Press Release
September 17, 2009

Eulogy to Senator Sotero H. Laurel
By Sen. Juan Miguel F. Zubiri

Senator Sotero H. Laurel was a brilliant courageous man. An honorable senator tested by events that called for good men to rise above their interests and become great.

Molded after the nationalist likeness of his grandfather Sotero and father Jose, Senator Sotero H. Laurel for at least three occasions rose to greatness.

In 1972, during the Constitutional Convention, Senator Laurel who was the Convention's President Pro-Tempore, voted against a provision that would have bestowed ConCon delegates the unjust reward of appropriating for themselves seats in a National Assembly that could have been turned into a rubberstamp.

A Constitution got to pass. It ushered our Republic into dark and somber days; days, from where Sotero, the nationalist Laurel family and like-minded patriots, helped us emerge.

Just as his father shielded us from the Kalibapi and Kempetai, the Laurels especially Sotero, 40 years after, mustered an Opposition force that was formidable enough to win seats in the Interim Batasang Pambansa. It was no mean feat: their stalwarts suffered the hard fist of authoritarian rule, but never stopped firing the torch of democracy.

Thus, in 1985, this blinding torch of democracy tended by the Laurels and Filipino libertarians laid the foundation for the triumph of the EDSA people power revolt.

Again as a Senator in 1991, Sotero Laurel displayed the courage to set free our country from US military domination. Likewise, he employed his brilliance of speech to assert that he dared differ with majority of Filipinos who wanted the US Military Bases to stay on. He casted his NO vote with the Magnificent 12 Senators for "Fairness, Justice, Independence, Self-determination, Self-respect and Equality."

His family's legacy of courage and brilliance were qualities he himself fortified through education - from the best schools here and abroad. He earned his LAURELS well: even becoming a taxi driver to put himself through school in the US. On his own terms, he became one of the most respected legal minds.

As Filipinos who truly loved the masses, he and his father brought academic excellence within the reach of Juan de la Cruz by putting up the Lyceum of the Philippines where freedom and inquiry reign. In its halls echoed the voices of great mentors, among them, Claro M. Recto, Senators Salonga, Neptali Gonzalez and the Laurels. Even a Jose Maria Sison in their midst.

He kept true to his title Honorable Senator. He had the Batangueño fire that razed houses of dictatorship and ignorance. He also exuded a forceful calmness based on integrity.

We have missed him from the headlines for a very long time: It was mainly because he remained an honorable man, without an anomaly or scandal to his name. May his sterling achievements be capped by the unblemished life he led, a Laurel, who will inspire us to greatness as well.

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