Rene Saguisag

Rene Augusto Verceluz Saguisag (, born August 14, 1939) is a Filipino lawyer and politician.

Rene A.V. Saguisag was born on August 14, 1939, in Mauban, Quezon, Philippines to Antonio Lozada Saguisag Sr., an engineering graduate from the National University and Eusebia Nivadura, whom Rene described as a Spanish-looking mestiza housewife.

The couple had seven children including one daughter.

Saguisag grew up in Pasig, Rizal and attended elementary school at Makati Elementary School, quickly accelerated to the second grade in a few weeks, and graduated in 1951 instead of 1952.

He graduated from Rizal High School in 1955, which led Saguisag to claim because he finished basic schooling in nine years the K-12 program is inconsequential for the Philippine education system.

He developed a strong interest in Chess, and skipped class at the expense of his teachers, who promoted Corporal Punishment, even if he was a consistent honor student.

Saguisag went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959 from San Beda College with honor-level grades, taking one semester studying one of his favorite subjects, Spanish, at the University of the East to complete requirements.

In order to make ends meet, Saguisag worked as a checker, laborer, construction site guard, and messenger from 1959 to 1962.

Saguisag then had to choose to study in Spain at the University of Navarra, or the University of Michigan, where he topped the competition for scholarships.

However he was accepted into Harvard after sending a letter in what he called a rinky-dink typewriter where, "lulundag ang mga keys" (the keys would fall off).

Saguisag then started out his Philippine career as a student researcher, then associate, and eventually part-time member of Ledesma, Guytingco, Velasco and Saguisag from 1962 to 1972.

He also later graduated cum laude from San Beda College with a bachelor of laws degree in 1963 and placed 6th in the same year's Bar Examinations.

Saguisag eventually entered Harvard and obtained his Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School in 1968.

He first worked in private companies in the United States, including a San Francisco law firm as training grounds.

It was here where he befriended client Joe McMicking, who developed the city of Makati on behalf of Ayala Corporation.

He became a member of the San Beda Law Faculty (Assistant Dean 1971–1972) from 1961 to 1972, and eventually returned to teach Political law and other related subjects after martial law.

Rene A.V. Saguisag then practiced law as a prominent human rights lawyer in the Philippines from 1972 to 1986 when martial law brought about multiple human rights abuses.

He was among the opposition figures targeted for arrest by President Ferdinand Marcos's administration upon the declaration of martial law in September 1972, and he spent several months in jail without being charged of a crime.

Upon his release from prison, he joined the Free Legal Assistance Group or FLAG, an organization founded in late 1974 by fellow oppositionists and principal litigation mentors in Saguisag's young career, FLAG chairman Sen. Jose W. Diokno and former Sen. Lorenzo M. Tañada.

One of the FLAG cases Saguisag handled was to prosecute the Manero brothers who killed Fr. Tullio Favali.

Later, some FLAG lawyers including Saguisag and other prominent human rights jurists started the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism, Inc. or MABINI in 1980 with former Senator Tañada, future Senator Joker Arroyo, future Labor Secretary Augusto "Bobbit" Sanchez, and others.

After the 1986 EDSA Revolution, he served as a spokesman for then-President-elect Corazon Aquino or "Cory" beginning on January 22, 1986.

According to Saguisag, Pres.

Cory Aquino would often groom him to run for the senate, and eventually teased him to become her successor.

He served as a Senator from 1987 until 1992.

Their cases became landmark Supreme Court decisions, including Olaguer v. Military Commission No. 34, 150 SCRA 144 (1987)

Eventually Saguisag decided to run for senator in the first constitutional election held in 1987.

Saguisag ran for the Senate of the Philippines under the Liberal Party in 1987, promising during the campaign that he would only run for one term.

He won the election, placing ninth out of twenty-four winning positions.

Saguisag was one of only two Filipino senators who attended all 415 session days from July 1987 to June 1990, with the other being Ernesto Maceda.

Saguisag was frequently commuting through a taxi and bringing his own lunch instead of catering offered from the taxpayers.

Saguisag mainly wanted to retire from the Senate early due to the excesses of corruption around the political arena.

His experience not having to pay a centavo to win the election came due to the high-tide of trust in the new Aquino government, however it slowly devolved into campaigning mixed with showbusiness, thus prompting more actors and entertainers to become senators.

Following his departure from the Senate, right after the Philippine Centennial Celebration, Saguisag was appointed by Joseph Estrada to head the Ad Hoc and Independent Citizens' Committee (AHICC) with members Atty. Francis Pangilinan, Engr.

He stayed in the Senate until the end of his promised one term, in 1992.

As a senator, Saguisag served as Chairman of the Committee on Ethics and Privileges.

He also served on the "ad hoc" committee on the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

He was the co-author with his uncle, Jovito Salonga of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (R.A. 6713), the main author of the Ombudsman Act of 1989 (R.A. 6770), and was one of the 12 senators who voted against the extension of the U.S. military bases treaty in 1991.

They were Antonio, Renito or Rene who was second, Leonidas or Idas, Precioso who was named after Precioso Palma, Lourdes who was the only daughter, Rogelio or Roger, and Romy who was born in Pasig, finished at the University of the Philippines in Chemistry, but due to a congenital defect passed away in 2010.

Saguisag is also the nephew of Sen. Jovito R. Salonga, specifically Salonga is the second cousin once removed of Saguisag, as Saguisag's paternal grandmother Talia Saguisag is the first cousin of Salonga's mother Dinang Reyes.