Enrique Fernando
Enrique Medina Fernando (July 25, 1915 – October 13, 2004) was the 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. A noted constitutionalist and law professor, he served in the Supreme Court for 18 years, including 6 years as Chief Justice. Early career Fernando was born in Malate, Manila. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of the Philippines College of Law, graduating magna cum laude in 1938. He was a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity. Shortly after admission to the bar, he joined the faculty of his alma mater, where he taught as a full-time member of the faculty until 1953, and as a professorial lecturer for decades afterwards. He was eventually appointed as the George A. Malcolm Professor of Constitutional Law. Later, he would also teach constitutional law at the Lyceum of the Philippines. Fernando was feared for his rather tyrannical manner in the classroom, yet many of his law students would emerge as Supreme Court justices or prominent practitioners in their own right. In 1947, he was admitted by the Yale Law School as the first Filipino Sterling Fellow, earning his Master of Law degree the following year. Fernando was appointed as a Code Commissioner in 1953 and served in that capacity until 1964. In the 1950s, he served as a Presidential adviser to Presidents Ramon Magsaysay and Carlos P. Garcia. He likewise engaged in an extensive private practice prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court. Among his law partners was Senator Lorenzo Tañada, with whom he would co-author a popular hornbook on constitutional law. In his lifetime, Fernando would author several books on constitutional and administrative law. Supreme Court years In 1966, Fernando was appointed as Presidential Legal Counsel by Ferdinand Marcos. The following year, Marcos appointed him to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. If not for the death of Chief Justice Fred Ruiz Castro in 1979, Fernando would have had the opportunity to become the Chief Justice only in 1984, after Castro reached the mandatory retirement age of 70, and serving for only 1 year until his own retirement. However, Castro died suddenly of a heart attack on April 19, 1979, and Fernando, by then the most senior of the Associate Justices, was promoted by Marcos as Chief Justice. Jurisprudence At the time of his appointment to the Court, Fernando was already recognized as one of the country's leading authorities on constitutional law, and as an ardent civil libertarian and active member of the Civil Liberties Union founded by his colleague on the Court, J.B.L. Reyes. He was especially noted for his mastery of American jurisprudence on republicanism and individual rights. He would have ample opportunity to expound on these subjects during his 17-year tenure on the Court. In Morfe v. Mutuc, 130 Phil. 415 (1968), Fernando wrote for the Court that an anti-graft law requiring the periodic submission by public officials of their statements of assets and liabilities did not infringe on the officer's