Lorenzo M.

Tanada

“Dugong Pilipino”

Key theme: Nationalism

How do you love your country?

Lorenzo Tanada was a man, who exemplified at what is impossible could be made possible through
determination, strong conviction and love for the country.

In his childhood, he joined a protest against his school’s principal who had ordered his students to stay
during the weekends to build a playground which prevented them from going home to their parents. He
once reminisced that practically all the older students were sons of foreigners or mestizos. Only two of
his classmates were brown skinned. He then decided to form an all-Filipino trio to participate in the
school’s sports activities. According to him, this was the spark to his obsession with nationalism.

In his days as a youth in the ROTC he told 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"

The man served as a senator for nearly a quarter of a century, the longest running senator in the history
of our nation. The man was known as a staunch opponent against corruption in our political system. He
served no party, no political bloc but only served the needs of his people. He served successively and
faithfully from the start of the Senate in 1948 to its dismantling in 1972 upon the declaration of martial
law, when soldiers padlocked its doors and the dictatorship shut down Congress to silence voices like
his.

Perhaps, as law students we come to know him in the landmark case of Tanada v Tuvera wherein it was
ruled that it would be the height of injustice to punish or otherwise burden a citizen for the
transgression of a law of which he had no notice whatsoever, not even a constructive one.

All thanks to the work of Lorenzo Tanada

During Martial Law

His opposition to American Bases in the Philippines

 Jose W Diokno who served in same Senate as he did and who was made from the same stern stuff,
wrote about his colleague, "Tanny":

For half a century, Tanny has been in the forefront of the nationalist struggle. He has sacrificed much,
seeking no gain for himself, only to defend the patrimony of the Filipino people, to uphold their individual
and collective rights and freedoms, to help them attain true independence, and to promote their well-
being. His integrity and courage have earned him the respect of our people, and his unselfish and
unstinted efforts on their behalf have earned him their deep affection.

Tanny carries the scars of many battles. As he says, he has won some and lost some. But he rebounds
from every defeat, moves onward after every victory – and always he keeps fighting.

Time has not cooled his ardor nor blurred his vision. He refutes the saying that old soldiers fade away.
Tanny's star has risen with the passing years.

He was Lorenzo Tanada.

A true blooded Filipino.

Unwavering nationalist, wielding loyalty not to the greed of man who bereft his country of their wealth
or to the support of foreign crooks who are merely out there for their own self-serving interests, but for
the love of his people, his fellow countrymen.

His fellow Filipino.

End with this with either

A) His favorite poem as a child

Enemy of the People.

I may if you wish lose my livelihood, I may sell my shirt and bed

I may work as a stone cutter, A street sweeper, a porter

I may clean your stores, Or rummage your garbage for food

 I may lay down hungry, O enemy of the sun, But, I shall not compromise

And to the last pulse in my veins, I shall resist.

Or b)
Nationalism is the primal virtue of the citizen; that virtue which prompts him to place the common
good of his people above private and personal good, above the interest of his party, that virtue that
makes him willing nay, glad to sacrifice himself that the nation may live. – Lorenzo Tanada