2012, August 27. Speaker Jose B. Laurel, Jr. - Birth Centenary
Litho Offset.
Amstar Company, Inc. Perf 14
Singles, Sheets of 40 (10 x 4)
9p
Speaker Jose B. Laurel, Jr. - Singles (64,000)
Layout Artist: Victorino Serevo
Design Coordinators: Ambassador Jose Macario Laurel IV,
Elenita D.L. San Diego
Design: Speaker Laurel's Portrait by Fernando Cueto Amorsolo
(National Museum)
First Day Covers: Manila
JOSE BAYANI "PEPITO" LAUREL, JR.
Also known as José B. Laurel, Jr., was a Filipino politician who was
elected twice as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the
Philippines. A stalwart of the Nacionalista Party, he was the
party's candidate for Vice President of the Philippines in the 1957
elections.
Laurel was born in
Tanauan, Batangas, the
eldest son of José P. Laurel, who would serve as
President of the Philippines from 1943 to
1945. His brother, Salvador, would become Vice-President of the
Philippines in 1986,
Sotero would be elected Senator in 1987. Another brother,
Jose S. Laurel III served as Ambassador to Japan. His youngest
brother, Arsenio was the first two-time winner of the Macau Grand
Prix
Laurel finished his
intermediate and secondary education in Manila, and enrolled at the
University of the Philippines. In 1936, he received his law degree
from the U.P. College of Law and passed the bar exams the following
year.
In 1941, Laurel won his
first election, as a Member of the House of Representatives from
Batangas. However, his term was interrupted by the Japanese invasion
in late 1941. For the
duration of the war, Laurel assisted his father, who was designated
as President of the Philippines under the 2nd Philippine Republic.
When the Philippine
Congress was restored upon independence in 1946, Laurel again sought
election to the House of Representatives representing the Third
District of Batangas. He was successful in his bid, and would be
re-elected to the Second and Third Congresses. In 1954, he was
elected to his first term as Speaker of the House. He gave up his
Speakership, as well as his seat in the House in 1957 when he was
drafted instead to run as Vice-President under the Nacionalista
ticket spearheaded by Carlos P. Garcia. He was defeated by Diosdado
Macapagal of the Liberal Party even as Garcia went on to victory.
In 1961, Laurel regained
his seat in the House of Representatives, and would serve in that
capacity until martial law was declared in 1972. He was again
elected Speaker in February 1967 and remained in that position until
1971, when Cornelio Villareal of the Liberal Party regained the
Speakership Laurel retired from politics after Congress was closed
in 1972. He reemerged in the public eye as a member of the 1986
Constitutional Commission that drafted the present Philippine
Constitution.
During his congressional
career, Laurel focused on economic issues. He was an advocate of a
planned economy and protectionism.
Laurel was among those who, in 1965, recruited Senate
President Ferdinand Marcos to join the Nacionalista Party as its
presidential candidate against Diosdado Macapagal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Laurel,_Jr.)