Lorenzo M. Tañada: A Tribute To A Filipino Hero: Son of Gumaca, Quezon

Lorenzo M. Tañada
Son of Gumaca, Quezon

Lorenzo Martinez Tañada was born on 10 August 1898 in the town of Gumaca (formerly Tayabas), situated in the province of Quezon, Philippines. He was the fourth child in a family of nine brothers and sisters, born to Capitan Vicente Lopez Tañada, the last gobernadorcillo of Gumaca, and Anastacia Martinez.

Tañada as a young boy growing up in Gumaca, Quezon, revealing already his love for reading

Tañada with his parents and siblings; (L-R) Front: Mariano, Lumen and Josefin; Middle: Natividad, mother Anastacia, father Vicente and Lorenzo; Behind: Marcial

Four scores and three years ago - on June 12, 1898 - on a balcony in Kawit, Cavite, a brother mason, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, unfurled the Philippine flag and proclaimed to the world our independence as a sovereign people.

A few days after that historic event, in the town of Gumaca, Quezon, was born a man who was destined to loom at large in our history as a life-long defender of that independence.

For this man will become a fearless fighter for our freedoms, not only in war but also in peace, not only against foreign invaders and mercenaries but also against domestic despots and dictators.

Robert Evangelista, paying tribute to Tañada, in a speech delivered before the Supreme Council of the Ancient Scottish Rite of Free Masonry in the Philippines, 13 June 1981.

In the now distant year of 1912, at the age of 14, Tañada became an activist. Tañada was a fifth grade student at the time, and the direct cause of his rebellion was a tyrannical American school superintendent. The latter wished to build a playground, and to this end, harnessed the resources of his young charges. He made them work on Saturdays and Sundays, and as a result, the students could not go home for the weekends. Discontent began to spread among their ranks. The school children organized themselves, and led by one Santayana, they decided to boycott their classes.

When the startled superintendent learned of their action, he called the strikers one by one. And when Lorenzo's turn came, the American could not believe his eyes, for young Tañada was the smallest in class. "What, you?" he exploded, "why have you done this to me?" "Sir, it is because we cannot go home on Saturdays and Sundays," the boy explained. The upshot of it was that Santayana was expelled, but Lorenzo and his classmates were allowed to stay in school. Their exploitation came to an end. Tañada looks back fondly at that incident in his early life and describes it as the first student strike in Philippine history.

Amadis Ma. Guerrero, Graphic, 29 December 1971

Tañada ascribes his love for the truth to an incident during his boyhood days. His father was a mild-mannered man who imposed an important rule on his sons: That they be home to pray the Angelus at dusk. One night, the young Lorenzo violated the rule, told a lie and got his comeuppance: he was made to stretch on a bench and was whipped. "A liar", his father counseled him, "is brother to the thief" --- a lesson that stuck to the younger Tañada's mind.

Ileana Maramag, Nationalism: A Summons to Greatness, 6 June 1965

Tañada's father, Capitan Vicente Lopez Tañada

Tañada's mother, Anastacia Martinez

Tañada reminisces about his mother

His parents enrolled him at the Gumaca primary school. When the American supervisor closed the school because of its broken-down condition, Tañada was forced to transfer to the Atimonan Elementary School, 24 kilometers away from his hometown. He boarded in Atimonan, later enrolled in the town's trade school but was advised at the end of his sixth grade to transfer. He was too clumsy with his fingers and could not do carpentry work.

Ileana Maramag, Nationalism: A Summons to Greatness, 6 June 1965

Tañada's parents

Tañada, standing 2nd from left, was a member of the La Salle College Varsity Basketball Team

The year was 1914; the school, De La Salle College. The new student, Lorenzo M. Tañada was admitted to the Seventh Grade. Thus did the present Solicitor General of the Philippines become a La Sallite. After his first school year, young Tañada began taking up a combination course which embodied General High School and Business subjects ñ a combination which totaled 17 subjects! No wonder that today he admits that the going then was tough and that he found his later University life comparatively easy. True to the La Salle spirit, he fully realized the importance of his Faith and was a member of the Sodality of Most Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1918, Lorenzo M. Tañada was awarded his graduation diploma, but that did not end his career as a La Sallite. In later years, he became the Vice President of the De La Salle Alumni Club. When the La Salle Alumni Basketball team played and won against the Ateneo Alumni Team back in 1940, our Tañada was in the thick of it, in fact, he was the team captain.

