by foreign scholars as the
best in the world. In Europe, he was recognized as the philologist and writer of
biographical matters about the Philippines.
According to Zaide, there are documents and printed matter in his collection that cannot
be found elsewhere, not even in the Filipiniana Division of The National Library nor in
any library the world over, the Library of Congress of the United Statesincluded. The best
years of his life were spent in looking for them only to find them after an almost "wild
goose chase" of a lifetime. His Rizaliana collections were greatly acknowledged by W. E.
Retana, James A. Le-Roy, and Austin Craig.
In all, there are 115 printed matter and 213 documents in the collection dealing
with Philippine revolution
After de los Santos's death, the Philippine legislature, by virtue of the Philippine Clarin
Act, negotiated with the widow and heirs of the great collector for the purchase of the
collection and library. The Philippine government bought the priceless collections for P
19,250.00.[29]

Don Panyong the Master

Guitarist by Tolentino.


Public Service[edit]

De los Santos as a young man.

He was appointed district attorney of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija. He was later elected as
governor of Nueva Ecija in 1902 and 1904.[9] His election victory made him the first
democratically elected provincial governor and head of the Federal Party in Nueva Ecija.
Being a member of thePhilippine Commission, he was immediately considered as one of
those Filipino intellectuals to represent the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904. After his
term as the governor, he was appointed provincial fiscal
of Bulacan and Bataan provinces. He wrote a treatise on electoral fraud "Electoral
Fraud and its Remedies" (Fraudes Electorales y Sus Remedios) in 1907 for the Philippine
Assembly. On the side, he devoted his spare time to researches in Philippine history and
literature. Portions of his collections where destroyed when fires hit his house in San
Isidro, Nueva Ecija. According to Agoncillo and Palma, his interest lies not in politics. In
1918, he was appointed by Gov. Gen. Francis Burton Harrisonas Assistant Technical
Director of the Philippine Census.[9]
The last and most significant position De los Santos held was Director of the Philippine
Library and Museum, to which was appointed by Gov. Gen. Leonard Wood in 1925. He
was also elected as third President of the Philippine Library Association ( now Philippine
Librarians Association, Inc.) becoming the first Filipino of native parentage to assume
such position professionally for Philippine library science.[9]

Death and legacy[edit]

Epifanio de los Santos y Cristbal bust, memorial, Caalibangbangan Park,Cabanatuan

City.
He died in office on April 18, 1928. The Philippine government paid him a tribute to a
stately funeral. Local and foreign scholars lamented to a loss to what has been described
by them as "Great among the Great Filipino Scholars."
Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (commonly known as EDSA), the main road
through Metro Manila, was named after him.[10]Several schools, streets, a college, a
hospital, a printing press and an auditorium in National Library of the Philippines was
also named in his honor

Vinzons was born in the town of Indan, Camarines Norte to Gabino Vinzons y Venida and
Engracia Quinito y Elep.[2] He graduated valedictorian from his local high school, and
proceeded to Manila to study at the University of the Philippines.[4]
While at the university, Vinzons gained fame as a student leader. A member of Upsilon
Sigma Phi, Vinzons would be elected president of the student council and editor-in-chief
of the Philippine Collegian.[4] He was also known for delivering an oratorical address
entitled Malaysia Irredenta, where he advocated the unification of Southeast
Asiannations with a common Malay origin.[5] The piece won him the Manuel L. Quezon
gold medal for excellence.[4]
Vinzons obtained his law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in
1932, and placed 3rd in thebar examinations of the following year.
Wenceslao Quinito Vinzons (September 28, 1910[2] July 15, 1942) was
a Filipino politician and a leader of the armed resistance against the Japanese occupying
forces during World War II. He was the youngest member of the 1935 Constitutional
Convention. Among the first Filipinos to organize the guerrilla resistance after
the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941,[3] he was executed by the Japanese
Army.

