Anacleto Díaz (November 20, 1878 – February 10, 1945) was a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

jurist who served as an

Associate Justice Associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some sta ...

of the Supreme Court.

Profile

Díaz earned his law degree from the Escuela de Derecho de Manila. He was elected as a representative from La Union to the

Philippine Assembly The Philippine Assembly (sometimes called the Philippine National Assembly) was the lower house of the Philippine Legislature from 1907 to 1916, when it was renamed the House of Representatives of the Philippines. The Philippine Assembly wa ...

in 1910, and served in that capacity until 1912. That year, he was named a provincial

fiscal Fiscal usually refers to government finance. In this context, it may refer to: Economics * Fiscal policy, use of government expenditure to influence economic development * Fiscal policy debate * Fiscal adjustment, a reduction in the government ...

for

Ilocos Sur Ilocos Sur, officially the Province of Ilocos Sur ( ilo, Probinsia ti Ilocos Sur; tl, Lalawigan ng Ilocos Sur), is a province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. Located on the mouth of the Mestizo River is the capital o ...

. In 1917, he was appointed city fiscal of

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

. He was later appointed as a trial court judge. In 1927, while serving as a judge, Díaz was appointed to head a commission tasked with revising the penal code of the Philippines. By 1930, his committee had finished drafting the

Revised Penal Code of the Philippines The Revised Penal Code contains the general penal laws of the Philippines. First enacted in 1930, it remains in effect today, despite several amendments thereto. It does not comprise a comprehensive compendium of all Philippine penal laws. The ...

, which remains as the basic penal law in the Philippines. Díaz was appointed to the Supreme Court by the American President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

on July 20, 1933. Among his more notable opinions was in ''People v. Cu Unjieng'', 61 Phil. 236 (1935), which was one of the more widely talked-about criminal cases of its day. Díaz's service in the Court was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. The ensuing Japanese invasion of the Philippines in December 1941 effectively prevented the Supreme Court organized under the Commonwealth government. When the Japanese reestablished the Court in 1942, none of the incumbent members of the old Court were appointed to the new tribunal headed by

José Yulo José Yulo Yulo (September 24, 1894 – October 27, 1976) was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (May 7, 1942 – July 9, 1945) during the Japanese Occupation and was Speaker of the National Assembly of the Philippines fr ...

Death

Díaz was one of two Supreme Court Justices who were executed by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

during the Battle of Manila in 1945. On February 10, the then-paralyzed Díaz and two of his sons were among 300 men herded by the Japanese army and lined up along the corner of Taft Avenue and Padre Faura in

Ermita, Manila Ermita is a district in Manila, Philippines. Located at the central part of the city, the district is a significant center of finance, education, culture, and commerce. Ermita serves as the civic center of the city, bearing the seat of city ...

. Japanese soldiers then opened

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

fire, killing Díaz and his sons as well as scores of others.''By Sword and Fire'', p. 253-255 Two days later, Diaz's colleague on the Court, Antonio Villa-Real, was murdered by Japanese forces in nearby

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasay; ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 440,656 people. Due to its location j ...

. The area where Díaz was executed would later become part of the Supreme Court compound when the Court relocated to Padre Faura after the war.

References

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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Anacleto 1878 births 1945 deaths Executed Filipino people 20th-century Filipino judges People executed by Japanese occupation forces People from La Union Spanish-language writers of the Philippines Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from La Union People executed by Japan by firing squad Members of the Philippine Legislature