“The La Sallite of the Year", Green and White, De La Salle College, 1945-1947

Tañada playing baseball

When Tañada was enrolled at La Salle, he was faced with what he recalls as the most trying months of his student days. His mentors at La Salle were all Americans and as English was just beginning to replace Spanish as the medium of instruction, he found it difficult to listen and get accustomed to his teachers' accent and manner of speaking. And while it is true that he excelled as a student in Atimonan, he discovered to his dismay that he had a peculiar provinciano accent and his repeated mispronunciation of English words invariably sparked laughter from his classmates. With the characteristic dedication that he was soon to be known for, he studied hard, moved up from 29th in his class to number 5 and by graduation time topped his class and won the coveted gold medal which was awarded only to the students with the highest academic standing. Tañada considers it one of the more glorious moments of his life. Today, he still vividly remembers and cherishes the memory of how his mother had welled up with motherly pride as she pinned the gold medal on his breast and kissed him for the first time, a public display of affection which was not considered de regueur in those days.

Ileana Maramag, Nationalism: A Summons to Greatness, 6 June 1965

Tañada speaks of one great sports encounter

Tañada, wearing a dark shirt, was goalkeeper of the university football team

At the University of the Philippines, Tañada distinguished himself at the university campus as a man of exceptional talent and versatility. He was a major of the ROTC, a top performer and lead actor of the UP Dramatic Club, the goalkeeper of the university football team and of two Olympic squads, and winner of the coveted Heacock and Quezon gold medals in forensics.

Ileana Maramag, Nationalism: A Summons to Greatness, 6 June 1965

Tañada, as a Major in ROTC at the State University

Tañada's original ambition was to be a physician, but an incident in Atimonan involving murder and adultery - made him change his mind. The year was 1913, and the case centered on the Police Chief of the town, who was having an affair with a married woman. For his indiscretion, he met violent death, and his body was found washed ashore on the beach one day. Came the preliminary investigation, and the best lawyer in Quezon, Agustin Alvarez arrived in the town. "I still remember his felt hat with the insignia of the Nacionalista Party," Tañada recalled. "We were all ears as this lawyer spoke and I was so impressed by him." After the hearing, Tañada's future was sealed. "Abogado na ako, inay", he told his mother "ayaw ko na sa medicine". The following year, he took law at the State University.

Amadis Ma. Guerrero, Graphic, 29 December 1971

Then in his third year in law, and having just won the Quezon and Heacock medals in oratory, the ROTC unanimously chose Major Tañada to represent the corps as one of the speakers in the Armistice Day celebration, a big campus affair at the time. Col. Chester Davis, commandant of the UP ROTC got wind of the contents of Tañada's speech, placed him last in the roster of speakers, then announced shortly before Tañada's turn that the program would have to be cut short on the flimsy pretext that it was getting late. Tañada was not one to be intimidated. He walked to President Palma and insisted on his right to address the crowd over Davis' protestations, if only to please his mother who had traveled all the way from Gumaca to listen to him speak, even if she did not understand a word of English! He delivered his piece. He told the cadets that they should take their military training seriously because if the United States would not grant the Philippines its independence, the Filipinos should be ready to fight and make the supreme sacrifice for their country. His views were nationalistic but considered "seditious" and both Dean Conrado Benitez and Dean Maximo Kalaw advised him to resign from ROTC before Davis could have the chance to relieve him.

Ileana Maramag, Nationalism: A Summons to Greatness, 6 June 1965

In a varsitarian dance held in Lucena, Quezon, some three and a half decades ago, one Expedita Zaballero Ebarle, a quiet, shy-looking young lady caught the admiring attention of a good-looking gentleman who immediately manifested his interest the moment he got acquainted with her. The man is now a prominent name in local politics, a distinguished parliamentarian and lawyer, and a devoted husband and father to several children. The girl he accompanied to the ball is his dutiful wife, who has remained the same quiet, unassuming woman who prefers to remain in the background most of the time.

Alicia Lopez Lim, The Daily Mirror, 14 June 1956

Tañada's spouse, Expedita
Zaballero Ebarle

Expedita speaks of how she became interested in Tañada.

