JOSE W.

DIOKNO
BIOGRAPHY

Jose "Pepe" Wright Diokno (February 26, 1922 – February 27, 1987) was a Filipino
nationalist. He served as Senator 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
Supremo—the Philippines' highest honor. February 27 is celebrated in the country as Jose
W. Diokno Day.

Early life and education

Jose W. Diokno was born in Manila on Feb. 26, 1922, to Ramon Diokno, a former
senator and Justice of the Supreme Court, and Leonor Wright, a British mestiza. His
grandfather was Ananias Diokno, a general in the Philippine Revolution and the
Philippine-American War.
In 1937, Diokno graduated as valedictorian of his high school class at De La Salle
College, Manila, and went on to study commerce, also at De La Salle University. he
graduated from college summa cum laude at age 17. Diokno took the CPA board
examinations—for which he had to secure special dispensation, since he was too young.
After Diokno enrolled in law at the University of Santo Tomas, his studies were
interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. During the war, Diokno continued his
education by reading his father's law books. When the war was over, he was granted a
special dispensation by the Supreme Court of the Philippines and allowed to take the
Philippine Bar Examination despite having never completed a law degree.

Secretary of Justice
Immediately after passing the Bar, Diokno embarked on his law practice, handling and
winning high-profile cases, such as successfully battling libel charges against Manila
Mayor Arsenio Lacson, and winning an election case on behalf of his father, Ramon.
With his reputation as a legal practitioner, in 1961, Diokno was appointed Secretary of
Justice by President Diosdado Macapagal.
In March 1962, Diokno ordered a raid on a firm owned by Harry S. Stonehill, an
American businessman who was suspected of tax evasion and bribing public officials,
among other crimes. Diokno's investigation of Stonehill further revealed corruption
within government ranks, and as Secretary of Justice, he prepared to prosecute those
involved. However, President Macapagal intervened, accepting a deal that absolved
Stonehill in exchange for his deportation, then ordering Diokno to resign. Diokno
questioned Macapagal's actions, saying, "How can the government now prosecute the
corrupted when it has allowed the corrupter to go?"

Senator
Months later, Diokno ran for senator under the Nacionalista Party in the 1963 elections,
and won.
Senator Diokno became chairman of the Senate Economic Affairs Committee, and
worked for the passage of pro-Filipino legislation, including what is considered to be the
most important incentive law in the country, RA 5186, also known as the Investment
Incentives Act of 1967, which provides incentives to Filipino investors and entrepreneurs
in order to place control of the Philippine economy in the hands of Filipinos. It also led to
the foundation of the Board of Investments, the premier government agency responsible
for propagating investments in the Philippines.
Diokno authored the Oil Industry Commission Bill and the Joint Resolution No. 2, which
set the policies for economic development and social progress. He also co-authored the
Export Incentives Act of 1970 and the Revised Election Law, among many others.
For his performance as legislator, Diokno was named Outstanding Senator by
the Philippines Free Press from 1967 to 1970, making him the only legislator to receive
the recognition for four successive years.

Martial Law
In the early 1970s, Diokno sensed a shift in the Marcos presidency toward
authoritarianism. Diokno and Ferdinand Marcos were members of the Nacionalista Party,
but when Marcos suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, Diokno resigned
from the party in protest and took to the streets.
Following the Jabidah Massacre, where alleged 14 Muslim youths were gunned down in
Corregidor by unknown armed men, Diokno called on the administration to respect its
citizens, saying in an oft-quoted speech, "No cause is more worthy than the cause of
human rights... they are what makes a man human. Deny them and you deny man's
humanity."
Diokno's second term as Senator was cut short on Sept. 21, 1972, when Marcos declared
Martial Law. Shortly after the declaration, Diokno was arrested by the dictatorship. Six
carloads of armed soldiers visited Diokno at his home to “invite” him for questioning.
They had no warrant. Diokno was then brought to Camp Crame, and later, Fort
Bonifacio, where he was detained along with Ninoy Aquino and Chino Roces. Diokno
and Aquino, whom the dictatorship considered their foremost opponents, were later
transferred to solitary confinement in Laur, Nueva Ecija.
Diokno spent nearly two years in detention. No charge was ever filed against him.
Diokno was released arbitrarily on Sept. 11, 1974—Marcos’s 57th birthday.

