Franklin Drilon

Franklin Drilon

Franklin Magtunao Drilon (born November 28, 1945 in Baluarte, Molo , Iloilo City ) is a Filipino politician and currently (2019) minority leader in the Senate of the Philippines.

biography

Degree and lawyer

Drilon, son of an employee of the Philippine National Bank and a housewife, studied political science at Iloilo College of the University of the Philippines after attending the Baluarte Elementary School , where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts (BA Political Science) in 1965 . He then completed a postgraduate degree in law at the University of the Philippines in 1969 as the third-best student in his year with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.). His fellow students not only included his future wife Violeta Calvo-Drilon, but also the future Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and the later Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora . During his studies he was already involved as a member of the student council of the University of the Philippines and was also Associate Editor of the Philippine Collegian and Co- Editor of the Philippine Law Journal .

After completing his studies, he worked for four months as a lawyer in the law firm Ledesma, Saludo and Associates , before he was a lawyer in the law firm Sycip, Salazar, Luna, Manalo & Feliciano Law Offices between 1969 and 1973 . He then joined the law firm ACCRA with his wife, which was founded in 1972 by Edgardo Angara . There he later became a managing partner and left in 1986 at the beginning of his political career.

Minister under Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos

In February 1986, President Corazon Aquino appointed him Deputy Minister of Labor in her government. Shortly thereafter, in 1987, President Aquino appointed him Secretary of Labor and Employment . He was able to fall back on his experience as a lawyer in labor law and dealt with the stability of jobs and industrial peace on the one hand, and reasonable wages and better working conditions on the other. His priority was the grounds of industrial peace in the era after Marcos - dictatorship , which was a prerequisite for more investment and employment. In doing so, he sought a compromise between the competing interests of management and unions , with even union officials recognizing his efficient and effective leadership of the ministry.

As part of a cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed Minister of Justice ( Secretary of Justice ) in the Aquino cabinet in January 1990 . He was able to fall back on his experience as a lawyer in the prosecution of coups and the persecution of the former presidential family Marcos and their favorites, and as a minister he even took on the larger cases.

His outstanding work as minister of labor and justice ultimately led to Drilon becoming executive secretary in another government reshuffle in July 1991, the third most important position in the cabinet after President and Vice President Salvador Laurel .

Subsequently, on July 1, 1992, he was again appointed Minister of Justice by the newly elected President Fidel Ramos . In this role, he continued the judicial reform that had previously been started by increasing the salaries and salaries of judges and prosecutors , firing corrupt and incompetent judges and prosecutors, accelerating court proceedings and giving poorer sections of the population more access to free legal advice. As Attorney General, he was also instrumental in the indictment and conviction of Calauan's Mayor Antonio Sanchez, who was found to have incited the fatal rape of a student at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños and the murder of her boyfriend. In addition, he drove the proceedings against Claudio Teehankee Jr., the man behind the shooting of Maureen Hultman, and against Rolito Go, the attacker of a student at De La Salle University . The condemnation of these three proved Drilon's advocacy for the principle of equality to be applied to celebrities.

Senator and Senate President

On June 30, 1995, he was the candidate of the Lakas-Laban - coalition with the fourth best result of all candidate member of the Senate . When his first wife died shortly afterwards, he set up the Violeta Calvo-Drilon Foundation to continue charity projects such as the school milk program, through which all first graders in public schools should receive milk free of charge . In the Senate, he became chairman of the influential Committee on Public Accountability and Blue Ribbon Committee Investigations into Corruption, Abuses of Power and Unlawful Activities by the Government.

In 1995 and between 1996 and 1998 he was chairman of the influential committee on public accountability, the so-called Blue Ribbon Committee , which investigates bribery and corruption in the government.

At his wedding in 1997 to his second wife Mila Serrano-Genuino, Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos were best witnesses .

In 1998 he became the majority leader and thus chairman of the majority parliamentary group in the Senate. He advocated the acceleration of legislative reforms for judicial reform, transparency in government transactions, streamlining of bureaucracy and modernization of the economy.

On July 12, 2000, he became President of the Senate for the first time, succeeding Blas Ople . In doing so, he drove the legislative process ahead at a record-breaking point when the Senate passed 199 laws and eight resolutions were passed in just twenty session days. He held the office of Senate President until November 2000.

In the 2001 elections, he was re-elected fourth for a further six-year term and was re-elected as Senate President on July 23, 2001. He held this office until July 24, 2006, longer than any other Senate President since the fall of the Marcos regime in 1986.

In addition, he was first chairman in November 2003 and then in August 2004 President of the Partido Liberal ng Pilipinas . Under his chairmanship, the traditional party regained importance and rose to become the dominant Pareti of the Philippines after the 2010 elections as its candidate Benigno Aquino III. was elected President of the Philippines. Drilon also became chairman of the Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) Council. He also became President of the 112th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in April 2005 and, on July 10, 2006, also became Chairman of the IPU Committee to Investigate Human Rights Abuses by Parliamentarians .

Most recently, Drilon was Chairman of the Finance Committee and the Committee on Public Order and Illegal Narcotics from July 2006 until he left the Senate on June 30, 2007.

After retiring from the Senate, he became Senior Counsel for the ACCRA law firm.

He has been a member of the Senate since 2010 and has been President again since 2013.

Web links

Commons : Franklin Drilon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Senate homepage
• Angara, Abello, Concepcion, Regala & Cruz Law Firm

Individual evidence

1. ^ 18th Congress Senators. Senate of the Philippines , accessed November 7, 2019 . 
2. ^ Chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee ( Memento from September 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ Presidents of the Liberal Party ( Memento April 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )