Pedro L. Yap

Pedro López Yap (July 1, 1918 – November 20, 2003) was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines in 1988. He briefly served for two and a half months from April 19, 1988 to June 30, 1988, the shortest in history until that record was surpassed by Chief Justice Teresita de Castro.
He worked in the notable Salonga, Ordoñez, Yap & Associates Law Offices, which was named after Jovito Salonga and Justice Secretary Sedfrey Ordoñez.

Early life

Yap was born in San Isidro, Leyte in July 1918. It was also from that town that he earned his elementary education and went to Cebu for his secondary education at the Cebu Provincial High School or what is now known as the Abellana National School. It was also in the Cebu Junior College (now the University of Philippines Cebu Campus, who had Paulino Gullas, Founder of The FREEMAN as the registrar) where Chief Justice Yap earned his Associate in Arts as Magna Cum Laude. He then went to UP Manila to take his Bachelor of Laws (he was Cum Laude). He topped the Bar examinations given in 1946 and was admitted to the Bar on March 29, 1947, topping the examinations with a grade of 91.7 percent.

Chief Justice Yap is among the first Visayans sent to the United States for further studies in law (another was Miguel Cuenco who became congressman of the old 5th District of Cebu, after finishing Law was sent to the United States for further studies as he was not yet qualified to take the Bar due to his young age). He enrolled at the New York University (NYU) earning Master of Laws specializing in International Law, and later his Doctor of Juridical Science also at NYU, thus starting his career as a diplomat.

Career

Yap worked as a Partner at Salonga
Ordoñez
Yap and Associates Law Office from 1967 to 1985 as a trial lawyer. Yap also taught law at the University of San Carlos in Cebu since 1949 until 1985 and became one of its trustees.

Yap began his governmental career as a diplomat and served as secretary of the United Nations Human Rights Commission and was one of the 16 delegates who refused to sign the 1973 Philippine Constitution. He was appointed to the Presidential Commission on Good Government in 1986 before being appointed associate justice.

In 1988, Yap became the Chief Justice, replacing Claudio Teehankee.

Further reading

* Cruz, Isagani A. (2000). ''Res Gestae: A Brief History of the Supreme Court''. Rex Book Store, Manila

References

1918 births
2003 deaths
Chief justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
20th-century Filipino judges
People from Leyte (province)
University of the Philippines alumni
Filipino politicians of Chinese descent
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