The attraction was by no means one-sided, for Mrs. Expedita Tañada mentioned that she spontaneously took a liking for the fellow who was vaunted to be devoted to his work and studies, and who, country wags say, was a very serious young man who didn't fritter his time away in nonsensical pursuits. "He looked so responsible", Mrs. Tañada recalls with fondness. "I couldn't help liking him." There followed a long period of engagement which culminated in marriage.

Alicia Lopez Lim, The Daily Mirror, 14 June 1956

Tañada speaks about the time he met Expedita.

Was it love at first sight? Tañada answers.

Tañada recalls his serenade to Expedita.

Tañada is requested to declaim.

Tañada declaims.

Lorenzo M. Tañada & Expedita Zaballero Ebarle

On 7 May 1927, Tañada pledged his undying love to Expedita, a promise he kept throughout his lifetime

In 1927, he married Expedita Zaballero Ebarle. They spent their honeymoon in Baguio, but his bride was furious because he brought along his books on corporate law. The reason: He wanted to go to the United States as a pensionado. Tañada subsequently topped the examinations and left in August of that year for the US to study in Harvard.

Amadis Ma. Guerrero, Graphic, 29 December 1971

Tañada talks about their marriage.

Tañada later took the government examinations for pensionados to be sent to the United States, got the highest rating and elected to go to Harvard. Mrs. Georgia S. Williams, advisor to Filipino scholars, discouraged him from studying in the famous university. Some pensionados before him had failed, she warned him. But Tañada refused to be disheartened. "I never knew what I was in for until I got to Harvard", Tañada recalls. "The professors there certainly squeeze your brains dry. No sloppy thinking for them; you simply had to buckle down to real hard work or out you go." But Tañada was equal to the challenge. No less than his Harvard professor of law, Felix Frankfurter, later associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, attested to Tañada's scholarship.

Ileana Maramag, Nationalism: A Summons to Greatness, 6 June 1965

Tañada 3rd from left with J. Antonio Araneta, 2nd from left and other Harvard friends

I have seen him intimately in class, I have read some of his written work, and I can say with conviction that Mr. Tañada's work discloses a high quality of ability and workmanship. He is one of the very best students from the Philippine Islands whom we have had here...

Felix Frankfurter, Harvard University professor, attesting to Tañada's sterling academic performance in school

Expedita with daughters Tessie (L) and Millette (R) during an Assumption Convent's Old Girls Day

Mrs. Tañada finished high school at the Assumption Convent and later took Home Economics at the Philippine Women's College. She seldom goes out unless it's necessary. She keeps a keen eye on the management of the household and keeps herself busy most of the time. She watches her budget like any other housewife, and usually dispenses with impractical expenditures. The senator, it seems, has made it clear that he'd like his wife at home when he comes after a tiring day, and Mrs. Tañada is not one to oppose this unwritten ruling. "I make it a point to be home most of the time, for Tatay (the name she now dubs her husband) looks for me the moment he comes home. I go out once in a while. Parties, occasionally. I accompany my girls in their shopping trips".

Alicia Lopez Lim, The Daily Mirror, 14 June 1956

Loyalty to - your parents, your superiors, your country, God. The hierarchy of those loyalties. Knowing what to do when these loyalties come into conflict. The humility - never letting talent, success or other privileges, get into your head and becloud our thinking. Always remembering when all such graces or advantages come, that all we are, and all that we ever hope to be ultimately, are God's favor being blessed on us for some divine plan and that without Him, we are nothing.

Tañada in a speech during the La Salle Grade School Graduation Commencement Exercises, 1984

Tañada, standing 2nd from the right, in a family picture taken in 1941

Tañada, standing 4th from the right, in a family picture taken in 1950

How Nanay and I with my meager salary in the Fiscal's Office, P333.33, and my income from teaching 3 hours a day, six days a week, managed to bring you all up was sort of a miracle. But we did, because we avoided living beyond our means. We lived by ourselves and thereby learned to be happy by ourselves. We did not look for happiness in the company of others. We learned to be self-sufficient and independent. By this I do not mean you should avoid people. By all means associate with them. But only now and then. Where and when you will go, you and not they should decide. This would mean that you should be able to say no. It would be hard at first but after saying no a few times you will find it easy.

Tañada, excerpt from his letter to son Tito, 11 January 1980

Tañada dancing with Expedita

Tañada's home at 13th Street, Broadway, New Manila, Quezon City, a view from the garden

Mrs. Tañada loves gardening, and the vari-colored flowers in the garden fronting the house is enough proof of this woman's inherent love for plants. "Sometimes my husband kids me, saying the house will eventually be hidden by plants if I keep on planting," laughingly she says.

Alicia Lopez Lim, The Daily Mirror, 14 June 1956

The thing that remained constant in our lives from the time we were small till the time each of us left the house was the family rosary that we recited every night. I guess this spiritual exercise guided us and helped in binding us together.

Myrna T. Sanchez, Tañada's daughter

Tañada talks about family values.

I am writing this, because in my old age, I want to remember how loving you were as a father: Our family trips to Baguio for the summer and Christmas holidays when your daughters sang just to break the monotony, even conversing in Spanish that brought you and Nanay peals of laughter; your teaching us how to swim at Dalahican Beach before we started taking formal swimming lessons. And how you filled our meals with a wealth of stories and lessons while we simultaneously listened to classical music and Spanish songs. I will always remember our daily family rosary, our annual Visita Iglesia...

Tessie T. Yam, Tañada's youngest daughter, 4 June 1992

Tañada w/ Expedita and daughters (L-R) Chona, Millette, Tessie & Myrna

L-R: Tessie, Millette, Expedita, Chona, Myrna and Bobby

I still keep the letters he wrote me when I was a student taking up my masters at Harvard Law School. They speak of a father stern but caring, a martinet for discipline and thrift, a guardian who was both mentor and guide... When I wrote about scouting for a pair of winter gloves, I was told to buy a good one since he wrote, "cheap things in the long run are dearer," but the ever frugal one, he reminded me, "of course, you will not buy the best." Nearly forty years after, I must confess his letters still rattle and prickle. But the lessons he bid me learn and live remain.

Bobby Tañada, son, excerpt from speech "Memories of the Heart", 10 August 1998

The daughters of Tañada (L-R): Zeny Reyes, married to Bobby, Zeny Ledesma, married to Tito, Tessie, Millette, Anna Nakpil, married to Nats, Rica Feliciano, married to Greg, Myrna and Chona

The girls in the Tañada brood are apparently retiring personalities in their own right. Although they do attend parties every now and then, they keep themselves at home whenever they're not in school. "Father is rather strict with us. He doesn't like too frequent partying," one of the Tañada girls, Millette, remarked. Myrna, the eldest among the girls, is the homebody just like her mother. Tessie, the youngest girl, is very fond of athletics and her facial features are undoubtedly taken after her father.

Alicia Lopez Lim, The Daily Mirror, 14 June 1956

The Tañada family posing at the Tañada home in New Manila

Family reunions were regular in the Tañada home

Among friends in his resthouse in Tagaytay, (L-R) Jose Diokno, Rafael Zulueta, Joaquin Po, J. Antonio Araneta, Tañada, Jose B.L. Reyes, Roberto Concepcion and Claudio Teehankee Sr.

To keep fit, Tañada hikes some seven to eight kilometers during quiet weekends in Tagaytay. He sticks rigidly to his daily exercises, some basic calisthenics, a combination of push-ups and bending exercises, done to the lively beat of disco music.

Weekend, 25 July 1982

Tañada with Expedita, (L-R) son-in-law Carlos Yam, son Learny, son-in-law Adrian Ocampo & son Tito

Summers in Baguio... He, wearing his safari hat; holding one of his elegant canes; taking that daily morning hike around the city; enticing us to hike around also by holding a contest wherein we had to list all the establishments encountered in our little sojourns. Baguio never saw so many Tañada's wandering its streets...

Ramy T. Roxas, grandchild, 2 June 1992

Tañada and Expedita in front of their vacation house in Tagaytay City

Here was one devoted wife, who after 58 years of marriage could still confess that she was lovestruck from the very first meeting; for after all, she had known no other rival aside from his books and his work. "Makisig, magaling tumula, laging bida sa mga drama sa UP at Olympic football player pa!" Her reminisces sent the crowd swooning as if she were Guy and he were Pip. "May kasabihan na ëbehind every successful man is a woman'. Sa palagay ko, may kontribusyon din naman ako; malaki-laki na rin ang pasensya ko!"