Recto launched his political career as a legal adviser to the first Philippine Senate in
1916. In 1919, he was elected representative from the second district of Batangas. He
served as minority floor leader for several years until 1925. His grasp of parliamentary
procedures won him the accolades of friends and adversaries alike.
Recto traveled to the United States as a member of the Independence Mission and was
admitted to the American Bar in 1924. Upon his return, he founded the Partido
Democrata.
In 1928, Recto temporarily retired from active politics and dedicated himself to the
practice and teaching of law. Soon thereafter, however, he found the world of academia
restrictive and soporific. Although he still engaged in the practice of law, he resigned
from his teaching job in 1931 and reentered politics. He ran and won a senate seat and
was subsequently elected majority floor leader in 1934. He was appointed Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court in July 3, 1935 November 1, 1936 by President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt.
As a jurist, he debated against U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Attorney
General Herbert Brownell Jr. on the question of U.S. ownership of military bases in the
Philippines,[4] a question that remained unresolved for 40 years.
Recto presided over the assembly that drafted the Philippine Constitution in 193435 in
accordance with the provisions of the TydingsMcDuffie Act and a preliminary step to
independence and self-governance after a 10-year transitional period. The Tydings
McDuffie Act was written to replace the HareHawesCutting Act which, through the
urging ofManuel L. Quezon, was rejected by the Philippine Senate. The original bill
would have allowed the indefinite retention of U.S. military and naval bases in the
Philippines and the American imposition of high tariff and quotas on Philippine exports
such as sugar and coconut oil. After amendments, the TydingsMcDuffie bill was passed
and signed into law by President Roosevelt.
Together with then-Senate President Quezon, who later was elected first president of
the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Recto personally presented the Commonwealth
Constitution to U.S. President Roosevelt. The consensus among many political scholars
of today judges the 1935 Constitution as the best-written Philippine charter ever. Its
author was mainly Claro M. Recto.
In 1941, Recto ran and reaped the highest number of votes among the 24 elected senators.
He was re-elected in 1949 as a Nacionalista Party candidate and again in 1955 as a guest
candidate of the Liberal Party.
Recto served as Commissioner of Education (194243), Minister of Foreign Affairs
(194344), and Cultural Envoy with the rank of Ambassador on a cultural mission to
Europe and Latin America (1960).
In the 1953 and 1955 elections, Recto denounced the influence and coercion of
the Catholic Church on voters' decisionsthe Philippines having a 90% Catholic
majority at the time. In a 1958 article in "The Lawyer's Journal," Recto suggested a
constitutional amendment to make the article on Separation of Church and State clearer
and more definitive. He also argued against the teaching of religion in public schools.
Recto foresaw the demands of a fast-moving global economy and the challenges it would
pose to his nation. In a memorable speech on the eve of the 1957 presidential
election when he ran against then President Carlos Garcia, he petitioned all sectors of
society, and following the example of Rizal, implored Philippine youth: Remembering
Recto - Manila Bulletin Online, archived from the original on 2007-10-26,
retrieved 2015-02-15
The first task to participate seriously in the economic development of our country (is to)
pursue those professions for which there is a great need during an era of rapid
industrialization. Only a nationalistic administration can inspire a new idealism in our
youth, and with its valid economic program make our youth respond to the challenging
jobs and tasks demanding full use of their talents and energies.
Recto was defeated in the election and never became president. Since his time,
subsequent administrations practiced with fidelity and enthusiasm what he called
"subservience and colonial mentality," most of them with greed and rapacious intents. To
the judgment of Recto and many political gurus, colonial mentality towards America by
the sycophant Philippine government, and its evil twinservility to the almighty dollar,
are among the major contributories to graft and corruption, which in turn have paralyzed
the nation's economy.[5]
In 1991, Philippine president Corazon Aquino initially fought for the continuation of the
Republic of the Philippines - U.S Bases Treaty, but ultimately acquiesced to the will of
the people, and the Philippine Senate rejected its renewal. In September 1991, by a slim
majority led by Senator Jovito Salonga, the lawmaking body rescinded the agreement,
effectively ending U.S. military presence in the Philippines.[5]

Recto the jurist[edit]

Recto was known as an abogado milagroso (lawyer of miracles), a tribute to his many
victories in the judicial court. He wrote a two-volume book on civil procedures, which, in
the days before World War II was standard textbook for law students.
His prominence as a lawyer paralleled his fame as a writer. He was known for his
flawless logic and lucidity of mind in both undertakings. He served the wartime cabinet
of President Jos P. Laurel during the Japanese occupation. Together with Laurel, Camilo
Osas, and Quintn Paredes, he was taken into custody by the American colonial
government and tried for treason. In his defense, in his treatise entitled "Three Years of
Enemy Occupation" (1946), he convincingly presented the case of patriotic conduct of
Filipinos during World War II. He fought his legal battles and was acquitted.