Human rights work

Immediately after his release, Diokno set up the Free Legal Assistance Group in 1974,
which gave free legal services to the victims of martial law. It was the first and largest
association of human rights attorneys ever assembled in the nation. In court, Diokno
personally defended tribal groups, peasants, social workers threatened by exploitation and
military atrocities. He was also involved in documenting cases of torture, summary
execution, and disappearances under the Marcos regime.
Diokno had no fear of being arrested again, and went around and outside the Philippines,
spreading a message of hope and democracy. In another oft-quoted speech, he once
quipped:

And so law in the land died. I grieve for it but I do not despair over it. I know, with a
certainty no argument can turn, no wind can shake, that from its dust will rise a new and
better law: more just, more human, and more humane. When that will happen, I know
not. That it will happen, I know.

People Power
After the 1986 People Power Revolution, Diokno was appointed by President Corazon
Aquino as founding chairman of the Presidential Committee on Human Rights, and
tasked to lead a government panel to negotiate for the return of rebel forces to the
government folds.
Diokno would be disappointed, however, by the Mendiola Massacre of January 22, 1987,
where 15 farmers staging a peaceful rally in Mendiola were gunned down by the military
under Aquino. Diokno resigned from his two government posts in deep disgust and great
sadness. Daughter Maris says, "It was the only time we saw him near tears.”

Death and legacy

In 1984, even before People Power, Diokno had been diagnosed with terminal lung
cancer. He had smoked all his adult life. Diokno continued to work, despite his illness,
until his death on Feb. 27, 1987—one day after his 65th birthday.
Following Diokno's death, President Cory Aquino declared March 2–12, 1987 as a period
of national mourning. Expressing her grief, Aquino said, "Pepe braved the Marcos
dictatorship with a dignified and eloquent courage our country will long remember." She
quoted what her husband Ninoy would often tell his friends that he was "the one man he
would unquestioningly follow to the ends of the earth."
In 2004, Diokno was posthumously conferred the Order of Lakandula with the rank of
Supremo—the Philippines' highest honor. February 27 is celebrated in the country as Jose
W. Diokno Day.
In 2005, the first ever "Ka Pepe Diokno Champion of Human Rights" award was given to
Voltaire Y. Rosales, Executive Judge of Tanauan, Batangas for his effort in protecting the
downtrodden. Subsequent annual awards have been given to worthy candidates who, in
their life and death, fulfilled the values of protecting human rights just as Senator Diokno.
In 2007, by virtue of Republic Act No. 9468, Bay Boulevard, a 4.38 kilometer road in
Pasay and Parañaque cities was renamed Jose Diokno Boulevard in his honor and
memory.

Personal life
Sen. Diokno was married to Carmen Icasiano, with whom he had ten (10) children:
Carmen Leonor, Jose Ramon, Maria de la Paz, Maria Serena, Maria Teresa, Maria
Socorro, Jose Miguel, Jose Manuel, Maria Victoria and Martin Jose.
Maria Serena, or "Maris," a historian, is the current chair of the National Historical
Commission of the Philippines, and former Vice President for Academic Affairs of the
University of the Philippines.
Jose Manuel, or "Chel," is a human rights lawyer, Chairman of the Free Legal Assistance
Group, Founding Dean of the De La Salle University College of Law, and former Special
Counsel of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
His grandson Jose Lorenzo "Pepe" Diokno is the executive director of alternative
education group Rock Ed Philippines and is best known a motion picture director,
producer and screenwriter whose debut film, Engkwentro won the Venice Film Festival’s
Lion of the Future Award in 2009, as well as Venice’s Orizzonti Prize, the NETPAC
Award for Best Asian Film, and the Gawad Urian for Best Editing.

Publications
A Nation for Our Children, a collection of Jose W. Diokno’s essays and speeches on
human rights, nationalism, and Philippine sovereignty, was published in 1987 by the
Diokno Foundation. The collection is named after Diokno's popular speech, in which he
says,

There is one dream that all Filipinos share: that our children may have a better life than
we have had. So there is one vision that is distinctly Filipino: the vision to make this
country, our country, a nation for our children.
 Several parts of the book are now accessible online, at The Diokno Foundation

