Jose P. Laurel

Born: August 19, 1878
In Office: October 13, 1943 – August 1, 1944

José Paciano Laurel y García (March 9, 1891 – November 6, 1959) was the president of the Japanese-Sponsored Republic of the Philippines during World War II, from 1943 to 1945. Laurel was not subsequently officially recognized as a Philippine president until the administration of Diosdado Macapagal.

José P. Laurel was born on March 9, 1891 in the town of Tanauan, Batangas. His parents were Sotero Laurel, Sr. and Jacoba García. His father had been an official in the revolutionary government of Emilio Aguinaldo and a signatory to the 1898 Malolos Constitution. While a teen, Laurel was indicted for attempted murder when he almost killed a rival suitor of his girlfriend. While studying and finishing law school, he argued for and received an acquittal. Laurel received his law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1915, where he studied under Dean George A. Malcolm, whom he would later succeed on the Supreme Court. He then obtained a Master of Laws degree from Escuela de Derecho in 1919. Laurel then attended Yale Law School, where he obtained a Doctorate of Law.

Laurel began his life in public service while a student, as a messenger in the Bureau of Forestry then as a clerk in the Code Committee tasked with the codification of Philippine laws. During his work for the Code Committee, he was introduced to its head, Thomas A. Street, a future Supreme Court Justice who would be a mentor to the young Laurel.[3] Upon his return from Yale, Laurel was appointed first as Undersecretary of the Interior Department, then promoted as Secretary of the Interior in 1922. In that post, he would frequently clash with the American Governor-General Leonard Wood, and eventually, in 1923, resign from his position together with other Cabinet members in protest of Wood's administration. His clashes with Wood solidified Laurel's nationalist credentials. In 1925 he was elected to the Philippine Senate. He would serve for one term before losing his re-election bid in 1931 to Claro M. Recto.[4] He retired to private practice, but by 1934, he was again elected to public office, this time as a delegate to the 1935 Constitutional Convention. Hailed as one of the "Seven Wise Men of the Convention", he would sponsor the provisions on the Bill of Rights.[5] Following the ratification of the 1935 Constitution and the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Laurel was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on February 29, 1936.

On August 15, 1945, the Japanese forces surrendered to the United States. Gen. Douglas MacArthur ordered Laurel arrested for collaborating with the Japanese. In 1946 he was charged with 132 counts of treason, but was never brought to trial due to the general amnesty granted by President Manuel Roxas in 1948. Laurel ran for president against Elpidio Quirino in 1949 but lost in what was then considered as the dirtiest election in Philippine electoral history. Laurel was elected to the Senate in 1951, under the Nacionalista Party. He was urged upon to run for President in 1953, but he declined, working instead for the successful election of Ramon Magsaysay. Magsaysay appointed Laurel head of a mission tasked with negotiating trade and other issues with United States officials, the result being known as the Laurel-Langley Agreement.

Laurel was married to Pacencia Hidalgo in 1911, and had nine children. Several of his children became famous politicians in their own right. His eldest son, Jose Bayani, Jr. (Pepito), became Speaker of the House of Representatives and a candidate for vice-president in 1957 (Macario Laurel, the eldest son Jose B. Laurel was a former Batangas Representative). His younger son, Salvador Roman (Doy), was Vice-President from 1986 to 1992. Three other of Laurel's children would become prominent in politics. Sotero Cosme (Teroy), named after Laurel's own father, was elected to the Senate from 1987 to 1992; Jose Sotero III (Pepe) became Ambassador to Japan; and Mariano H. Laurel became president of the Philippine Banking Corporation. The youngest son, Arsenio (Dodgie) earned fame in a wholly different field, as a race car driver, but he tragically died young in a racing accident.