Lorenzo "Erin" Reyes Tañada III is a Filipino lawyer, broadcaster, and human rights and labor rights advocate who has served as a Deputy Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives. A member of the Liberal Party, he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2004, as the representative of the 4th District of Quezon Province. He is particularly known for being the author the "Anti-Torture Act of 2009", the "Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity", and the "Renewable Energy Act of 2008" as well as for his strong advocacy of the Freedom of Information Bill. He formerly 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 M. Tañada who is known for his fiery speeches, great oratorical and debating skills and fearless stand against the dictatorship of late PresidentFerdinand Marcos; and the son of former Senator Wigberto E. Tañada, the Senator who led the fight to rid the country of the U.S. military bases in Clark and Subic. He is the eldest among the four children of Wigberto and Nanay Zeny, along with Toby, Marites and Trina. HIs exposure to public service brought him to the parliament of the streets during the latter part of the Martial Law years. Tañada was a college student at Ateneo de Manila University where he actively updated his fellow students on political developments. When former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was assassinated in 1983, he joined the university's Task Force Ninoy, a group supporting the advocacies of Ninoy Aquino. He finished his legal studies at the Manuel L. Quezon University - School of Law, and with a never give up attitude, passed the Philippine Bar Examination on his third try. He would later practice law at the Tañada, Vivo and Tan law office.
Political career
Tañada started his political career by winning the seat of the fourth district of Quezon Province in the House of Representatives in 2004. He was the Assistant Majority Leader of the 13th Congress, the Chairman of the House of Representatives' Committee on Human Rights of the 14th Congress, and the Deputy Speaker of the 15th Congress. He was re-elected unopposed for his third term as Congressman. While he eyed the Speakership of the 15th Congress, he gave way to Quezon City representative Feliciano Sonny Belmonte. He was at the forefront of the second high government official to ever be impeached, Philippine OmbudsmanMerceditas Gutierrez, for betrayal of the public trust. The House of Representatives successfully impeached Gutierrez in March 2011, with him being one of the representatives that defended the impeachment on the floor, and among the 212 representatives that voted to impeach her. As Congressman for three consecutive terms, his advocacies include having -
opposed the increase of the Value-Added Tax to 12%
recommended that legislators give up their pork barrel to cover the national budget deficit
called for the creation of a Congressional commission for the audit of the public debt and the repeal of the law on automatic appropriations for debt servicing
worked for the passage into law of the Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises which mandated that banks allocate a portion of their loan portfolios to these enterprises
co-authored the law creating the Personal Equity and Retirement Account
co-authored the Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act which mandated that banks set aside 25% of their loan portfolios for the agriculture and fisheries sector
authored the bill creating the Coconut Farmer's Trust Fund, which makes use of the recovered coconut levy which was misappropriated by Marcos and his cronies
authored the first Universal Health Care law and inserted amendments to the Cheaper Medicines Act
authored the bill which led to the passage of the Graphic Health Warnings law on cigarette packs
funded a program for the continuing education of school teachers, in partnership with the Philippine Normal University
shepherded into law the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Compensation Act, for the benefit of the victims of Marcos' human rights violations
Tañada lost during the May 13, 2019 senatorial election. On July 19, 2019, the PNP–Criminal Investigation and Detection Group filed charges against Tañada and other members of the opposition for "sedition, cyber libel, libel, estafa, harboring a criminal, and obstruction of justice". On February 10, 2020, he was cleared of all charges.
