DR. JOSE P.

LAUREL
2

Jose P. Laurel

▸ Among Filipino leaders who dominated the national stage during the
first six decades of the 20th century, the one who most deserves the
title of philosopher of democracy and economic nationalism is the late
Dr. Jose P. Laurel. Many Filipinos in those eventful decades spoke and
wrote of democracy as well as of economic nationalism, in the
political, academic and educational fields, with competence and
sometimes brilliance, but none presented or committed to print a
whole body of ideas, beliefs, and convictions on these two great
issues of the world of the 20th century better or more
comprehensively than the Sage of Tanauan whose name literally
became a by-word in Philippine politics, education, and economics in
the years following the establishment of Philippine Independence.
3

More than any of his contemporaries, Dr. Laurel understood clearly the
problem that democracy must need to face in the Philippines that was
for the first time politically sovereign since the Filipinos’ brief experience
with this form of government and political faith in 1898 to 1899. More
than any of his contemporaries, Dr. Laurel also understood sharply the
role of economic and cultural nationalism in the building of a democratic
society in a developing country which is heir to all the defects and
weaknesses caused by long centuries of domination by Western powers.
4

Jose Paciano Laurel–the Paciano was in honor of Dr. Jose P. Rizal’s

elder brother who became a general in the Revolution of 1896–
born in Tanauan, Batangas on March 9, 1891. His father was Don
Sotero Laurel and his mother was Doña Jacoba Garcia, both of
Tanauan. Don Sotero himself a revolutionary, having served as
Secretary of the Interior in the Revolutionary Cabinet of General
Emilio Aguinaldo, and was a signatory of the Malolos
Constitution. Taken prisoner during the Filipino-American War,
Don Sotero died while in concentration in 1902, when Jose
Paciano was only 11 years old.
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Young Jose, industrious and energetic, worked part-time as a chorister and

altar boy, in order to earn some pocket money. When he was 18, and a
third year student in high school, he got a job as temporary clerk and part-
time laborer in the Bureau of Forestry with a wage of 40 centavos for half
a day. A year later, he was promoted to a clerk-ship in the Code
Committee. Here he met an American who was to influence his thinking
and early career–the able and noble-minded Thomas Atkins Street, who
later became a member of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
6

▸ After finishing high school in 1911, the adventurous

youth assumed two heavy responsibilities. He took
a wife, eloping with a pretty Tanauan belle,
Paciencia Hidalgo, and at the same time enrolled in
the College of Law of the University of the
Philippines. These responsibilities did not prevent
him from graduating the second in his class of 60
and from coming out as the second notcher in the
1915 Bar Examinations.
7

▸ In 1919, while holding the position of Chief of the

Administration Division of the Executive Bureau, he obtained
the degree of Licenciado en Jurisprudencia from the Escuela
de Derecho in Manila. In the same year he was sent as a
government pensionado to Yale University where he obtained
the degree of Civil Law in 1920. He was admitted to the Bar
by the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme
Court of the District of Columbia the same year.
8

▸ Before returning to the Philippines in 1921, he traveled extensively

throughout the United States and took special courses in
International Law at Oxford University in England and at the
University of Paris in France. With such academic distinctions, rare in
those days among Filipinos, Dr. Laurel was, upon his return,
appointed Chief of the Executive Bureau. In 1922, Dr. Laurel was
promoted to Undersecretary of the Interior and ten months later was
made full Secretary by Governor-General Leonard Wood. It was while
serving as Secretary of the Interior that he first showed his
nationalism by upholding the dignity of the Filipino in the celebrated
Conley Case and the Cabinet Crisis of 1923.
9

▸ After resigning from the Cabinet, Laurel opened a law office, taught
in various law schools in Manila, and began his long career as a
publicist in the course of which he was to write something like 50
books and treatises covering a wide variety of subjects. In 1924 he
was elected Senator of the Fifth District and became Majority Floor
Leader. In the Constitutional Convention of 1934 to 1935, Laurel was
elected as a delegate of Batangas. He headed the committee on the
Bill of Rights and aside from that, he was named a member of the
Committee of Seven which was given the task of hammering into
shape the final draft of the Constitution.
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▸ Laurel, easily the most astute, circumspect, and
courageous among men around President Quezon when
the Pacific War broke out and the Philippines was invaded
by Japan, was left to match wits with the Japanese and to
do all he could to minimize the rigors of an enemy
occupation. For Dr. Laurel’s role during the enemy
occupation, he was awarded the Philippine Legion of
Honor, Degree of Commander, thus symbolizing the
official attitude and evaluation of the government itself
with respect to his difficult role during the Japanese
Occupation.
11

Dr. José P. Laurel served as President of the 

Philippines (1943–1945) during the Japanese
occupation (World War II).
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▸ In 1952, Dr. Laurel together with a number of his
colleagues, founded the Lyceum of the Philippines of
which he was the first president. When he decided to
retire from public office in 1957 upon expiration of his
term in the Senate, he devoted his time to the Lyceum of
the Philippines and the Philippine Banking Corporation
which he organized in 1957. He was concurrently
president and chairman of the Board of the Lyceum of the
Philippines and the Philippine Banking Corporation when
he died on November 6, 1959.
13

In recognition of his distinguished performance in the public service

Laurel was conferred various awards and distinctions by different sectors
both here and abroad.
Awards:
▸ Medallion, Knight Commander–Grand Cross of the Knights of Rizal;
▸ Medal, Kapulungan Sa Wika
▸ Lions International
▸ Distinguished Service Award, Philippine Association of School
Superintendents
▸ Tribute of Honor, Courageous Champion of Justice from the
Philippine Association of Doctors of Civil Law
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▸ Man of the Year, 1953, Philippines Free Press.

▸ Medallion, Instituto de Cultura Hispanica, Miembro de Honor;
▸ Medallion, A La Lealtad Agrisolada, Isabela La Catolica;
▸ Medallion, King Frederic IX of Denmark;
▸ 2 Medallions, First Class Order of the Rising Sun.
15

Sources: From the article “Jose Paciano Laurel: Philosopher of

Democracy and Nationalism” by Dean Jose A. Lansang and Prof. Franklin
A. Morales
http://joseplaurel.com/jose-p-laurel-history/
Jose P. Laurel Memorial Foundation Incorporated