Juan R. Liwag
Senator Juan R. Liwag was born on June 12, 1906 in Gapan, Nueva, Ecija. He finished his high school and liberal arts at the University of the Philippines. He completed his law course in the same university as class valedictorian and copped second place in the 1932 bar examination.
Prior to his election in the Senate, Liwag served in various capacities in the executive and judicial branches of the government.
In 1945, he began his public service as prosecutor in the justice department, assuming later the position of head of the office of special prosecutors. Four years later, he was appointed judge – at – large of the Court of First Instance and the following year he was named district judge for Albay and Catanduanes. He was appointed Solicitor General in 1952, a position he held for four years.
President Macapagal made him Under secretary of Justice in 1961 and on May 19 of that year, appointed him to Secretaryship. It was the time of the Stonehill scandal and as secretary of justice; Liwag had the Herculean task of prosecuting the American and his associates. He was also responsible for busting the credit scandal in the Philippine National Bank and the naturalization racket that had flourished unabated over the years.
As a tested friend of the working class, Liwag declared the daily wage of P2 of emergency employment administration workers as unconstitutional and inhuman. In his own department, he secured salary increases for judges, solicitors, fiscals, prosecutors and court personnel.
As a member of the Senate, from 1963 to 1969, Liwag headed two important ommittees: Committees on Revision of Laws and Government Re – organization. He became a member of the committees on accounts, economy, investigation, justice, labor and immigration, national defense and public works and communications.
He married Consuelo Joson with whom he had four children.