This photo was taken in 1966, when Senator Jovito Salonga was still a rookie at the Senate. He is shown conferring with Senator Lorenzo Tañada.
Salonga was born in Pasig on June 22, 1920. Hailed as a true statesman, Salonga was also a survivor of the Aug 21, 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing, which permanently damaged his left eye and impaired hearing in his left ear.
A 1986 article in The New York Times written by Jane Perlez described Salonga thus: “A law graduate of the University of the Philippines – he won first place in the 1944 bar examinations – with postgraduate law degrees from Harvard and Yale, Mr. Salonga represented Mr. Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino Jr. in his years in prison. When Mr. Aquino was permitted to leave for the United States in 1980, Mr. Salonga was arrested and put in the same cell in solitary confinement.”
Salonga was a senator during the administration of President Corazon Aquino. He died on Mar 10, 2016.
