Franklin Drilon

The Honourable
Franklin Drilon

Franklin Drilon in 2008
22nd, 24th and 27th Senate President of the Philippines
Assumed office
July 22, 2013
President Benigno Aquino III
Preceded by Juan Ponce Enrile
In office
July 23, 2001 – July 24, 2006
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Preceded by Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.
Succeeded by Manny Villar
In office
July 12, 2000[1] – November 13, 2000
President Joseph Estrada
Preceded by Blas Ople
Succeeded by Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.
Senator of the Philippines
Assumed office
30 June 2010
In office
30 June 1995 – 30 June 2007
Majority leader of the Senate of the Philippines
In office
January 26, 1998 – July 12, 2000
President Fidel Ramos
Joseph Estrada
Preceded by Francisco Tatad
Succeeded by Francisco Tatad
Executive Secretary
In office
July 15, 1991 – June 30, 1992
President Corazon Aquino
Preceded by Oscar Orbos
Succeeded by Peter Garuccho
Secretary of Justice
In office
July 1, 1992 – February 2, 1995
President Fidel Ramos
Preceded by Eduardo G. Montenegro
Succeeded by Demetrio G. Demetria
In office
January 4, 1990 – July 14, 1991
President Corazon Aquino
Preceded by Sedfrey A. Ordoñez
Succeeded by Silvestre H. Bello III
Secretary of Labor and Employment
In office
1987–1990
President Corazon Aquino
Personal details
Born Franklin Magtunao Drilon
(1945-11-28) November 28, 1945
Iloilo City, Iloilo, Commonwealth of the Philippines
Nationality Filipino
Political party Liberal Party (2003– Present)
Independent (2000–2003)
LAMMP (1998–2000)
Lakas-NUCD (1995–1998)
UNIDO (1987-1995)
Spouse(s) Violeta Calvo (Deceased)
Mila Serrano-Genuino
Residence Iloilo City, Iloilo
San Juan City, Metro Manila
Alma mater University of the Philippines, Central Philippine University
Occupation Lawyer, Politician
Religion Roman Catholicism

Franklin Drilon commonly known as the nickname "Frank Drilon" (born November 28, 1945) is a Filipino Politician who served as President of the Senate of the Philippines in 2000, from 2001 to 2006, and again from 2013. Drilon currently serves his third term in the Senate, and his third term as Senate President. He is also the Chairman of the Liberal Party and a Senior Counsel of the ACCRA Law Offices.

Early life

Drilon was born on November 28, 1945 in Iloilo City, Iloilo and is the eldest son of Cesar Drilon, Sr. and Primitiva Magtunao. He took his elementary education at the Baluarte Elementary School in Molo, Iloilo, Iloilo and graduated in 1957. He finished his secondary education at the U.P. - Iloilo College (now University of the Philippines High School in Iloilo) in 1961.

In college, he went to the University of the Philippines where he initially received the Bachelor of Arts in 1965. At U.P., he was the associate editor of the Philippine Collegian and served as councilor of the U.P. Student Council. Among his classmates were future politicians Miriam Defensor Santiago and Ronaldo Zamora. In 1969, he completed his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) at the U.P. College of Law. In the same year he took the bar examination and finished with the third highest score.

In the same year, he 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 1981 and managing partner in 1986.

He was also a Bar Examiner on Labor and Social Legislation in the 1979 and 1984 bar examinations. He also became the Vice-President and Governor of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and the Vice-President, Board Member and Treasurer of the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP). He also received his honorary degree (Honoris Causa) from Central Philippine University.

Political career

Drilon served the government and public corporations through the following positions:

Aquino cabinet

As Justice Secretary, he was instrumental in the prosecution and conviction of Mayor Antonio Sanchez of Calauan, Laguna, who masterminded 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. Both cases ended up in convictions.

Senate

In 1992, most of the Aquino cabinet were drafted for the Senate candidate line-up of the newly created party Lakas Tao. But Drilon opted to help Mrs. Aquino finish her term. He was again given the opportunity to run as a Senatorial candidate of the Lakas–Laban coalition in the 1995 election. He got the fourth highest number of votes in that Senate race. In 1998, he bolted Lakas and joined the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino (LAMMP) and supported Joseph Estrada to the presidency. He was selected as Senate Majority Floor Leader the same year. In 1999, he was among who voted in favor on the ratification of the Visiting Forces Agreement.

When Marcelo Fernan died of cancer the same year, he made concessions with Blas Ople in sharing the seat of the Senate President. They agreed that Ople will serve as Senate President from 1999–2000 and he would serve from 2000-2001. Ople served his term from July 1999-July 2000. Drilon was installed as Senate President in July 2000. On October 2000 he issued a statement about the Juetengate Scandal of President Joseph Estrada. He was removed the next month through a Senate revamp and Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. was installed as Senate President. On December 2000, an impeachment case was filed on the Senate. On January 13, 2001, he was one of those who voted in favor of the opening of the second bank envelope. Their vote was outnumbered and Drilon was remembered as the Senator who cried in front of Senate President Pimentel together with Senator Loren Legarda. Joseph Estrada was ousted in January by the second EDSA People Power Revolution. He allowed Pimentel to occupy the Senate Presidency until the end of the regular session on June 2001.