Poet, playwright, essayist[edit]

He was reared and schooled in the Spanish language, his mother tongue
alongside Tagalog, and he was also fluent in English. He initially gained fame as a poet
while a student at University of Santo Toms when he published a book Bajo los
Cocoteros (Under the Coconut Trees, 1911), a collection of his poems in Spanish. A staff
writer of El Ideal and La Vanguardia, he wrote a daily column, Primeras Cuartillas (First
Sheets), under the nom de plume "Aristeo Hilario." They were prose and numerous
poems of satirical pieces. Some of his works still grace classic poetry anthologies of the
Hispanic world.
Among the plays he authored were La Ruta de Damasco (The Route to Damascus, 1918),
and Solo entre las sombras (Alone among the Shadows, 1917), lauded not only in the
Philippines, but also in Spain and Latin America. Both were produced and staged in
Manila to critical acclaim in the mid 1950s.
In 1929, his article Monroismo asitico (Asiatic Monroism) validated his repute as a
political satirist. In what was claimed as a commendable study in polemics, he proferred
his arguments and defenses in a debate with Dean Mximo Klaw of the University of the
Philippines where Klaw championed a version of the Monroe Doctrine with its
application to the Asian continent, while Recto took the opposing side. The original
Monroe doctrine (1823) was U.S. President James Monroe's foreign policy of keeping the
Americas off-limits to the influence of the Old World, and states that the United
States, Mexico, and countries in South and Central America were no longer open to
European colonization. Recto was passionately against its implementation in Asia, wary
of Japan's preeminence and its aggressive stance towards its neighbors. In his
deliberation, he wrote about foreseeing the danger Japan posed to the Philippines and
other Asian countries. His words proved prophetic when Japan invaded and colonized the
region, including the Philippines from 1942-45.
His eloquence and facility with the Spanish language were recognized throughout the
Hispanic world. The Enciclopedia Universal says of him: "Recto, more than a politician
and lawyer, is a Spanish writer, and that among those of his race" (although he had Irish
and Spanish ancestors), "there is not and there has been no one who has surpassed him in
the mastery of the language of his country's former sovereign."[6]

The 'finest mind of his generation'[edit]

Recto is considered the "finest mind of his generation".[7] Through his speeches and
writings, he was able to mold the mind of his Filipino contemporaries and succeeding
generations, a skill "only excelled by Rizal's".[7]
He left a mark on the patriotic climate of his time and a lasting legacy to those who
succeeded him. Such icons of nationalism as Lorenzo Taada, Jos Diokno,Renato
Constantino, Jovito Salonga, refer to him as a mentor and forerunner.
Teodoro M. Locsn of Philippines Free Press, defined Recto's genius:[7]
Recto is not a good speaker, no. He will arouse no mob. But heaven help the one whose
pretensions he chooses to demolish. His sentences march like ordered battalions against
the inmost citadel of the man's arguments, and reduce them to rubble; meanwhile his
reservations stand like armed sentries against the most silent approach and every attempt
at encirclement by the adversary. The reduction to absurdity of Nacionalista senator
Zulueta's conception of sound foreign policy was a shattering experience, the skill that
goes into the cutting of a diamond went into the work of demolition. There was no slip of
the hand, no flaw in the tool. All was delicately, perfectly done... Recto cannot defend the
indefensible, but what can be defended, he will see to it that it will not be taken.

Criticism[edit]

Gravesite of Claro M. Recto at the Manila North Cemetery.

His critics claim that Recto's brilliance is overshadowed by his inability to capture
nationwide acceptance. He could have been an exceptional leader, perhaps a great
president, but his appeal was limited to the intellectual elite and the nationalist minority
of his time. In the same article, political editorialist, Manuel L. Quezon III, laments this
fact:
Recto's leadership was the curious kind that only finds fulfillment from being at the
periphery of power, and not from being its fulcrum. It was the best occupation suited to
the satirist that he was. His success at the polls would be limited, his ability to mold the
minds of his contemporaries was only excelled by Rizal's...But he was admired for his
intellect and his dogged determination to never let the opposition be bereft of a champion,
still his opposition was flawed. For it was one that never bothered to transform itself into
an opposition capable of taking power.[7]
However, one possible explanation as to why Recto was never able to capture full
national acceptance was because he dared to strongly oppose the national
security interests of the United States in the Philippines, as when he campaigned against
the US military bases in his country. During the 1957 presidential campaign, the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) conducted black propaganda operations to ensure his defeat,
including the distribution of condoms with holes in them and marked with `Courtesy of
Claro M. Recto' on the labels.[8][9]
Jose "Pepe" Wright Diokno (February 26, 1922 February 27, 1987) was
a Filipino nationalist. He served asSenator of the Philippines, Secretary of Justice,
founding chair of the Commission on Human Rights, and founder of the Free Legal
Assistance Group.
Diokno is the only person to top both the Philippine Bar Examination and the board exam
for Certified Public Accountants (CPA). His career was dedicated to the promotion
of human rights, the defense of Philippine sovereignty, and the enactment pro-Filipino
economic legislation.
In 2004, Diokno was posthumously conferred the Order of Lakandula with the rank of
Supremothe Philippines' highest honor.[2] February 27 is celebrated in the country as
Jose W. Diokno Day

