Claudio Teehankee

Quality 0.50 · 0 views · Updated 2 months ago

Chief Justice of the Philippines from 1986 to 1988

title: "Claudio Teehankee" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1918-births", "1989-deaths", "20th-century-filipino-lawyers", "associate-justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-the-philippines", "ateneo-de-manila-university-alumni", "burials-at-the-libingan-ng-mga-bayani", "deaths-from-cancer-in-new-york-(state)", "centro-escolar-university-alumni", "chief-justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-the-philippines", "filipino-judges", "lawyers-from-manila", "secretaries-of-justice-of-the-philippines", "ferdinand-marcos-administration-cabinet-members", "filipino-politicians-of-chinese-descent", "individuals-honored-at-the-bantayog-ng-mga-bayani", "judges-and-justices-honored-at-the-bantayog-ng-mga-bayani", "permanent-representatives-of-the-philippines-to-the-united-nations"] description: "Chief Justice of the Philippines from 1986 to 1988" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Teehankee" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Chief Justice of the Philippines from 1986 to 1988 ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Officeholder"]

FieldValue
imageClaudio Teehankee.jpg
honorific-prefixThe Honorable
honorific_suffixCCLH
nameClaudio O. Teehankee
native_name鄭建祥
office16th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
term_startApril 2, 1986
term_endApril 18, 1988
predecessorRamon Aquino
successorPedro L. Yap
nominatorCorazon Aquino
office282nd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
term_start2December 17, 1968
term_end2April 1, 1987
predecessor2Eugenio Angeles
successor2Andres Narvasa
nominator2Ferdinand E. Marcos
office335th Secretary of Justice
president3Ferdinand E. Marcos
term_start3August 5, 1967
term_end3December 16, 1968
predecessor3Jose Yulo
successor3Juan Ponce Enrile
birth_nameClaudio Ong Teehankee
birth_date
birth_placeBinondo, Manila, Philippine Islands
death_date
death_placeNew York City, New York, U.S.
nationalityFilipino
restingplaceLibingan ng mga Bayani, Taguig
alma_materAteneo de Manila University (BA, LL.B.)
spousePilar Angeles Duldulao Javier-Teehankee
(m. 1939)
children9, including Claudio Jr.
nicknameDingdong
professionJurist, ambassador, lawyer
module2{{infobox Chinese
t鄭
s郑
pZhèng Jiànxiáng
pojTī Kiàn-siông
::

| image = Claudio Teehankee.jpg | image size = | honorific-prefix = The Honorable | honorific_suffix = CCLH | name = Claudio O. Teehankee | native_name = 鄭建祥 | office = 16th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines | term_start = April 2, 1986 | term_end = April 18, 1988 | predecessor = Ramon Aquino | successor = Pedro L. Yap | nominator = Corazon Aquino | office2 = 82nd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines | term_start2 = December 17, 1968 | term_end2 = April 1, 1987 | predecessor2 = Eugenio Angeles | successor2 = Andres Narvasa | nominator2 = Ferdinand E. Marcos | office3 = 35th Secretary of Justice | president3 = Ferdinand E. Marcos | term_start3 = August 5, 1967 | term_end3 = December 16, 1968 | predecessor3 = Jose Yulo | successor3 = Juan Ponce Enrile | birth_name = Claudio Ong Teehankee | birth_date = | birth_place = Binondo, Manila, Philippine Islands | death_date = | death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | nationality = Filipino | restingplace = Libingan ng mga Bayani, Taguig | alma_mater = Ateneo de Manila University (BA, LL.B.) | parents = | spouse = Pilar Angeles Duldulao Javier-Teehankee (m. 1939) | children = 9, including Claudio Jr. | nickname = Dingdong | profession = Jurist, ambassador, lawyer | party = | module2 = {{infobox Chinese|child=yes |t=鄭 |s=郑 |p=Zhèng Jiànxiáng |w= |poj=Tī Kiàn-siông Claudio Ong Teehankee, CCLH (; April 18, 1918 – November 27, 1989) was the 16th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 1986 to 1988.