When the session resumed in July 2001, Pimentel was replaced by Drilon as Senate President. Pimentel bolted the administration coalition and joined forces with the opposition coalition. In 2003, Administration coalition partner Liberal Party, to which Arroyo's father, Diosdado Macapagal served as chairman in the 60's, invited Drilon to be its member. Days after, Drilon was elected chairman of the political party. Before the 2004 elections, Drilon invited Senator Rodolfo Biazon as its member. Biazon bolted Raul Roco's Aksyon Demokratiko {AD} just days after he joined convention as its new member.

Drilon had close contacts with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo since 2001 and actively supported her when she ran for a fresh mandate to the presidency. That relationship ended in July 8 when Drilon together with Biazon and some prominent members of the Liberal Party decided to withdraw support from her and asked for her resignation. In Arroyo's 2005 State of the Nation Address, Drilon was the only one noticed not applauding throughout the entire program. Drilon has been a vocal critic of the NorthRail project, a Chinese government-backed project to overhaul Manila's decrepit railway system. The railway will be the first double-tracked railway in the country, and will eventually extend to Clark in Pampanga and, say the architects, as far north as San Fernando, La Union. During his second term as Senate President, Drilon spearheaded the Senate in confronting the excesses of the Executive branch by authorizing the Senate standing committees to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation and led the Chamber in opposing the Executive Order No. 264 which prohibits the Members of the Cabinet from going into the hearings of the Congress, the Senate in particular without permission from the President and in opposing the Proclamation No. 1017 which imposes state of national emergency in the country. The Supreme Court sustained the Senate's stand on the two issues. He was hailed by all as the leading defender of the Senate's independence and of its constitutional duties. Drilon likewise led the Senate in opposing moves by the House of Representatives to amend the Constitution that would supposedly shift the legislature to unicameral legislature and abolish the Senate. In 2006, Drilon was succeeded as Senate President by Senator Manny Villar in accordance with a term-sharing agreement they forged in early 2004.

Senator Drilon at speaking engagement in Zamboanga.

Drilon ran again for the Senate as independent but was under the People Power Coalition senatorial line-up. The lineup was carefully chosen and the first letter of the candidate's surname (except for Roberto Pagdanganan) ended up with the line VOT FOR D CHAMMP. The line became a hit, and it led to the election of most of the coalition's senatorial candidates including Drilon. He again served as Senate President from 2001 to 2006. And from 2006 to the end of his second term as Senator on 2007, Drilon served as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and worked firmly for the enactment of the new national budget law on 2007.

Drilon was re-elected to the Philippine Senate in 2010 was senator as 15 years (1995-2010). He served as the Assistant Majority Leader and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and led the Senate in enacting the national budget laws on time for 2011, 2012 and 2013. He likewise primarily authored a law that creates an oversight body of all government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) which would check them from incurring financial excesses and as well as ensuring their financial stability and makes them fiscally responsible . On 2012, after Senator Ralph Recto stepped down as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, Drilon as its Vice-Chairman took over as its new Chairman and worked firmly for the enactment of the Sin Tax Law that would impose higher taxes on the cigarettes and liquors. Drilon proudly called it as "anti-cancer law" for he firmly believes that the law would discourage the people from taking cigarettes so that they will not suffer lung cancer.

During the impeachment trial of then Chief Justice Renato Corona in early 2012, he acted as one of the Senator-Judges and later voted for his conviction and removal from office and disqualification from holding any elective or appointive government office.

Halfway through the Presidency of Benigno Aquino III, Drilon won the majority of votes after being voted as Senate President, following the resignation of former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. It was predicted long after the Resignation of Enrile, that Drilon would have the majority. Enrile was subsequently elected as Minority Leader

Personal life

Drilon was married to fellow lawyer and ACCRA senior partner Violeta Calvo with whom he had two children, Eliza and Patrick. During his candidacy for a Senate seat in 1995, Drilon often traveled to the US to be with his wife who was then being treated for lung cancer. Mrs. Drilon died of the disease in September 1995, two months after her husband assumed his Senate seat. Two years after, Drilon proposed to close family friend Mila Serrano-Genuino, who was a widow. They married with former Presidents Aquino and Ramos as wedding sponsors.

Senator Drilon praying during the reopening of the [[Manila Cathedral]]

Drilon is a member of the Rotary Club, Makati Chapter. He was an active member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) where he was a former President of the Pasay–Makati–Mandaluyong–San Juan Chapter. Although he was born in Iloilo, he is a registered voter of Greenhills, San Juan.

References

  1. ↑

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Franklin Drilon.
Preceded by
Sedfrey A. Ordoñez		 Secretary of Justice
January 4, 1990 – July 14, 1991 		Succeeded by
Silvestre H. Bello III
Preceded by
Eduardo G. Montenegro		 Secretary of Justice
July 1, 1992 – February 2, 1995 		Succeeded by
Demetrio G. Demetria
Preceded by
Blas F. Ople		 President of the Philippine Senate
2000 		Succeeded by
Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr.
Preceded by
Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr.		 President of the Philippine Senate
2001–2006 		Succeeded by
Manuel B. Villar, Jr.
Preceded by
Juan Ponce Enrile		 President of the Senate of the Philippines
2013-present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Order of precedence
Preceded by
Jejomar Binay
Vice President of the Philippines 		Philippines order of precedence
as Senate President of the Philippines 		Succeeded by
Feliciano Belmonte
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Lines of succession
Preceded by
Jejomar Binay
Vice President of the Philippines 		Philippine presidential line of succession
as Senate President of the Philippines 		Succeeded by
Feliciano Belmonte
Speaker of the House of Representatives
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