Famous quotes

 "No cause is more worthy than the cause of human rights... they are what makes a man
human. Deny them and you deny man's humanity."
 "There is one dream that we all Filipinos share: that our children may have a better life
than we have had. To make this country, our country, a nation for our children."
 "Law in the land died. I grieve for it but I do not despair over it. I know, with a certainty
no argument can turn, no wind can shake, that from its dust will rise a new and better
law: more just, more human, and more humane. When that will happen, I know not.
That it will happen, I know."
 "We are one nation with one future, a future that will be as bright or as dark as we
remain united or divided."
 "Authoritarianism does not let people decide; its basic premise is that people do not
know how to decide. It promotes repression that prevents meaningful change, and
preserves the structure of power and privilege."
 "Yes-men are not compatible with democracy. We can strengthen our leaders by
pointing out what they are doing that is wrong."
 "The point is not to make a perfect world, just a better one – and that is difficult
enough."
 "Do not forget: We Filipinos are the first Asian people who revolted against a western
imperial power, Spain; the first who adopted a democratic republican constitution in
Asia, the Malolos Constitution; the first to fight the first major war of the twentieth
century against another western imperial power, the United States of America. There is
no insurmountable barrier that could stop us from becoming what we want to be."
 "All of us are Filipinos not only because we are brothers in blood, but because we are all
brothers in tears; not because we all share the same land, but because we share the same
dream."
 "Reality is often much more beautiful than anything that we can conceive of. If we can
release the creative energy of our people, then we will have a nation full of hope and full
of joy, full of life and full of love — a nation that may not be a nation for our children
but which will be a nation of our children."
DIOKNO, Jose W.
Posted on October 15, 2015

“Even if we have to wade through blood and fire, we will be free. We will develop. We
will build our own societies. We will sing our own songs.”

At the height of the martial-law dictatorship’s abusiveness and greed, Jose W. Diokno never lost
faith in the Filipino people’s ability to overcome hardships and construct a better future.
Considered one of the worthiest senators the country ever had, Diokno was an exemplary public
servant and a champion of civil liberties who devoted himself to the collective struggle for
democracy, justice and freedom.

He was the son of Ramon Diokno, a nationalist political figure who was associate justice of the
Supreme Court at the time of his death in 1954; his grandfather was Katipunan revolutionary
general Ananias Diokno of Batangas.

Jose W. Diokno’s intellectual brilliance was manifested early: valedictorian of his high school
class, he obtained his commerce degree in 1940 summa cum laude; and shortly after that, at the
age of 18 topped the board tests for certified public accountants (so young his license was
withheld until he turned 21).
World War II interrupted his law studies at the University of Santo Tomas but he used the time
to work in his father’s law office. By special permission from the Supreme Court, Diokno was
allowed to take the bar in 1944 even without a law degree. He and Jovito R. Salonga topped the
bar exams, both getting the same high score. Many years of outstanding law practice followed.

Appointed to President Diosdado Macapagal’s cabinet as justice secretary in 1962, Diokno

caught the public’s attention when his investigation into the dealings of American businessman
Harry Stonehill turned up evidence of massive government corruption. But it was Diokno who
was forced to resign.

That same year, he ran and won as a senatorial candidate of the Nacionalista Party, to which
Ferdinand Marcos belonged. In the Senate, he championed the national interest in important
economic legislation and foreign policy. He was on his second term as senator when Marcos
suspended the writ of habeas corpus in 1971, effectively authorizing the arbitrary arrest of
citizens. Diokno resigned from the Nacionalista Party in protest. By then he was in the thick of
the mass protests that registered the people’s opposition to, among others, oil price increases and
the abuse of civil liberties.

Diokno was among the first to be arrested when Marcos declared martial law in 1972. He was
imprisoned for two years without charges, including several months of solitary confinement in
Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija. After his release in 1974, he organized and led a small
group of lawyers to form the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), which provided legal
counsel to political prisoners and other victims of martial law.

With him as its chair from 1975 to 1982, the Civil Liberties Union of the Philippines published
the first serious analysis of martial rule in the booklet, The State of the Nation after Three Years
of Martial Law.

After the downfall of the Marcos regime in 1986, Diokno was appointed chair of the Presidential
Commission on Human Rights, although he was already seriously ill by then. He was also the
first head of the Philippine government panel that conducted peace negotiations with the
National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

For all his responsibilities as a public advocate, he was a good family man, teaching his 10
children by example together with his wife and closest companion Carmen Icasiano.

Jose W. Diokno succumbed to lung cancer on February 27, 1987, one day after he turned 65. His
legacy of outstanding service to the Filipino people is remembered to this day.