Claudio Teehankee

In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Ong and the surname or paternal family name is Teehankee.

The Honorable Claudio O. Teehankee CCLH, KGCR
郑建祥
16th Chief Justice of the Philippines
In office April 2, 1987 – April 18, 1988
Nominated by	Corazon Aquino
Preceded by	Ramon Aquino
Succeeded by	Pedro Yap
82nd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
In office December 17, 1969 – April 1, 1987
Nominated by	Ferdinand E. Marcos
Preceded by	Eugenio Angeles
Succeeded by	Andres Narvasa
Secretary of Justice
In office August 5, 1967 – December 16, 1969
President	Ferdinand E. Marcos
Preceded by	Jose Yulo
Succeeded by	Juan Ponce Enrile
Personal details
Born	Claudio Ong Teehankee (1918-04-18)April 18, 1918 Chinatown, Manila, Philippine Islands
Died	November 27, 1989(1989-11-27) (aged 71) New York City, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Libingan ng mga Bayani
Nationality	Filipino
Spouse	Pilar D. Javier-Teehankee
Children	9 including Manuel
Parent(s)	Jose Teehankee (father) Julia S. Ong (mother)
Relatives	Julio C. Teehankee (nephew) Enrique Teehankee (nephew)
Alma mater	Ateneo de Manila University
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	鄭建祥
Simplified Chinese	郑建祥
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhèng Jiànxiáng Wade–Giles Cheng Chien-shiang Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tī Kiàn-siông

Claudio Ong Teehankee, CCLH, KGCR (Tagalog: [si]; Chinese: 郑建祥; pinyin: Zhèng Jiànxiáng; April 18, 1918 – November 27, 1989) was the 16th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 1987 to 1988.

He was also the most senior associate justice and chairman of the First Division of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

Personal life and early law practice

File:Claudio Teehankee Swearing the Oath of Office.jpg

Teehankee swearing in

Claudio Ong Teehankee was born on April 18, 1918 in Chinatown, Manila, Philippines.

His father, José Tee Han Kee (simplified Chinese: 郑汉淇; traditional Chinese: 鄭漢淇; pinyin: Zhèng Hànqí; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tīⁿ Hàn-kî), immigrated to the Philippines in 1901 from Fujian province in China. He was a close associate and friend of Sun Yat-Sen, and was active in the struggle to liberate China from the Qing dynasty. He was the founded of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and was also the first director of the Chinese General Hospital. He married Julia Ong y Sangroniz, a fellow Chinese-Filipino with a naturalized Filipino middle name. The Knights of Rizal, of which Teehankee was a member and was bestowed an award, and some organizations mistakenly confuse his middle name for S. or Sangroniz due to the erroneous absent Spanish letter "y" in naming convention typographical errors, where Sangroniz was actually the middle name of his mother. The Teehankee couple had eight children, with whom Claudio was to be the seventh child in a conservative Chinese enclave in Binondo. His other siblings were Jose, Alberto, Luis, Gloria (Nenita), Rafael (Piling), Eligio (Ador) and Horacio.

Teehankee was married to Pilar Javier Angeles Duldulao with whom he had nine children. He received his high school degree in 1934, his A.B. degree, finishing summa cum laude in 1938, and LL.B. summa cum laude in 1940 from the Ateneo de Manila, making him the only person to receive the honor. He also garnered first place when the law school was in its early years in the 1940 bar examination with an average of 94.35 percent.

Teehankee became a top partner in the law firm of Tañada, Pelaez and Teehankee, the firm run by Lorenzo Tañada and Vice-President Emmanuel Pelaez. Teehankee served as the head of the Civil Liberties Union from 1950 to 1966, a union Tañada founded in 1937. The future Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban once worked as an associate under Sen. Jovito Salonga, his law dean, and mentioned Teehankee, Salonga, and Sen. Jose W. Diokno as the three finest lawyers whom he admired and respected the most.

He became Secretary of Justice under the Marcos administration in 1967 before his appointment as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1968. His son Claudio Jr. though would be imprisoned for murder in the early 1990s but later released and pardoned by President Gloria Arroyo. The death penalty was reinstated because of concurrent debates after reactions to the public sentence were mixed. Teehankee's other son Manuel, also topped the bar from the same school and works as a diplomat. Teehankee's nephew Julio C. Teehankee is a professor of Political Science, while his other nephew Enrique topped the bar in the 1970s.

Accomplishments

Associate Justice Teehankee swearing in Corazon Aquino as president during the People Power Revolution

He was known as the court's "activist" justice because of his dissenting opinions in many vital cases affecting the Marcos administration. He was the lone dissenter in many cases, such as the High Tribunal's decision upholding the constitutionality of the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980. He also dissented in policies which would seem to curtail the basic liberties of people. For a time, Teehankee and Justice Cecilia Muñoz-Palma would dissent together. After Muñoz-Palma's retirement, he was joined by Associate Justice Vicente Abad Santos in dissenting.

He used to serve as Secretary of Justice to Marcos, after representing him in a Supreme Court case involving the censorship of the film, Iginuhit ng Tadhana. However in the Supreme Court Teehankee did not show any bias for the Marcoses and remained focus on justice. It was this activism that made Marcos 'by-pass' him twice for the position of Chief Justice (the most senior associate justice is most likely to succeed after the retirement of the Chief Justice) in 1985. It was after the removal of Marcos that he was appointed Chief Justice in 1987 by Corazon Aquino, whom he sworn in at the Club Filipino.

Later years

Teehankee's grave at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

After his retirement, he was appointed as the Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations, where he died of cancer in Manhattan, New York on November 27, 1989.

Legacy

As a former Chief Justice, Teehankee Sr. is interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig. The Claudio Teehankee Foundation continues his vision by sponsoring research for the rule of law and conducting symposiums on societal and democratic issues.

In recognition of his courage in upholding the rule of law during the Marcos dictatorship, Teehankee Sr. was honored by having his name etched on the Wall of Remembrance of the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City, which honors the Martyrs and Heroes who defied Marcos' authoritarian rule.

See also

• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
• Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
• Supreme Court of the Philippines
• Constitution of the Philippines
• Lorenzo M. Tañada
• Presidency of Corazon Aquino

Further reading

Cruz, Isagani A. (2000). "Res Gestae: A Brief History of the Supreme Court". Rex Book Store, Manila

Sources

• Supreme Court of the Philippines – Claudio Teehankee biodata