Press Release
August 29, 2012

Villar to lead launching of Laurel commemorative stamp,
Wednesday at 5 pm

Sen. Manny Villar, Nacionalista Party president, will lead today, Wednesday, August 29, the ceremony launching the commemorative stamps in honor of the late Speaker Jose B. Laurel Jr.

As chairman of the Speaker Laurel Foundation, Villar said the issuance of the commemorative stamps in time for Laurel's 100th birth anniversary is one way to celebrate his life and to pay tribute to his valuable contribution to the country.

"I have high regard and deep admiration for Speaker Laurel. I and my fellow Nacionalistas measure ourselves against the ideals and standards he had set," Villar said.

He said Laurel's patriotism and nationalism mirrored his father's --the late President Jose P. Laurel's--attributes and are core values of the members of the NP, the oldest political party in the country.

Laurel who was born in Tanauan, Batangas, was one of the stalwarts of the NP and holds the distinction as the only Filipino leader elected three times as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

He was the youngest member of the First Congress of the Commonwealth of the Philippines when first elected in 1941 and authored laws such as the Retail Trade Nationalization Act of 1955 and the 1969 Magna Carta of Social Justice and Economic Freedom. He served as a legislator for 31 years.

During President Corazon Aquino's presidency, he was appointed to the Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution. He is recognized as one of the co-authors of the "Filipino First" policy in the constitution. He died on March 11, 1998 at the age of 85.

In his honor, Villar authored Senate Bill No. 1217 which seeks to name the strip of national highway connecting the towns ofTalisay, Laurel and Agoncillo in Batangas as the "Speaker Jose B. Laurel Jr. Highway."

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