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Jovito Reyes Salonga, KGCR (; June 22, 1920 – March 10, 2016) also called "Ka Jovy," was a Filipino people lawyer and politician, as well as a leading opposition leader during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos from the declaration of martial law in 1972 until the People Power Revolution in 1986, which removed Marcos from power. Salonga was then elected as the 14th president of the Senate of the Philippines and the first one after the new Constitution was just ratified, serving from 1987 up to his retirement from politics in 1992.
Salonga was known as the “Nation’s Premier Fiscalizer.” He is the only person to top the bar exam and the senatorial race multiple times (with the sole record of three elections garnering the highest number of popular votes in 1965, 1971, and 1987 immediately after People Power).
Salonga returned to the Philippines to pursue teaching and the practice of law. He authored several books on corporate law and international law, and was appointed Dean of the Far Eastern University Institute of Law in 1956. His student and later associate was future Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, who said the three finest lawyers in history were Salonga, fellow ally Sen. Diokno, and future Chief Justice Claudio Ong Teehankee. On December 16, 1988, Arizona State University selected him to receive an honorary degree.
Central Philippine University and Silliman University, which were founded by Protestant United States, conferred him with honorary degrees. Evoking the experiences of Martial Law – in remembrance of its declaration – Centralian Link. Retrieved 09-25-2020.
Shortly after his election, he tangled with one of the best debaters of the opposing party, the Nacionalista Party (NP), on the issue of proportional representation in various committees. He also composed a seminal article, published and editorialized in various papers, on the Philippines' territorial claim to North Borneo (Sabah). With the election of Cornelio Villareal (LP, Capiz) as Speaker of the House, Salonga was appointed to the chairmanship of the prestigious Committee on Good Government and led the committee in conducting inquires in aid of legislation relentlessly about the prevailing graft and corruption in the government and recommended filing of charges against some government officials and employees. In June 1962, President Macapagal filed the Philippine petition against Malaysia's alleged illegal expropriation of North Borneo. Salonga was appointed to head the delegation in the January 1963 London negotiations.
He ran for re-election in 1971. Along with some members of the Liberal Party, he was critically injured on the August 21 bombing of his party's proclamation rally at Plaza Miranda. His doctors' prognoses were grim—he was not expected to live. He survived, however, with impaired eyesight and hearing, and more than a hundred tiny pieces of shrapnel in his body. He topped the senatorial race for the second time.
He returned to the political arena and embarked on a successful law career. He protested martial law and was unjustly arrested. After his release from military custody, he was offered a visiting scholarship at Yale, where he engaged in the revision of his book on international law. He completed his book on the Marcos years, which included a program for a new democratic Philippines.
In October 1980, after the bombing of the Philippine International Convention Center, Marcos again ordered Salonga's arrest; this time he was detained at Fort Bonifacio without any formal charges and investigation. He was allowed to leave with his wife for the U.S. in March 1981, to attend several international conferences and undergo medical procedures. Right after their departure, subversion charges—supposedly a well-known Marcos tactic to scare off his enemies from ever returning—were filed against him. Jovito and Lydia Salonga lived in self-exile in Hawaii, then moved to Encino, California, where he was visited by many opposition leaders, including Ninoy Aquino. It was here where, at the request of LP President Gerardo Roxas, Salonga wrote the party's Vision and Program of Government. After Roxas' death in April 1982, Salonga was elected acting president of the Liberal Party. Salonga then became one of the candidates for president against Marcos, competing against the two UNIDO leaders Doy Laurel and Eva Estrada-Kalaw, with all three eventually agreeing to settle with Corazon Aquino as the main candidate, who defeated Marcos in the 1986 election.
As chairman of the Commission on Good Government, he "filed and perfected" the government's claim to the Marcos Swiss deposits through the Swiss lawyers dr. Salvioni, dr. Fontanet and Leuenberger. His unwavering pursuit of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth was, in one senator's words, the "moral equivalent of a war". His efforts were rewarded when the government sequestrated Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr.'s firms including 93% shares of the United Coconut Planters Bank and 27% shares of the San Miguel Corporation.
In 2000, the Swiss federal Court, after 14 years of litigation, decided to forfeit the corrupt Marcos funds received by the Swiss Credit bank in Zurich,decision 1A.335/2005 (18.08.2006) in http://www.bger.ch/it/index/juridiction/jurisdiction-inherit-template/jurisdiction-recht/jurisdiction-recht-urteile2000.htm and delivered to the nation's government more than US$680,000,000. The commission also petitioned to expropriate several real estate properties and several of the nation's largest corporations that the Philippine government claim were bought through blackmail or money the Marcos family allegedly plundered from the Treasury.
Salonga, despite limited means, won three senatorial elections, garnering the largest number of votes under three different administrations: that of Diosdado Macapagal, Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino. He has successfully legislated the State Scholarship Law, the Disclosure of Interest Act, the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, and the Act Defining and Penalizing the Crime of Plunder.