Taada was born in Gumaca, Quezon on August 10, 1898. The son of Vicente Taada,
who served as the lastGobernadorcillo of Gumaca town in Quezon under the Spanish
colonial government and Anastacia Martinez-Taada. 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 De La Salle,
Manila, a school run by the Christian Brothers, Taada joined a protest against his
schools American principal. The protest was prompted by the principals order for
school children to stay during weekends to build a playground which prevented them
from going home to their parents. As a law student at the University of the
Philippines (U.P.), Taada, completed his Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) prior
to the academic Philippine educational system and obtained the rank of major, and a lead
actor in plays. He was also a national football team goalkeeper[2] and was part of
the Philippine national team that bagged silver medals at the 1923 and 1923 Far Eastern
Championship Games.[3] It was during his years as a college student, during
U.P.s Armistice 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
countrys independence is not granted.[2] In 1924 he topped the government's
examination for pensionados. In 1928, he obtained his Masters in Law from Harvard
University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also acquired a Doctor in Civil
Law meritissimus from the University of Santo Tomas.
In 1947, together with prominent justices and lawyers, they founded the MLQ Law
School and later on, in 1958 was elevated as the Manuel L. Quezon University upon
signing of charter granted by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture. The Monzon
Hall is currently situated in R. Hidalgo Street while the Law Building is at Arlegui Street.

Political career[edit]
Taada is described to be a person who metamorphosed from a graftbuster to a
nationalist and... a crusader of various causes. Apart from being characterized as an
esteemed nationalist, Taada was also regarded as the leader of the parliament of the
streets. He had an infallible stance against graft and corruption, inequality, and tyranny.
He was also the chief prosecutor against Japanese collaborators. Because of his political
reputation, Taada became a Filipino praised by all sectors of Philippine society, a person
honored by both the Communist Party of the Philippinesand the Reform the Armed
Forces Movement, and a man who was acknowledged as a man of principles even
byBenigno Aquino, Sr., who Taada himself once charged as a collaborator.[2] He
was one of the petitioners in the landmark Supreme Court case Taada vs. Tuvera, which
declared that unpublished laws (a characteristic of the Presidential Decrees of Marcos)
are without effect.
Taada was also a longtime opponent of the U.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 Taada is often called the
grand old man of Philippine politics, due to his reputation as one of the
Philippines foremost nationalists. He was a familiar fixture during the Martial law era
of Ferdinand Marcos, leading rallies and demonstrations being the founding chairperson
of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. During Corazon Aquinos presidency, he was a
staunch anti-U.S. Bases activist and an anti-nuclear power plant advocate.[2]
On September 16, 1991, Taada received a standing ovation from the Philippine Senate
after its rejection of a new lease for the Subic Bay naval base, which was the last
American military installation in the Philippines

LAGMAN, Hermon C.
Posted on November 15, 2015

As early as in his high school days, Hermon Lagman who was student council president
and editor-in-chief of the school paper, showed the qualities of a principled and
uncompromising student activist when he protested and editorialized irregularities in the
results of the competency examinations for graduating students.
In college, he led and organized rallies and demonstrations, and expressed his nationalist
views as a senior editor of the Philippine Collegian and as editor-in-chief of the Law
Register, official organ of the law students at the University of the Philippines.

When he passed the bar in 1971, he became a militant advocate of labor rights, offering
his services free especially to workers pursuing cases of illegal layoffs and unfair labor
practices. He was a volunteer lawyer of the CitizensLegal Aid Society in the
Philippines and a founding member of the Free Legal Assistance Group.

