J. B. L. Reyes

In thisPhilippine name,themiddle nameor maternalfamily nameisLunaand the surname or paternal family name isReyes.

The Honorable J. B. L. Reyes
64thAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
In office June 30, 1954 – August 19, 1972
Appointed by	Ramon Magsaysay
Preceded by	Ramón Diokno
Succeeded by	Estanislao Fernandez
Vice-Chairman of thePresidential Committee on Human Rights
In office 1986 – January 1987
Personal details
Born	Jose Benedicto Luis Luna Reyes (1902-08-19)August 19, 1902 Manila,Philippine Islands
Died	December 27, 1994(1994-12-27)(aged 92) Quezon City,Philippines
Resting place	Loyola Memorial Park
Spouse	Rosario L. Reyes
Children	3
Education	Ateneo de Manila University(BA) University of the Philippines(LL.B.) Complutense University of Madrid(LL.M.) University of Santo Tomas(JD)
Profession	Lawyer
Nickname	J.B.L.

Jose Benedicto Luis Luna Reyes(August 19, 1902 – December 27, 1994) was a Filipinojuristwho served as anAssociate Justice of the Supreme Courtfrom 1954 to 1972.

After his retirement, Reyes became the first president of theIntegrated Bar of the Philippines(IBP). He also worked withJosé W. Dioknoin groups such as theFree Legal Assistance Group(FLAG) and the Anti-Bases Coalition.He was also a highly regarded legal scholar in the field ofcivil law.

Early life

Reyes was born inManilato Dr. Ricardo Albino Reyes and Marcia Concepcion Luna. By the age of 15, he had earned hisBachelor of Artsdegree, magna cum laude, at theAteneo de Manila University.He obtained hislaw degreefrom theUniversity of the Philippinesin 1922, and passed thebar examinationsof that year, placing 6th. He was not allowed admission to the Philippine Bar until the following year, when he reached his 21st birthday. Reyes would later pursuemasteralanddoctoralstudies in law at theComplutense University of Madridand theUniversity of Santo Tomas.

In the 1930s, Reyes was a law professor at the University of the Philippines and at theFar Eastern University.As early as then, he was earning esteem in the legal academe, and even abroad, particularly in the field ofcivil law.His Dean at the U.P. College of Law, Jorge Bocobo, remarked that Reyes was among of two Filipinos rated as outstanding civilists in Spain.

As a private practitioner, Reyes was among the founders of the Civil Liberties Union in 1937.His association with that group helped foster his lifelong reputation as acivil libertarianand an ardentnationalist.Within weeks after theJapanese invasionin 1941, Reyes helped organize the undergroundFree Philippinesmovement. His involvement with the resistance was soon exposed, and he was imprisoned by the Japanese inFort Santiagoin 1944. Unlike some of the other founders of the Free Philippines movement, such as Rafael Roces, Jr. and Antonio Bautista, Reyes was spared execution, though not torture.

After the war, Reyes was appointed to theCourt of Appeals.He also helped found in 1947 theManuel L. Quezon University,and joined its law faculty. When theCivil Codewas enacted, Reyes, who had briefly served on the Code Commission before the war, published widely read article outlining his criticisms of several articles. That article has since been cited favorably in a number of Supreme Court decisions.

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

After nine years with the Court of Appeals, Reyes was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1954 byPresidentRamon Magsaysay.At 52, he was among the youngest justices appointed to the Court. However, Reyes would never get to serve as Chief Justice. This was in part because his close friendRoberto Concepcion,several months his junior, was appointed to the Court a few months before Reyes. Concepcion was named Chief Justice in 1966.

During his tenure on the Court, Reyes andClaro M. Rectowere unsuccessfully nominated to theInternational Court of Justice.

In his 18 years on the Court, Reyes grew in prominence unlike few other Supreme Court magistrates before and since.Often, especially on matters relating to his specialty, civil law, his opinions proved to be the final word. In some quarters, he was called "the Court", in tribute to the considerable influence he wielded over his colleagues.Upon his retirement in 1972, one of his colleagues, the future Chief JusticeFelix Makasiar,said of Reyes that "[n]o jurist within living memory has commanded during the last quarter of a century, the deep respect and admiration of the bench and bar, of dilettantes and scholars, of professors and students."

Jurisprudence

As expected, Reyes penned many leading decisions in civil law that remain widely studied today, includingTenchavez v. Escaño,122 Phil. 765 (1966),on the recognition of foreign divorces in the Philippines;Republic v. Luzon Stevedoring,128 Phil. 313 (1967),which definedforce majeure;andMedina v. Makabali,137 Phil. 329 (1969),affirming thebest interest of the childas the paramount rule in custody cases.His dissenting opinion inExconde v. Capuno,101 Phil. 843 (1957),on thetortliability of schools for damages caused by their students,was eventually adopted by the Court inAmadora v. Court of Appeals,160 SCRA 315 (1988).

Reyes weaved his strong nationalist views to an interpretation of the 1935Constitutionthat emphasized its nationalistic thrust. He notably dissented inMoy Ya Lim Yao v. Commissioner of Immigration,41 SCRA 292 (1971),where the Court had relaxed the requisites for a foreigner to acquire Filipino citizenship through marriage. Reyes opined that unlike perhaps in theUnited States,the Philippine constitution disfavored the absorption of immigrants and thus the citizenship laws should be interpreted with that view in mind.In similar fashion was Reyes's most famous opinion, among his last, inRepublic v. Quasha,46 SCRA 160(1972).

