Jose Diokno Brief Biography
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JOSE W. DIOKNO
(1922-1987)
Renowned Street Parliamentarian
Nationalist, and Legal Luminary
Jose W. Diokno, or “Ka Pepe,” as he was popularly known, was born on February 26, 1922 to Ramon Diokno, a former associate justice of the Supreme Court, and Eleanor Wright, an American who became a Filipino citizen.
He graduated from elementary school with distinction, and finished his secondary education at De La Salle College as valedictorian in 1937. In 1940, he earned his bachelors degree in commerce summa cum laude also at La Salle. He topped the CPA board examination in the same year with a rating of 81.18 percent. In 1944, without finishing his bachelor of laws degree, he took and topped the bar examination, with a rating of 95.3 percent.
Immediately after passing the bar, Diokno embarked on his law practice, handling controversial cases, like the one of Manila Mayor Arsenio Lacson, that brought him to public prominence.
In 1961, President Diosdado Macapagal appointed him Secretary of Justice.
A celebrated case he handled as Secretary of Justice involved the American businessman Harry S. Stonehill, who was suspected of tax evasion and other crimes. In prosecuting it, he issued an order to have the businessmans offices searched. The case became too controversial because of the tremendous influence that Stonehill wielded on both Americans and the Filipinos. Fearing for the life of his crusading justice secretary, President Macapagal asked him to resign from the office.
In the November 1963 elections, Diokno ran for senator, and won.
As chairman of the economic affairs committee in the Senate, Diokno advocated and worked for the passage of pro-Filipino legislations, like the Industrial Incentives Law, which provides incentives to Filipino investors and entrepreneurs in order to place the control of the Philippine economy in the hands of the Filipinos.
The Philippines Free Press consistedly voted Diokno as an outstanding senator for his pro-people legislation and strong opposition to the legislation of laws which he considered inimical to the interests of Filipinos.
In 1968, while the Vietnam War was still raging, the Free Press named him and several of his colleagues Ð- Jovito Salonga, Benigno Aquino Jr., and Tecla San Andrez Ziga Ð- as outstanding senators for their staunch opposition to the “Philcag Bill,” which proposed the sending of Filipino troops to Vietnam and an annual appropriation of P35 million to maintain them while on their mission there.
Interviewed by the Free Press on his stand, Diokno said:
“I cannot vote for the bill because it is an affront to our national dignityÐbecause I cannot agree to spend P35 million for another people when we cannot even provide for the most basic needs of our own. This amount of P35 million is not all that will be spent. These millions are for one year onlyÐ Is this right, is this fair to our people when we have not even released the appropriation of P50 million for our school building program and are, today, three years behind schedule?”
When President Ferdinand Marcos proposed a bill appropriating a “political budget” of P2.8 billion, of which P100 million was to be doled out, at P2,000 each, to 31,000 barrios throughout the Philippines without any apparent program for the use of the amount, Senator Diokno reacted strongly. He not only opposed the proposed legislation, but also advised the administration to think twice about going through it, adding that”Ð…. If it is done, it will surely boomerang.”
Consistent with his pro-people advocacy, Diokno proposed a humanized system of taxation. He said:
“I dont believe in imposing on our people more taxes that would burden the poor. But I believe in taxes for the rich, taxes they can afford. That is why I am for imposing travel tax, for increasing taxes on real estate and private automobiles. But I dont think taxes on petroleum products should be increased as the oil companies would just pass on the burden to the consumers and this would affect the masses.”
In 1967, together with Senator Lorenzo Tanada, Diokno was voted outstanding senator by the Philippine Free Press on account of his serious studies local petroleum industry which led to the discovery that the said industry was fully controlled by four refineries owned by foreigners. An offshoot of these studies was the passage of a legislation that has since regulated the petroleum industry in the land.
A zealous human rights lawyer, particularly during the martial law period. Diokno believed in the sacredness and dignity of the human personality. Thus, when he learned about the so-called “Jabidah Affair” on Corregidor, he lambasted the Marcos administration.
Diokno was again voted outstanding senator in 1969 and 1970, thus earning the distinction of being the only senator so honored for four consecutive years beginning in 1967.
At that times, President Marcos was bending towards dictatorship in preparation for the declaration of martial law. Diokno, seeing the increase in human rights vilations in the Marcos regime, bolted from