Lagman was among the lawyers arrested after the declaration of martial law in 1972. He
was kept in prison for two months without charges. From detention, he wrote to his
mother Cecilia:

At sunrise today, while standing idly in the morning cold, I saw two sparrows perched
together. (They) looked at us human beings here, and I looked at them. They seemed to
have more understanding than some men. At noon today, two clients came. They
cried. I always dream here of all of you. We have a surfeit of energy for dreams.

He was arrested again in 1976 but released on the same day. At that time, labor groups
had grown increasingly militant, staging pickets and strikes and resisting repressive
martial law edicts. Lagman was legal counsel to many of these labor unions, notably the
Kaisahan ng Malayang Manggagawa sa La Tondea Inc. which spearheaded the historic
first open defiance of the martial law ban on strikes and other mass actions.

On May 11, 1977, Lagman and his associate Victor Reyes left Quezon City to attend a
meeting in Pasay City when they disappeared. Someone who refused to identify himself
called Lagmans mother to say that he had been abducted. Searches and inquiries by
relatives and friends in military camps and known detention facilities have failed to
ascertain the fate and whereabouts of the two victims of enforced disappearance.

Hermon C. Lagman showed a deep and abiding commitment to the causes he espoused,
and a fearlessness in living such a commitment. Said his mother: My son, although
outwardly gentle and unassuming, was an angry young man. But his anger was not the
mock anger of a showman, but the strong, silent rage of a warrior.

Natividad Almeda-Lpez (8 September 1892 22 January 1977) was the second

female lawyer in the Philippines,[2]passing the bar in 1914 and the first woman to defend
a woman in a court of law.[3][4] She was also the first female judge of the municipal
court of Manila.
She has been described as a "beacon in the feminist movement"[5]

Contents
[hide]
1Personal life
2Career
3Honours
4References

Personal life[edit]
She married Domingo Lpez a lawyer when she was 30[4] and they had three children,
Marita, Lulu and Jake.[6] During WW2 she and her three children were evacuated
from Manila to her husbands home city of Tayabas[6]

Career[edit]
Almeda-Lpez passed the bar in 1913 but due to her being too young she had to wait one
year before joining the Roll of Attorneys.[4] Aged 26 she delivered a speech at the
Philippine Legislative Assembly arguing for women's rights.[4] In 1919 she had been
hired by the Bureau of Justice and was promoted to assistant attorney at the Attorney
Generals Office.[4] In 1934 president Manuel Quezon gave her a permanent
appointment as city judge of the City of Court of Manila, a post she had served in as a
temporary capacity for three years.[5]

Honours[edit]
Since her death the government of the Philippines has honoured her legacy in various
ways. In 1996 naming a street after her,[7] She was given three presidential awards,
the Presidential Medal of Merit for her leadership in the feminist movement in 1955, in
1966 she was given recognition for her work in women's rights and in 1968 she again
received the Presidential Medal of Merit[5]

We entered law school in '86, on the winds of the EDSA People Power Revolt-- when
Kris Aquino still possessed the arresting charm of novelty (and the democratic space still
allowed descriptions like that).
We were the batch who studied constitutional law without a constitution as the late
Perfecto Fernandez, our con law professor, put it succintly on our first day, "this is a class
in constitutional law, but we don't have a constitution, so what will we study, ha?" (He
refused to acknowledge the freedom constitution as one; as a result, we became experts
on the two other previous constitutions--the '35 and the '73).
We were the batch which saw the ratification of the now 1987 Constitution. We studied
persons under one law (the Civil Code) and took the bar under another (The Family
Code); we studied labor law before the Herrera law took effect, so bar review in labor law
was like studying labor law all over again.
The by-now familiar names--Chairperson Yorac, Senator Miriam Santiago, Chief Justice
Sereno, Justice VV Mendoza, Dean Concepcion--all had just one prefix to us--Professor.
All of us took criminal law under the late (at that time, only tardy), great Bienvenido C.
Ambion, who would come at 12 noon for a 10 a.m. class and start at 1 p.m., after he had
his lunch.
The late and dearly missed Prof. Baviera still wore heels to school and of course her
fierce red lipstick; and it became some sort of ritual to wait for Prof. Ambion to pass by
our room while Prof. Baviera was holding class in civil procedure and see him wave to
her, which she would studiously pretend to ignore.
Some of us took to serenading professors during Christmas with carols and songs (which
prompted Prof. Ambion to make a request, his favorite "Pasko na, Sinta ko", which we
obliged; which also showed the generous and mischievous side of Myrna Feliciano, who
arranged a party at her house inviting other professors, as we carolled and then ordering
them to "pass the hat.").
We dined on the pork adobo of Mrs. Sebastian, "Tita Food" to us, well before we were
enlightened as to better health alternatives.
Some of us entered law school with love lives and left with none; others entered single
and left to live "happily ever after. Many of us found life-time friends. We started law
school on the winds of EDSA and graduated at the start of a new decade, the 90s.
Now, it is 25 years from graduation. Many of us still look the same, except older; many
of us still sound the same, except wiser. Some have gone ahead and they are dearly
missed.
Many things remain the same even as many things have also changed. But the one thing
that a homecoming inevitably brings is the dredging up of memories -- many summoned
easily, others not so. And as I, and my batchmates, re-live (or try to deny) those memories
(the hair, the colors, the clothes, the music, the embarrassing recitations, the hair) while
preparing for homecoming, the one thing that has remained true throughout the years is
that law school ('86-'90) was a good time for all of us.
To paraphrase Dickens badly and a cheesy song popular during that time more faithfully,
it was "the time of our lives."
Tonight, Class '90, UP Law celebrates 25 years and looks to 25 years more.

