Abraham Sarmiento: Difference between revisions

| honorific-prefix = [[The HonourableHonorable]]

| honorific_suffix =

| name = Abraham F. Sarmiento, Sr.

| image =

| imagesize = frameless

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| office = 119th [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines]]

| term_start = January 26, 1987

| term_end = October 7, 1991

| appointer = [[Corazon Aquino]]

| predecessor = [[Vicente Abad Santos]]

| successor = [[Flerida Ruth Romero]]

| birth_date = {{Birth date |1921|10|8|mf=y}}

| birth_place = [[Santa Cruz, Ilocos Sur|Santa Cruz]], [[Ilocos Sur]], [[Insular Government of the Philippine Islands|Philippine Islands]]

| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|10|3|1921|10|20|mf=y}}

| death_place = [[Prague]], [[Czech Republic]]

|footnotes affiliation =

'''Abraham F.Florendo Sarmiento Sr.''' (October 8, 1921 – October 3, 2010) was a [[Philippines|Filipino]] jurist who served as an [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines|Associate Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of the Philippines]] from 1987 to 1991. An active figure in the political opposition against the martial law government of [[President of the Philippines|President]] [[Ferdinand Marcos]], he was appointed to the Court by Marcos' successor, President [[Corazon Aquino]].

After the war, Sarmiento completed his law studies at the [[University of the Philippines]] [[University of the Philippines College of Law|College of Law]]. He was a member of the [[Alpha Phi Beta Fraternity - UP College of Law|Alpha Phi Beta]] fraternity. Sarmiento earned his [[Bachelor of Laws]] degree in 1949. In that year, he authored a biography on the murdered [[Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines]], [[José Abad Santos]], entitled ''Jose Abad Santos: An Apotheosis''.<ref name=bro>{{cite book| title=The Supreme Court of the Philippines (1987 Informational Brochure, 2nd ed.) |author=Supreme Court of the Philippines |location=Manila |year=1987 |pages=17 }}</ref>

Sarmiento successfully ran for a seat to the 1971[[Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971]] as a delegate from [[Cavite]]. He was elected Vicevice-Presidentpresident of the Conventionconvention, which was tasked with the drafting of a new Constitution.<ref name=bro/>

After the death of his son, Sarmiento was visibly active in human rights and anti-Marcos groups. He co-founded the National Union for Democracy and Freedom, the Philippine Organization for Human Rights, and the National Union for Liberation. He was among the founders of the [[United Nationalists Democratic Organizations]] (UNIDO), and served as its secretary-general from 1981 to 1983. From 1985 to 1987, Sarmiento served as the Chief Legal Counsel and Member of the Governing Council of the Lakas ng Bayan (LABAN).<ref name=sc>{{cite web |title=Associate Justice Abraham F. Sarmiento - Memorabilia Room |url=http://elibrary.supremecourt.gov.ph/index3.php?justicetype=Associate%20Justice&justiceid=a45475a11ec72b843d74959b60fd7bd64564dff87d31a |work=Supreme Court E-Library |publisher=Supreme Court of the Philippines |accessdate=2008-04-29 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080331195527/http://elibrary.supremecourt.gov.ph/index3.php?justicetype=Associate+Justice&justiceid=a45475a11ec72b843d74959b60fd7bd64564dff87d31a |archivedate=31 March 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It would be under the auspices of UNIDO and LABAN that Corazon Aquino and [[Salvador Laurel]] would form their presidential ticket that challenged Marcos in the 1986 presidential elections. Sarmiento was also a member of the Executiveexecutive Committeecommittee and National Council of the [[BAYAN|Bagong Alyansang Makabayan]] (BAYAN) from 1985 to 1987.<ref name=sc/>

Upon the assumption to the presidency of [[Corazon Aquino]], following the [[People Power Revolution|1986 People Power Revolution]], Sarmiento was appointed to the Board of Directors of [[San Miguel Corporation]], which was then under government sequestration.<ref name=sc/> In January 1987, President Aquino appointed Sarmiento as an Associateassociate Justicejustice of the Philippine Supreme Court. He would serve on the High Court until he reached the compulsory retirement age of 70 in 1991.

