Former Senate President Franklin Magtunao- Drilon, current chairman of the Liberal Party (LP) will arrive in Tagbilaran on Wednesday as commencement speaker of the University of Bohol during its 137th graduation exercises on October 28, 2009 , at 4:00 p.m. at the university quadrangle.
Ms. Dalia Melda T. Magno, school registrar, disclosed that her office has received the final confirmation from Drilon last Wednesday. This developed after Senator Noynoy Aquino who was invited earlier is not available on this date due to prior commitments.
Drilon who became senator from l995 to 2007 was elected President of the Senate of Philippines in the year 2000, 2001-2006. He served as Executive Secretary in 1991-1992, Secretary of Justice in 1990-1991, 1992-1995 and Secretary of Labor and Employment in l987-1990.
The 63 year old former senator was born in November 28, l945 in Iloilo City, Iloilo. He took up his elementary education at the Baluarte Elementary School in Molo, Iloilo. In college, he went to the University of the Philippines where he took up Bachelor of Arts in l965. At U.P. he was the associate editor to the Philippine Collegian and served as councilor of the U.P. Student Councilor. He graduated Bachelor of Laws at the U.P. College of Law in 1969 and on the same year took the bar examination and finished with the third highest score. Drilon served as an associate lawyer to the Sycip, Salazar,Luna, Manalo & Feliciano Law Offices (now Sycip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan). He moved to the Angara, Abello Concepcion, Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW) in 1974, where he currently serves as Senior Counsel. He was elevated to partner in 1975, co-managing partner in l981 and managing partner in l986.He was also a Bar Examiner on Labor and Social Legislation in the 1979 and 1984 bar examinations.
As Labor Secretary, he was able to establish industrial peace in the post-Marcos era, a requisite for increased investments and employment. He was fair yet firm in dealing with the conflicting demands of management and labor. As Justice Secretary, he was instrumental in the prosecution and conviction of Mayor Antonio Sanchez of Calauan, Laguna, who mastermined the rape slaying of a UP Los Baños coed and the murder of her friend; and Claudio Teehankee Jr., who figured in the gun slaying of Maureen Hultman; Roilo Go, the trigger-happy assailant o a La Salle student. The three are locked up in jail, a testimony to the uncompromising belief of Drilon that everyone is equal before the bar of justice. (L.A. Boncales)
