Jose P. Laurel: No one’s puppet

TOday, March 9, marks the 130th birthday anniversary of Jose Paciano Laurel, the President of the Puppet Government during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. That statement may be factual but Laurel was nobody’s pawn. Certainly not by the Japanese invaders nor the american colonizers who both held the fiercely independent Laurel in grudging respect. a true Batangueño, he was fearless and a fiery nationalist. he possessed a sharp mind like its famous blade, the balisong, and a volcanic temper like the erupting Taal. he was gifted with political courage, which led him to resign from Governor General Leonard Wood’s Cabinet when the Governor had reinstated into office an american Secret Service, Ray Conley, who was accused of taking bribes over Laurel’s objection.

Laurel’s move precipitated the mass resignations of practically all Filipino members of the Wood ’s cabinet. This became known as the Cabinet Crisis of 1923. But his greatest act of courage was when he accepted the position as President of the Japanese Puppet government on October 14, 1943, just when the tides of war were turning against Japan.

While other leaders went on exile abroad, Laurel stayed home despite the risks he faced and served the Japanese-sponsored government to shield his beloved countrymen from further sufferings. He was a logical choice because of his independent stance during the American colonization period. He also sent one of his sons to study at the Japanese Imperial Military Academy before the war. And he personally believed that he could interact effectively with the Japanese authorities for the protection of his fellow Filipinos. But this made Laurel a most misunderstood man by many of his countrymen. An assassin tried to kill Laurel while he

was playing golf in Wack Wack. He pardoned his would be-assassin who later became his most ardent follower. When the war ended, Laurel was indicted for treason and he was interned in Japan by the Americans under General Douglas Macarthur. In his book, War Memoirs, Laurel argued that it was a forced collaboration with the enemy. It was resorted to as a means of national survival and to tide over our people to better times. His love for his country never faltered. Our noted historian Teodoro A. Agoncillo had written that while Laurel was the President of the Japanese-sponsored government, he propagated strong nationalism. He encouraged the wide use of Tagalog as the national language. Furthermore, the teaching of Philippine History and character education was solely reserved for Filipino teachers. Laurel likewise required that the majority members of the board of any school should be made up of Filipino citizens. He required a rigid licensing examination for teachers. Laurel also alleviated the poor economic conditions of the Filipinos. Since there was food scarcity, he encouraged the Filipinos to grow rice, vegetables and foodstuff. Food production was intensified and the Bigasang Bayan was set up to procure and distribute rice and other cereals. Laurel worked hard to mitigate our people’s ordeal during the Japanese occupation.

Laurel excelled in his studies. He earned his Bachelor of Laws degree from UP and completed his Master of Laws degree in UST. He finished his doctorate in civil law at Yale University. It is said that the young Laurel got interested in law when he was accused of frustrated murder. As a youth, he was wild and a prankster. On December 6, 1901, he stole a kiss from a pretty lass he was courting in his hometown, which another suitor had strongly resented. A couple of nights later, Laurel and the suitor had a serious confrontation and the latter was stabbed by Laurel with a

balisong. Laurel was convicted by the lower court but was acquitted by the Supreme Court upon appeal. (US v.

Laurel, et al., GR L-7037, March 15, 1912) His appeal was handled by the famous lawyer at that time—clyde de Witt. The lawyer’s fees were so enormous that the family had to sell all the properties they owned in Tagaytay, which comprised almost a third of the entire area of the present city. Laurel lamented that it was the “most expensive kiss of all.” Since then, the law had been Laurel’s mistress and their love affair never waned. He was an outstanding student of law, and one of its foremost practitioners. And he had few equals as a lawmaker. He was appointed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1936 and served as the Acting Chief Justice in 1941. When the war broke out, Laurel was the Secretary of Justice under President Manuel L. Quezon. He was so enamored with the law that he sent all his six sons to the law school, and all of them became successful lawyers in various legal disciplines.

After the war when the issue of collaboration was still fresh and just a year after President Manuel Roxas had declared the general amnesty for all those who had allegedly collaborated with the enemy, Laurel ran for president against President Elpidio Quirino. In an election considered to be the dirtiest and most fraudulent ever held in our county, Laurel lost to Quirino. His disillusioned followers were ready to stage a rebellion, but Laurel quelled them by saying: “We will fight them again in future elections. And we will win.” In 1951, Laurel was vindicated when he topped the senatorial polls by garnering 48 percent of the total votes cast.

On his inauguration as the President of the Japanese-sponsored government, Laurel delivered his address which was replete with his trademark audacity even in the face of the enemy. In front of the Japanese hierarchy, he declared: “Every drop, every trickle of individual effort shall be grooved into a single channel of common endeavor until they grow into a flowing stream, a rushing cataract, a roaring torrent, a raging flood, hurdling all difficulties and demolishing all barriers in the way of our single purpose and common determination to make our independence stable, lasting and real.” The Japanese did not get the meaning of Laurel’s courageous statement to achieve “a stable, lasting and real” freedom from the enemy. Maybe it was lost in translation but those who knew him never doubted Laurel’s patriotism. It’s absurd that Laurel was accused of collaboration since he is first and foremost a Filipino. In his own words, Laurel had said: “No one can love the Filipinos more than the Filipinos themselves.”