On September 14, 2007, Salonga resigned as member of a minor fraternity in the University of the Philippines, Diliman. They are the so-called Sigma Rho fraternity. Salonga resigned after their crime and implication in the hazing death of University of the Philippines, Diliman student, 20-year-old Cris Mendez. Salonga joined Sigma Rho in the 1940s. "Ex-Senate President Salonga Resigns From Fraternity After Hazing Death" Salonga stated the reason for his resignation to be "because of recent events in which Sigma Rho has been involved." The NBI issued subpoenas to the Sigma Rho fraternity, but none of its members admitted responsibility for the brutal murder or shed light on the truth. Mendez suffered "bruises all over his body, particularly on the back of his arms and thighs." Inquirer.net, Salonga resigns from Sigma Rho On September 17, 2007, the "Grand Archon Emeritus" (leading alumnus of this Sigma Rho fraternity) attempted to save face by demanding an apology from Salonga over remarks against the fraternity. Their lawyer Tony Meer, a fellow member concocted a rouse to distract the public and stated: "I don't think its fair to us. I think he owes us an apology." The requested apology was never bestowed on them. "Sigma Rho alumni chief wants Salonga apology" Meanwhile, the media, historians, and experts, including columnist and Sigma Kappa Pi Alumni President Jarius Bondoc praised Salonga for doing the right thing by rejecting this syndicate.
The Chair of Bantay Katarungan is former Secretary of Justice Sedfrey Ordoñez, who had been Salonga's law partner for over three decades. Salonga was a founder/adviser. Salonga remained active as a speaker, denouncing the moral and social ills in Philippine society. Since ending his political career in 1992, Salonga has been delivering lectures at such eminent universities such as the University of the Philippines, Ateneo, Universidad de Santo Tomas, De La Salle University, and F.E.U. He teaches regularly at the Lyceum of the Philippines where he holds the Jose P. Laurel Chair on Law, Government and Public Policy. He likewise launched the Dr. Jovito Salonga Center for Law and Development at the Silliman University College of Law to pioneer and develop what the law center calls as Transformative Law – "the study and application of law to transform society, shape policies through advocacy, legal education, research, training, and service learning". "Salonga Center: About Us" . Salonga Center. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
Salonga wrote President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to warn her that the May 14, 2007, elections could turn out to be as "violent and fraudulent" as the Marcos-era polls. In an open letter to Secretary Eduardo Ermita, he stated that he saw Marcos in Arroyo, Ver in Esperon, "Salonga sees Marcos in Arroyo, Ver in Esperon" – Inquirer.net, Philippine News for Filipinos but was rebuffed. Arroyo rejected the concerns raised in Salonga's letter which mentioned that her decision to call out the military to help stop election violence and killings would make the May 14 polls similar to the violence- and fraud-tainted elections during the Marcos regime. "Palace rebuffs Salonga"
Salonga branded the government's move to hand back an American citizen accused of rape, to the United States authorities as "a raw deal and a midnight transaction", whose victims were "Nicole" (the rape victim) and the country's justice system. Salonga claimed that a raw deal was done against "Nicole" and the judicial process by Judge Benjamin Pozon and the Court of Appeals under pressure from George W. Bush's government. Nicole: "A stab in the back by Arroyo"
Senator Joker P. Arroyo paid him the highest tribute when he said: "Some people make history, others write it. But there is a rare handful who, in writing-and in speaking-make history. These are the ones who illuminate the issues, and in so doing move men to answer them with noble actions ... In our country there was Claro M. Recto. But if you consider the wealth of historical events surrounding a particular personality who shaped and even generated these events by his words, Jovito Salonga stands virtually alone."
On August 15, 2007, Salonga's book Not by Power or Wealth Alone was published.
On August 24, 2007, Salonga's Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation launched a commemorative 200-page book, Bantayog ng mga Bayani (Monument of Heroes) at the Bantayog Memorial Center on Quezon Avenue corner EDSA to honor heroes, 160 Filipino student and community activists, priests, nuns, journalists, lawyers, Supreme Court justices and an Italian priest Tulio Favali, who was murdered in 1985 by a military-backed fanatic cult. "Bantayog to launch book on Martial Law heroes"
Salonga has been called by his nephew Rene Saguisag (Saguisag used to call him Uncle Jovy though Salonga is actually the second cousin once removed of Saguisag, as his paternal grandmother Talia Saguisag is the first cousin of Salonga's mother Dinang Reyes) as the finest statesman or the best president we never had, while Joker Arroyo called him the most important historical figure who influenced the nation by his words alone. Bantayog ng mga Bayani renamed its main building in its compound as the Sen. Jovito R. Salonga Building. It houses the museum, amphitheater, and the office. While Silliman University's law school houses the Dr. Jovito R. Salonga Center for Law and Development.
Subic Naval Base has the Inang Laya Monument which shows plaques that feature handprints of the twelve senators who voted to end the military bases agreement, with Salonga's famous speech that broke the tie included in the plaque, together with a representation of his handprint.
In 2022, Mayor Vico Sotto of Pasig, who called Salonga his biggest hero, named the new building of Salonga’s alma mater Pasig Elementary School the Jovito R. Salonga Building.
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