Pedro L. Yap, the Visayan chief justice

The first Visayan-speaking chief justice was Pedro L. Yap. He also has the record as one of the briefest holders of the position. Chief Justice Yap, the 17th Highest Magistrate of the Philippines starting from Cayetano Arellano, was chief justice from April 18 to July 1, 1988.

Chief Justice Yap was from San Isidro, Leyte, born on July 1, 1918. It was also from that town that he earned his elementary education and went to Cebu for his secondary education at the Cebu Provincial High School or what is now known as the Abellana National School. It was also in the Cebu Junior College (now the University of Philippines Cebu Campus, who had Paulino Gullas, Founder of The FREEMAN as the registrar) where Chief Justice Yap earned his Bachelor of Laws (he was Magna Cum Laude). He topped the Bar examinations given in 1946 and was admitted to the Bar on March 29, 1947, topping the examinations with a grade of 91.7 percent.

Chief Justice Yap is among the first Visayans sent to the United States for further studies in law (another was Miguel Cuenco who became congressman of the old 5th District of Cebu, after finishing Law was sent to the United States for further studies as he was not yet qualified to take the Bar due to his young age). He enrolled at the New York University earning Master of Laws specializing in International Law.

He became a career diplomat, when he joined the United Nations as Human Rights Officer, later as Secretary of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and Chief of Studies and Convention Division from 1952 to 1963.

Chief Justice Yap taught at the University of San Carlos College of Law from 1949 to 1952. He likewise became Board of Trustees of the University of San Carlos from 1971 to 1974. He was elected Delegate of the 1971 Constitutional Convention representing the Second District of Cebu (composed Cebu City, Mandawe, Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, Cordova, and LapuLapu City). Chief Justice Yap refused to sign the 1973 Constitution.

Before his appointment as chief justice, Yap was associate justice from April 8, 1986 to April 18, 1988. After retiring, Yap was succeeded by a fellow Cebuano, Marcelo Briones Fernan (July 1, 1988 to December 6, 1991). The tradition of excellence of Cebuanos appointed to the Supreme Court was pioneered by the first Cebuano associate justice, the great jurist, Manuel Cabahug Briones.