Excerpts from Expedita's greeting to Tañada on the latter's 87th Birthday by Rochit Tanedo, Mr. & Ms., 23-29 August 1985

I am one of those extremely privileged husbands who can come home very late at night, whether high or otherwise, confident that I will not be grilled with questions where I have been and who were with me. People often ask me what is my secret - why I, a man of 80, look much younger. A great part of the answer is - I enjoy the implicit trust of an understanding wife.

Tañada, in a speech, during the Ateneo Graduation Commencement Exercises after his conferment of Doctorate in Humane Letters, 1983

For one married to a man so single-minded and driven, so terribly punctual and scrupulous ("Pati pera ng gobyerno, tinitipid niya," she recalls when her husband would return his extra allowances and per diems.), she is only thankful that he was loving; "Mabuti na lang at hindi nawala ang kanyang pagka-romantiko, kita n'yo naman, siyam ang naging anak namin! Maligayang bati sa 'yo, Enchong. Karangalan ko at pribilehiyo ang maging asawa mo."

Expedita's surprise speech on Tañada's 87th Birthday, from the article of Rochit Tanedo, Mr. & Ms., 23-29 August 1985

Excerpt of the presentation of the grandchildren of Tañada on his 86th Birthday, 10 August 1984

Tañada in the company of his grandchildren

It was obvious last August 10, when his 'lansagin' grandchildren performed on the Christ the King stage, that this prophet is honored not only in his country but by his own family as well. For he is first and foremost a family man.

Senator Rene Saguisag

Tañada and Expedita with grandchildren

Tañada with granddaughter lawyer Josephine V. Yam at the Tañada Law Office

In quiet celebration of your 100th birthday
I excitedly walk the dusty trail
leading to our favorite spot
under the protective shade of the giant old tree
where we sat resting from long and exhausting hikes
up and down the windy hills of Tagaytay

Josephine Tañada Yam, excerpt from the poem "The Tree in Tagaytay"' 10 August 1998

Tañada with daughters Chona and Tessie at the Tañada Law Office

He showed his appreciation for any little thing that was done for him by saying "Thank you." Thank you was a most often used phrase in his vocabulary. He would always say thank you to the guard who opened the door for him as he alighted from the car. He would say thank you to the assistant in the law office when presented a case study. And he thanked the maid who handed him the newspaper and the clerk who brought him his morning cup of coffee. He thanked the elevator boy, the barber and the nurse and everybody who did something for him.

Chona Silos, Tañada's daughter, Philippine Star, 15 July 1992

Tañada and Expedita, a happy, romantic couple during their 60th wedding anniversary

Tañada and Expedita on their Diamond Wedding Anniversary, 7 May 1987; With children (L - R): Nats & Annie Tañada, Learny & Agnes Tañada, Carlos & Tessie Yam, Adrian & Millette Ocampo, Willy & Myrna Sanchez, Bobby & Zeny Tañada, Tito and Zeny Tañada, Nardi & Chona Silos

My last special moment with Lolo was during a visit about a month before he serenely passed away. I was kissing him either in greeting or goodbye and he kissed me back. But as his lips touched my cheek, he transformed his kiss into a "Bunggay!", as he would do sometimes with the babies and the littlest kids - a kiss meant to tickle small children. It was as if he was affectionately telling this nearing-forty woman: "You will always be my grandchild."

Karen Tañada, eldest grandchild, from her essay "Remembering Lolo"

Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank thee for this place in which we dwell, for the love that unites us, for the peace accorded us this day. For the hope with which we expect the morrow. For the health, the work, the food and the bright skies that make our life delightful. For our friends in all parts of the earth and our friendly helpers in this foreign isle. Give us grace and strength to forbear and persevere. Give us courage and gaiety and a quiet mind. Spare to us our friends. Soften to us our enemies. Bless us if it may be in all our innocent endeavors. And if it may not, give us strength to encounter that which is to come. That we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath and in all changes of fortune and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving to one another. Amen.

The prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson which Tañada's family always prayed after the family rosary.