Former Senator Joker Arroyo passes away

[Monseratto]

By Coconuts Manila October 7, 2015 / 08:31 PHT



"Filipino statesman Joker Paz Arroyo died on October 5, 2015 in a still undisclosed hospital in the United States. He was 88," reports Manila Bulletin Online.

The report recalled that "Arroyo was a key figure in the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution and was congressman of Makati City for nine years and a member of the Senate for 12 years."

Sources say that details of his death will be announced at a later time.

Former Senator Joker Arroyo passes away | Coconuts Manila

[macsd]

May he rest in peace

[170kphlang]

r.i.p. but unfortunately hindi niya pinanindigan ang slogan niyang "kapag bad ka lagot ka!"

[Juan Martinez]

^ let him be. patay na yung. requiscat in pace.

[psych_114]

Donna eis requiem

[StockEngine]

Flavier then Arroyo

Rest in Peace...

[StockEngine]

Flavier then Arroyo

Rest in Peace...

[kisshmet]

let the Lords judgement befall upon his soul

[NightRock]

Di ko ma lilimutan yang ng na katabi ko sa flight from Singapore to Manila mga 20 years ago.. simpleng tao lang naka Economy class lang kami non, dami nya binabasa books then nag start makipag conversation sakin. Hindi ko actually kilala sya non then ng sinabi nya name ng mayor samin. Tinanong ko bakit nga kilala sabi nya Politican daw sya.. saka ko lang nalaman Joker Arroyo pala.

[Juan Martinez]

Senate Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto
Fellow member of the Senate’s Wednesday Club:

Joker earned sobriquets in his storied life. The Great Dissenter. The Maverick. The Defender. He was even called The Scrooge for his economical use of office funds.

But there was one area he didn’t scrimp on. And that was offering his sharp legal mind, for free, to those who need it most but can afford it least. If he had a good heart, it was because his favorite form of exercise was to bend down and pull someone out of the gutter.

Which he did when he was still Citizen Joker. When he arrived at the Senate, he already had a life’s worth of achievements, great victories he won without wearing the mantle of parliamentary immunity. This country owes much of its freedom to him, as do hundreds whose liberty he secured.

Joker was an incorrigible fiscalizer. He loved to tilt the windmills and tussle with the powerful. He was a solitary gunfighter, drawing strength from the righteousness of his crusade, never taking comfort in the number of people who share his belief.

[macsd]

Remembering Joker Arroyo | Inquirer News

For the Filipinos who took down a president nearly 15 years ago, former senator Joker Arroyo would be remembered as the white-haired, impassioned prosecutor who fought a good fight, even when the battle already seemed lost.

In 2000, he led the 11-member prosecution panel during the impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada, who was ousted through Edsa People Power II in January 2001.

Arroyo said the impeachment courtroom drama that was beamed live to Filipinos nationwide from Dec. 7, 2000, to Jan. 16, 2001, showed just a fraction of the actual court work. “From the start, we made a statement that a legal battle is 80 to 90 percent preparation, and 10 to 20 percent court trial,” he said.

A human rights lawyer, Arroyo rose to national consciousness as the first lawyer who challenged before the Supreme Court the constitutionality of Proclamation No. 1081 imposing martial law by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

He later joined other freedom lawyers in questioning before the high court the ratification of the Marcos-backed 1973 Constitution; Amendment 6 which vested law-making powers to Marcos alongside the Batasang Pambansa; and the power of military tribunals to try civilians.

Arroyo also helped defend some opposition leaders during the Marcos regime such as the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., the late Eugenio Lopez Jr., Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sison, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III and former senators Jovito Salonga, Eva Estrada Kalaw and Nene Pimentel.

As a freedom fighter, Arroyo also had his share of physical and mental tortures during martial law, after he had been incarcerated in a military stockade, gassed, injured and hospitalized during protest rallies.

In 1980, he co-founded with fellow human rights lawyers the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism Inc. (Mabini) and Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag).

During the snap elections in 1986, Arroyo served as counsel of Ninoy’s wife, the late President Corazon Aquino.

After the 1986 Edsa People Power, Arroyo became the executive secretary of the Aquino administration from 1986 to 1992 and chairman of the Philippine National Bank and executive director for the Philippines of the Asian Development Bank from 1986 to 1990.

Arroyo served three consecutive terms as representative of the 1st district of Makati City from 1992 to 1998 as an independent. He was the only congressman who had no bodyguards, no secretary and no media coordinators at that time.

Sometimes, it’s his driver who doubled as his secretary. Arroyo made his own appointments, carried his own leather attaché case and kept his own schedule. He also had that habit of mix-matching formal and casual wear, such as topping his blue denims with a white Barong Tagalog.

He was later elected senator and served two consecutive terms from 2001 to 2013. During his last term, he chaired the committees on accountability of public officers and investigations (blue ribbon), public services and justice and human rights.

In 2012, Arroyo was one of the three senators (the other two being Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Miriam Defensor Santiago) who voted not guilty during the impeachment trial of ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Among the citations he received were the Philippine Bar Association’s Most Distinguished Award for Justice and the Senate Resolution No. 100 enacted in the 8th Congress commending him for his invaluable services to the Filipino people.

Arroyo was born in Naga City on January 5, 1927. He finished his pre-Law at the Ateneo de Manila University and his Law degree at the University of the Philippines.

He called ABNOY cabinet as the Student Council administration.

[macsd]

double post

[Stigg ma]

double post

sa totoo, kala ko masama tao siya because of his name...

joker = manloloko

arroyo = magnanakaw...

sorry about that... human rights protector pala siya, kaya the moral of the story, take care of your last name...

[macsd]

sa totoo, kala ko masama tao siya because of his name...

joker = manloloko

arroyo = magnanakaw...

sorry about that... human rights protector pala siya, kaya the moral of the story, take care of your last name...

The only thing i missed on Joker and Rene Sagisag, they never condemned BINAY for all the corruptions in Makati. Well after all, they were the one responsible in bringing a never heard Nigger into Cory's administration.

[macsd]

double na naman

[Juan Martinez]

i remember joker's opening statement during erap's impeachment:
"joseph ejercito estrada, except for his name, has violated every word in his oath of office..."
It turned out later, during the testimony of clarissa ocampo, that erap violated even his name as he signed bank documents using the name jose velarde.

[Altis6453]

I haven't agreed with Joker Arroyo's politics for a long time, especially since GMA took power. But, one thing I can say is that you can't mess with the man's mettle---even in his advanced age.

It's sad that his generation of legal practitioners seem to be a dying breed.

[kisshmet]

^to think the envelope didnt even contain the so called damning evidence

its not good to speak ill of the dead so let the accolades prevail but we all know what happened in the end.

corrupted by the most corrupt party brought to power the lakas tama party

[Sweetlucious]

Its sad that he is being judged for his actions in his last couple of years.

But to those who accuse him of condoning corruption, can you cite one politician who did not?

[Ry_Tower]

RIP.

For those who does not want the bad side of Joker Arroyo to be mentioned here, maybe another thread should be made. Joker Arroyo passes away: only positive things should be posted!