Maria Lourdes Aranal Sereno (born Maria Lourdes Punzalan Aranal on July 2,
1960) is the 24th and current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. At
age 52, she became the second youngest person and the first woman to head the judiciary.
[1]
In August 2010, she was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the
Philippines, its 169th Member and the first appointee to the High Court
by President Benigno Aquino III. Sereno is the youngest appointee to the Supreme Court
since Manuel Moran in 1945, but she was surpassed by Marvic Leonen in 2012 at the age
of 49, and the 13th woman appointed as a Supreme Court Justice.[2]
On 24 August 2012, President Aquino announced his appointment of Justice Sereno as
the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing Renato Corona, who was removed
from office in May 2012 after being convicted in animpeachment trial.[3]
She is set to retire in 2030, after 20 years in office (18 years as Chief Justice), pursuant to
the requirements of the1987 Constitution.

Contents
[hide]
1Background
2Education
3Career
4Awards and Recognitions
5References

Background[edit]
Sereno was born on July 2, 1960 in Manila to a Margarito Aranal, a native of Siasi,
Sulu and Soledad Punzalan, who served as a public school teacher. She is married to
Mario Jose E. Sereno of Davao City. They have two children, Maria Sophia and Jose
Lorenzo.

Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno (Andres Narvasa Eulogy, November 4, 2013).

Education[edit]
Sereno graduated Class salutatorian from Kamuning Elementary School in 1972 and
graduated with Honors from Quezon City High School in 1976.
She earned a bachelor's degree in economics at the Ateneo de Manila University in 1980,
and her Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines College of
Law atDiliman, graduating as class valedictorian in 1984.
She also earned a Master of Laws from the University of Michigan Law School in 1993.
Chief Justice Sereno is also an alumna of the UP Portia Sorority.

Career[edit]
Sereno started her career as a junior associate of the Sycip Salazar Feliciano and
Hernandez law firm.
At the age of 38, she was appointed as legal counselor at the World Trade
Organizations Appellate Body Secretariat in Geneva.
She was the only female member of the 1999 Preparatory Commission on Constitutional
Reform where she headed the commissions Steering Committee. In the same year, with
Justice Jose Campos, Commissioner Haydee Yorac, and other professors from the UP
College of Law, she co-founded Accesslaw, a corporation that provided the first annotated
electronic research system in Philippine law.
She also served as legal counsel for various government offices including the Office of
the President, Office of the Solicitor General, Manila International Airport Authority, and
the Department of Trade and Industry. She previously headed the Information and Public
Division office of the UP Law Complex. She was also a faculty member at The Hague
Academy of International Law in Cambodia.
At the time of her appointment, Sereno was Executive Director of the Asian Institute of
Management Policy Center. She was also the President of Accesslaw Inc., had taught
at University of the Philippines College of Law for 19 years, and has served as a
consultant for the United Nations, World Bank, and US Agency for International
Development.[4]
Sereno served as a co-counsel with Justice Florentino Feliciano on the Fraport case
in Singapore in which the Republic of the Philippines won the case. Dissent marcosburial