The Court, through Reyes, insisted on a restrictive interpretation of the expiring Parity Amendments occasioned by theBell Trade Act,towards the end of prohibiting the ownership by foreigners of residential lands. At the end of his opinion, he criticized the earlier enactment of the Parity Amendments to the Constitution, saying:

That Filipinos should be placed under the so-called Parity in a more disadvantageous position than United States citizens in the disposition, exploitation, development and utilization of the public lands, forests, mines, oils and other natural resources of their own country is certainly rank injustice and inequity that warrants a most strict interpretation of the "Parity Amendment", in order that the dishonorable inferiority in which Filipinos find themselves at present in the land of their ancestors should not be prolonged more than is absolutely necessary.

IBP presidency and later activism

Anti-Bases Coalition Rally withJosé W. Diokno,Lorenzo Tañada Sr.,andJoker P. Arroyo

Shortly after his retirement from the Court, Reyes was elected as the first president of theIntegrated Bar of the Philippines.During his years on the Court, he had been one of the most active proponents of bar integration in the Philippines. He served as IBP president until 1975, and was presidentemeritusfrom then on until his death.

Unburdened by his judicial role, Reyes became an active member in the political opposition against the martial law rule ofFerdinand Marcos.Together with the two main co-chairmenLorenzo M. TañadaandJosé W. Diokno,Reyes helped organize theFree Legal Assistance Groupin October 1974 as a national officer,and later the Anti-Bases Coalition in 1983, which sought the removal of the American military bases inClarkandU.S. Naval Base Subic Bay.He also joined theRegional Council on Human Rights in Asia,set up and chaired by his friend Diokno, which framed the very first Asian human rights declaration. He was the leadpetitionerin the landmark Supreme Court case ofReyes v. Bagatsing,125 SCRA 553 (1983),where he successfully soughtinjunctive reliefagainst the mayor of Manila, who had wanted to prohibit demonstrations in front of the United States embassy.

After the ouster of Marcos following the1986 EDSA Revolution,Reyes once more joined his friend and was named by PresidentCory Aquinoas vice-chair under Diokno, who was the chairman of the newly createdCommission on Human Rightsor what was called the Diokno commission. However, he resigned after serving as acting chairman after Diokno resigned earlier in 1987 because of themurder of several unarmed farmersby policemen atMendiola Street.Reyes then retired to private life and died aged 92 in 1994. He is buried at Loyola Memorial Cemetery inMarikina.

Personal life and legacy

Grave of J.B.L. Reyes and his wife, Rosario

Reyes was married to Rosario L. Reyes, a distant relative who predeceased him by nearly forty years. They had three children.

Reyes had many protégés in the Philippine legal academe, especially in the field of civil law. Among the most prominent werePhilippine Supreme CourtAssociate JusticeJose Vitug(whoclerkedfor Reyes in the Court), and Ruben Balane.

Following his retirement from the Court, Reyes was named as the head of the Civil Code Revision Committee of theUP Law Center.This committee was instrumental in the drafting of theFamily Codethat took effect in 1987. In this capacity, Reyes advocated the equal treatment of wives and husbands underfamily law,and many substantial changes to the Civil Code were enacted to that effect. While Reyes himself was in favor of allowing divorce,this was not adopted by the Family Code.

Detail of the Wall of Remembrance at theBantayog ng mga BayaniinQuezon City,showing names from the first batch of Bantayog Honorees, including that of J.B.L. Reyes.

A more contentious component of Reyes's legacy was his role in the increased difficulty of thebar examinations.Since the end ofWorld War II,the passing rate of the bar examinations had ranged from 56 to 72% percent. However, when Reyes chaired the Bar Examinations Committee in 1955, the passing rate dropped dramatically to 26.8%, with a mortality rate of 73.2%. That ratio has been invariably maintained in the 50+ years since.

Reyes was an enthusiastic amateur photographer and painter. He was also among the first prominent Filipino practitioners ofyoga.

In 2006, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines dedicated the multipurpose hall in its main offices as the "Jose B.L. Reyes Hall".

Reyes's name is on theBantayog ng mga BayaniWall of Remembrance, which recognizes heroes who fought against martial law in the Philippines under Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Some notable opinions

• Exconde v. Capuno (1957), dissenting
• Tenchavez v. Escaño (1965)
• Republic v. Luzon Stevedoring (1967)
• Medina v. Makabali (1969)
• Moy Ya Lim Yao v. Commissioner of Immigration (1971), dissenting
• Republic v. Quasha (1972)

Bibliography

Selected books

• An Outline of Philippines Civil Law(with Ricardo C. Puno, 1964)
• The Making of a Subversive: a Memoir(1984)

Selected articles

• Observations on the New Civil Code on Points Not Covered By Amendments Already Proposed,series of articles published in the Lawyer's Journal, Vols. XV-XVI (1950–1951)

References

• Sevilla, Victor J. (1985).Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Vol. II.Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers. pp. 108–110.ISBN971-100-137-3.
• Filipinos in History Vol. IV.Manila, Philippines: National Historical Institute. 1994. pp. 270–272.
• A. Cacnio & G. Pablo, Jr., ed. (1972).JBL: Selected Speeches and Essays in Honor of Justice Jose B.L. Reyes.Manila, Philippines: Cacnio & Pablo Publications. pp. 108–110.
• Cruz, Isagani; Cynthia Cruz Datu (2000).Res Gestae: A Brief History of the Supreme Court from Arellano to Narvasa.Manila, Philippines: Rex Book Store. pp. 170–172.ISBN971-23-2913-5.
• Gupi, Fortunato (1988).Reflections with J.B.L. Reyes.Quezon City,Philippines:U.P. Law Complex.pp. 21, 48, 91–92.ISBN971-15-0285-2.

External links

• Memorabilia Page, Supreme Court of the Philippines E-Library