Lorenzo Tañada III

Lorenzo "Erin" Reyes Tañada III (born August 16, 1963) is a Filipino politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines representing the 4th District of Quezon beginning in 2004. In 2010, he was appointed as one of the Deputy Speakers in the House of Representatives. He now served as the manager for news and public affairs of UNTV-37 and host for several programs of the said station.

Early life and career

Erin as he is fondly called by friends, represents the third generation of Tañadas in the field of politics. He is the grandson of the "grand old man of Philippine politics" – the late Senator Lorenzo Tañada who is known for his fiery speeches, great oratorical and debating skills and fearless stand against the dictatorship of late President Ferdinand Marcos, and the son of former Senator Wigberto Tañada, the Senator who led the fight to rid the country of the U.S. military bases in Clark and Subic.^[1] He is the eldest among the four children of Wigberto and Nanay Zeny, along with Toby, Mar and Trina.

During the Martial Law years, Tañada was a college student at Ateneo de Manila University. This is where he met Risa Hontiveros as his first girlfriend, while actively updating his fellow students at political developments, joining the university's Task Force Ninoy, a group supporting the advocacy of Ninoy Aquino. He later passed the Philippine Bar Examination on his third try. He would later practice law at the Tañada, Vivo and Tan law office.^[1]

Tañada is separated from his wife since 2010 and has custody of their children.^[1]

Political career

Tañada started his political career by winning the seat of the fourth district of Quezon in the House of Representatives in 2004. Later on, he would become the chairman of Committee on Human Rights in the lower house.^[2] He is also the Vice-Chairman of the committees on Globalization and WTO and Peace, Reconciliation and Unity.^[2] In the 14th Congress, Tañada was one of the sponsors of the Freedom of Information Bill, which was not enacted into law since it was not on the legislative agenda of the ruling Lakas Kampi CMD party.^[3]

He was re-elected unopposed as the Congressman of the 4th district of Quezon in the 2010 House of Representatives elections. On May 2010, he gave up his bid to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives to give way to Quezon City representative Sonny Belmonte.^[4] Belmonte would later appoint him as one of the Deputy Speakers.^[1]

At the beginning of the 15th Congress on July 2010, Tañada refiled the Freedom of Information Bill in the House of Representatives.^[5] On December 2010, he would be at the forefront in the impeachment of Philippine Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. Being Deputy Speaker, he was an ex-officio member of all House of Representatives committees, hence being able to attend and vote on the Committee of Justice, which approved the impeachment and named him as one of the sponsors.^[6] The House of Representatives successfully impeached Gutierrez on March 2011, with him being one of the representatives that defended the impeachment on the floor, and among the 212 representatives that voted on to impeach her.^[7]

Due to term limits (he is on his third consecutive and final term), he briefly considered a senatorial bid in the 2013 election.^[1] Tañada decided not to run, however, when the Liberal Party coalition decided not to add him to its 2013 lineup. ^[8]

References

• "Member Profile: Liberal Party of the Philippines". Liberal Party of the Philippines. Retrieved 2010-06-09.