During his stint on the Court, Sarmiento held staunch [[civil libertarian]] views. In ''People v. Nazario'', [[Case citation#The Philippines|165 SCRA 186]], the Court through Sarmiento acknowledged the [[void for vagueness]] rule as able to invalidate criminal statutes.<ref>[http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1988/aug1988/gr_l_44143_1988.html ''People v. Nazario'', at "The Lawphil Project: Arellano Law Foundation" (Last visited, 2008-04-30)]</ref> In ''Pita v. Court of Appeals'', [[Case citation#The Philippines|G.R. No. 80806, 5 October 1989, 163 SCRA 386]], he wrote for the Court that any restraint on the publication of purportedly obscene materials must satisfy the [[clear and present danger]] test.<ref>[http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1989/oct1989/gr_80806_1989.html ''Pita v. Court of Appeals'', at "The Lawphil Project: Arellano Law Foundation" (Last visited, 2008-04-30)]</ref> In ''Salaw v. NLRC'', [[Case citation#The Philippines|G.R. No. 90786, 27 September 1991, 202 SCRA 7]], Sarmiento's opinion for the Court held that the dismissal of an employee in the private sector must be attended with procedural due process,<ref>[http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1991/sep1991/gr_90786_1991.html ''Salaw v. NLRC'', at "The Lawphil Project: Arellano Law Foundation" (Last visited, 2008-04-30)]</ref> a ruling which has since been reversed by the Court. At the same time, in ''PASE v. Drilon'', [[Case citation#The Philippines|G.R. No. L-81958, 30 June 1988, 178 SCRA 362]], Sarmiento's opinion for the Court upheld as a valid [[police]] [[Law enforcement agency powers|power]] measure, the Philippine government's right to temporarily ban the deployment abroad of Filipino domestics and household workers.<ref>[http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1988/jun1988/gr_81958_1988.html ''Philippine Association of Service Exporters v. Drilon'', at "The Lawphil Project: Arellano Law Foundation" (Last visited, 2008-04-30)]</ref>

At the same time, Sarmiento dissented from the majority in some high-profile cases. In ''Marcos v. Manglapus'', [[Case citation#The Philippines|178 SCRA 760]], Sarmiento dissented from the majority which affirmed President Aquino's ban on the re-entry to the Philippines of Ferdinand Marcos.<ref>[http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1989/sep1989/gr_88211_1989.html ''Marcos v. Manglapus'', at "The Lawphil Project: Arellano Law Foundation" (Last visited, 2008-04-30)]</ref> In ''Umil v. Ramos'', [[Case citation#The Philippines|187 SCRA 311]], Sarmiento published a strongly worded [[dissenting opinion]] to the [[majority opinion]], which had held that there was no need to procure an [[arrest warrant]] to detain persons charged with the crimes of [[rebellion]] or [[Subversion (politics)|subversion]]. Sarmiento invoked the diminution of civil liberties during the Marcos administration, writing: <blockquote>The apprehensions in question chronicle in my mind the increasing pattern of arrests and detention in the country without the sanction of a judicial decree. Four years ago at "EDSA", and many years before it, although with much fewer of us, we valiantly challenged a dictator and all the evils his regime had stood for: repression of civil liberties and trampling on of human rights. We set up a popular government, restored its honored institutions, and crafted a democratic constitution that rests on the guideposts of peace and freedom. I feel that with this Court's ruling, we have frittered away, by a stroke of the pen, what we had so painstakingly built in four years of democracy, and almost twenty years of struggle against tyranny.<ref>[http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1990/jul1990/gr_81567_1990.html ''Umil v. Ramos'', at "The Lawphil Project: Arellano Law Foundation" (Last visited, 2008-04-30)]</ref></blockquote>

{{succession box |

| before = |[[Vicente Abad Santos]]

| title title= [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines]] |

| years = 1987–1991|

| after = [[Flerida Ruth Romero]]

[[Category:Associate Justicesjustices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines]]

[[Category:20th-century Filipino lawyersjudges]]