Today in Philippine History (Philatelic Edition Series 2):
October 2, 1960
On October 2, 1960, Claro M. Recto Jr. died of a heart attack in Rome, Italy while on a cultural mission in Europe and Latin America. He carried the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.
Claro Mayo Recto Jr. (February 8, 1890 – October 2, 1960) was born in Tiaong, Tayabas (now Quezon Province) to Claro Recto Sr. of Rosario, Batangas, and Micaela Mayo of Lipa, Batangas.
He studied Latin in Batangas from 1900 to 1901 and went to Colegio del Sagrado Corazon of Don Sebastian Virrey and finished secondary education in 1905.
Recto studied at the Ateneo de Manila and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree maxima cum laude in 1909. He finished law at the University of Sto. Tomas in 1914, was admitted to the Philippine Bar the same year and earned his Masters of Laws degree from UST. He was admitted to the American Bar in 1924. His Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) honorary degree came from the Central Philippine University in 1969.
Recto was a three-term congressman representing Batangas starting in 1919, and senator in 1931. He went to Washington, D.C. as a member of a mission led by Manuel Quezon, which secured passage by the U.S. Congress for the Independence of the Philippines.
He presided the assembly that drafted the Philippine Constitution in 1934–35 and personally presented the Commonwealth Constitution to United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for his approval and signature. Roosevelt appointed him as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from July 3, 1935 to November 1, 1936. As a jurist, he was brilliant and at par with any famous international lawyer.
In 1941, he was reelected to the Senate and served under President Jose P. Laurel's government during World War II as Commissioner of Education (1942–43) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1943–44).
After the war he was elected as senator for two terms, in 1949 and 1955. He authored the Rizal Law in 1953, which made the study of the life and works of Dr. Jose P. Rizal mandatory in all colleges in the country.
He was not only an institution in politics, a jurist and a staunch nationalist, but he was also a literary man and author of political works and legal treaties.
Senator Claro M. Recto Jr. was married to Doña Aurora Reyes with whom he had five children.
(Design, concept, stamps and research: Richard Allan B. Uy) All rights reserved
Photo credit: wikipedia.org
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