Claro Mayo Recto Jr.

 (born Claro Recto y Mayo; February 8, 1890 –

October 2, 1960) was a Filipino statesman, jurist, poet and one of the
foremost statesmen of his generation. He is remembered for his
nationalism, for "the impact of his patriotic convictions on modern political
thought", and has been seen in the same class as Dr. Jose Rizal, Sen.
Jose W. Diokno, and Sen. Lorenzo Tañada.

Early life[edit]
Recto was born in Tiáong, Tayabas (now known as Quezon province),
Philippines, of educated, upper middle-class parents, Claro Recto, Sr.
of Rosario, Batangas, and Micaela Mayo of Lipa, Batangas. He
studied Latin at Instituto de Rizal in Lipa, Batangas, from 1900 to 1901. He
continued his education at Colegio del Sagrado Corazón of Don Sebastián
Virrey and finished his secondary education in 1905 at the age of 15, back
when schools had lesser years to complete and finishing early was
common. He moved to Manila to study at Ateneo de Manila where he
consistently obtained outstanding scholastic grades, graduating with a
Bachelor of Arts degree maxima cum laude (the second highest after
summa cum laude and higher than magna cum laude) in 1909. He received
a Masters of Laws degree from the University of Santo Tomás. He later
received his Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) honorary degree from Central
Philippine University in 1969.

Politician[edit]
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 travelled 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 from July 3, 1935, to 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,[7] a question that remained
unresolved for 40 years.
Recto presided over the assembly that drafted the Philippine Constitution in
1934–35 in accordance with the provisions of the Tydings–McDuffie
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 Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act which, through the urging of Manuel 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 tariffs and quotas on
Philippine exports such as sugar and coconut oil. After amendments, the
Tydings–McDuffie bill was passed and signed into law by President
Roosevelt.
Together with then-Senate President Quezon, who later was elected the
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 (1942–43), Minister of Foreign
Affairs (1943–44), 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' decisions—the 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.