He was also the most senior associate justice and chairman of the First Division of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

Early life and education

Teehankee was born on April 18, 1918, in Manila, Philippines as the seventh child of Dr. José Teehankee and Julia Ong y Sangroniz. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/José_Teehankee_Julia_Ong_Sangroniz_Family_Grave_03.jpg" caption="The graves of José Teehankee and Julia Ong Sangroniz, Claudio Teehankee's parents, at the [[Manila Chinese Cemetery]]."] ::

His father, José Tee Han Kee (), immigrated to the Philippines in 1901 from Fujian province in China. He was a close associate and friend of Sun Yat-Sen, and was active in the struggle to liberate China from the Qing dynasty. Dr. Tee Han Kee later became the founding director of Chinese General Hospital. Claudio learned to write in fluent Chinese, and contributed multiple articles later on for the Chinese-language newspaper The Fookien Times Yearbook from 1966 to 1968.

He received his A.B. summa cum laude in 1938 and LL.B. with the only summa cum laude in the school as part of the second batch in 1940 at the Ateneo de Manila. He also garnered first place in the 1940 bar examination with an average of 94.35 percent.

Career

Teehankee was Marcos's lawyer in the libel case regarding the movie, Iginuhit ng Tadhana, then became Secretary of Justice under the Marcos administration in 1967 before being appointed as associate justice in 1968.{{Cite web|title=Filmography: Iginuhit ng Tadhana (1965) |url=https://starforallseasons.com/2009/11/24/filmography-iginuhit-ng-tadhana-1965/|date=2009-11-24}}

He was known as the court's "activist" justice because of his dissenting opinions in many vital cases affecting the Marcos administration. He was the lone dissenter in many cases, such as the High Tribunal's decision upholding the constitutionality of the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980. He also dissented in policies which would seem to curtail the basic liberties of people. For a time, Teehankee and Justice Cecilia Muñoz-Palma would dissent together. After Muñoz-Palma's retirement, he was joined by Associate Justice Vicente Abad Santos in dissenting.

It was this activism that made Marcos 'by-pass' him twice for the position of Chief Justice (the most senior associate justice is most likely to succeed after the retirement of the Chief Justice) in 1985. It was after the removal of Marcos that he was appointed Chief Justice by Corazon Aquino in 1987.

Later years

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Claudio_Teehankee_Sr._grave_with_flame.jpg" caption="Teehankee's grave at the [[Libingan ng mga Bayani]]."] ::

After his retirement, he was appointed as the Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations, where he died of cancer in Manhattan, New York on November 27, 1989, at the age of 71. He is interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Personal life

Teehankee was married to Pilar Duldulao Javier with whom he had nine children. Like Teehankee, his eighth son Manuel Antonio topped the bar in 1983 and also became a diplomat. He was also the uncle of Political Science professor Julio C. Teehankee.

His son Claudio Jr. would be imprisoned for homicide in the 1990s.

References

Sources

References

  1. Panganiban, Artemio V.. (2014-11-27). "Chief Justice Teehankee Remembered".
  2. "Remembering Lolo Dingdong".
  3. "Tee Han Kee remembered".
  4. Tan, Antonio S. (1972), ''The Chinese in the Philippines, 1898–1935: A Study of Their National Awakening'', Manila: R.P. Garcia Publishing Co.
  5. "Chief Justice Claudio O. Teehankee".
  6. Uy, Ulysses B.. (April 13, 2017). "Never judge lawyers by their law school".
  7. (2008-11-21). "Cecilia Munoz-Palma, the pioneer".
  8. (April 13, 2024). "Teehankee, Claudio Ong".
  9. "Sen. Lacson's Sponsorship Speech for the Confirmation of Manuel Antonio Teehankee as PH Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization".
  10. (May 7, 2022). "Claudio Ong Teehankee".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1918-births1989-deaths20th-century-filipino-lawyersassociate-justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-the-philippinesateneo-de-manila-university-alumniburials-at-the-libingan-ng-mga-bayanideaths-from-cancer-in-new-york-(state)centro-escolar-university-alumnichief-justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-the-philippinesfilipino-judgeslawyers-from-manilasecretaries-of-justice-of-the-philippinesferdinand-marcos-administration-cabinet-membersfilipino-politicians-of-chinese-descentindividuals-honored-at-the-bantayog-ng-mga-bayanijudges-and-justices-honored-at-the-bantayog-ng-mga-bayanipermanent-representatives-of-the-philippines-to-the-united-nations