MALACAÑANG expressed condolences with the family of former Senate president Jovito Salonga who passed away on Thursday at the age of 95.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to the family of Senator Jovito Salonga,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said after the announcement of Salonga’s passing.
Born in Pasig City on June 22, 1920, Salonga was the youngest among the five sons of pastor Esteban Salonga and vendor Bernardina Reyes.
Salonga studied law at the University of the Philippines, but was interrupted by World War II. He was imprisoned for almost a year for participating in anti-Japanese activities. Upon his release in 1943, he resumed his law studies.
He and future senator Jose W. Diokno topped the 1944 bar examinations. Salonga obtained his masters of law degree from Harvard Law School in 1948, and his doctor of law degree from Yale Law School in 1949.
Salonga ventured into politics in 1961, when he was elected representative of Rizal province. He became senator in 1965, topping that year’s polls.
He was seriously injured in the Plaza Miranda bombing on Aug. 21, 1971, which left him blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. This did not stop him from again topping the senatorial elections that year.
In 1980, during Martial Law, he was arrested for allegedly masterminding a series of bombings in Metro Manila but was later released by President Ferdinand Marcos.
After the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, President Corazon Aquino tapped Salonga to head the Presidential Commission on Good Government before it was criticized for sequestering alleged ill-gotten gains and transferring it to allies of Aquino or the PCGG agents themselves.
Salonga became senator and topped the polls for the third time in 1987. Most notably, he and 11 other senators opposed the RP-US Bases Treaty, which aimed to extend the stay of US military bases in the country.
He ran for president in 1992, but placed only 6th in a seven-person race. He retired from politics in the same year.
Outside politics, he continued his public service through Kilosbayan (People Action), an independent, ethics-oriented people’s organization; the Bantayog ng mga Bayani (Monument of Heroes) Foundation, organized to honor the nation’s martyrs during martial law; and the Bantay Katarungan (Sentinel of Justice), a watchdog that monitors the performance of courts and quasi-judicial agencies.