José Emeterio Muñoz Romero Sr. (3 March 1897 – 23 October 1978), commonly known as José E. Romero, was a statesman and diplomat from the Philippines. He represented Negros Oriental's Second District and was Majority Floor Leader during the

Ninth In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second. Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...

and Tenth

Philippine Legislature The Philippine Legislature was the legislature of the Philippines from 1907 to 1935, during the American colonial period, and predecessor of the current Congress of the Philippines. It was bicameral and the legislative branch of the Insular ...

s and the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

Second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

National Assemblies of the Philippines. He was senator-elect of the First Congress of the Philippines and later became the first Philippine ambassador to the United Kingdom and

Secretary of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

Early life and education

Romero was born as José Derecho y Muñoz on 3 March 1897, one of three children born to Francisco Romero Sr., mayor of

Tanjay Tanjay, officially the City of Tanjay (; ), is a component city in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 82,642 people. The city is home to two indigenous languages, Minagahat and ...

Negros Oriental Negros Oriental (; ), officially the Province of Negros Oriental (; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Negros Island. Its capital is the city of Dumaguete, one of the two regional centers of Negros Island Region, with the other b ...

from 1909 to 1916 and later a member of the Provincial Board of

, and Josefa Calumpang Muñoz, daughter of Tanjay ''

gobernadorcillo The (, literally "little governor") was a municipal judge or governor in the Captaincy General of the Philippines, Philippines during the History of the Philippines (1565–1898), Spanish colonial period, who carried out in a town the combined ...

'' Don José Teves Muñoz and Doña Aleja Ines Calumpang. His mother died in a stampede that occurred on 24 December 1906 while

midnight mass In many Western Christian traditions, Midnight Mass is the first liturgy of Christmastide that is celebrated on the night of Christmas Eve, traditionally beginning at midnight when Christmas Eve gives way to Christmas Day. This popular Christm ...

was being celebrated at the St. James the Greater Parish in Tanjay. A group of hooligans falsely announced the approach of ''pulahanes'', a notorious group of bandits, which resulted in a stampede that killed and injured churchgoers rushing to leave the church. Beginning in 1904, he received primary instruction in the public schools of Tanjay where he spent his formative years. In 1905, he moved to study at Silliman Institute in

Dumaguete Dumaguete, officially the City of Dumaguete (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it h ...

. In 1907, when he was only 10 years old, he was appointed municipal school teacher in Tanjay. From 1908 to 1913, he studied at the Negros Oriental High School for secondary education until he went on to Manila High School where he finished in 1915. As a student in Manila, he was the ward of his father's only sister Adela Romero de Prats and her husband Francisco Prats Mestre. Romero completed his Associate of Arts degree at Silliman Institute and then went on to the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; ) is a Higher education in the Philippines#State universities and colleges, state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by List of Philippine laws, Re ...

(UP) to finish a bachelor's degree graduating

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

in 1917. As a student at UP, he was awarded first prize in a university-wide poetry contest. He also received the Quezon medal in an oratorical contest and was awarded first prize in the

Philippines Free Press The ''Philippines Free Press'' was a weekly English language news magazine which was founded in 1908, which makes it the Philippines' oldest weekly English language periodical no longer in print. It is known for being one of the publications tha ...

literary contest for UP students. After graduation, he enrolled at the

University of the Philippines College of Law The University of the Philippines College of Law (often referred to as UP Law) is the law school of the University of the Philippines Diliman. Formally established in 1911 in UP Manila, it is the third oldest continually-operating law school ...

but had to temporarily postpone his studies due to ill health. He eventually returned to law school upon recovery and completed his

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree in 1922. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar and practiced law in Manila before returning to Negros Oriental in 1924. On 17 July 1918, Romero and

Carlos P. Romulo Carlos Peña Romulo Sr. (January 14, 1899 – December 15, 1985) was a Filipino people, Filipino diplomat, statesman, soldier, journalist and author. He was a co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, a general in the US Army and the Phi ...

led the first student protest march at UP to show support for university president

Ignacio Villamor Ignacio Villamor y Borbón (February 1, 1863 – May 23, 1933) was a Filipino lawyer, Associate Justice of Supreme Court from Abra, Philippines and the first Filipino president of the University of the Philippines. Justice Villamor is also the ...

who was then being criticized and defamed by newspaper columnist Manuel Xerez Burgos of

The Manila Times ''The Manila Times'' is the oldest extant English-language newspaper in the Philippines. It is published daily by The Manila Times Publishing Corp. (formerly La Vanguardia Publishing Corporation) with editorial and administrative offices at 2/F ...

. In April 1922, Romero was a delegate to the

World Student Christian Federation The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) is a federation of autonomous national Student Christian Movements (SCM) forming the youth and student arm of the global ecumenical movement. The Federation includes Orthodox, Protestant and Cathol ...

conference held at

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. Romero published ''The'' ''Rising Philippines'' in 1917, the first English language magazine published by Filipinos, together with Romulo, Mauro Mendez and Fernando Maramag as editor-in-chief. He succeeded Maramag as editor of the ''Philippines'' ''National Weekly'' from 1918 to 1920. Later on, he was the sole owner and publisher of the ''Oriental Negros Chronicle''. Romero also wrote the lyrics of the university hymn of the

Philippine Women's University Philippine Women's University (PWU) is a coeducational tertiary education school which has its main campus in Manila, Philippines. An all girls school, institution exclusive for girls from its inception until the 1970s, the PWU now admits both ...

Political career

Romero, together with his cousin Angel Calumpang, was elected to the Provincial Board of

for two consecutive terms from 1925 to 1928 and from 1928 to 1931 during the incumbency of Atilano Villegas as provincial governor. In 1931, he was elected to the

9th Philippine Legislature The 9th Philippine Legislature was the meeting of the legislature of the Philippines under the sovereign control of the United States from 1931 to 1934. Sessions Leadership Senate * President: Manuel L. Quezon ( 5th District, Nacional ...

as representative of Negros Oriental's second district. In 1934, he became majority floor leader replacing Francisco Varona. In the same year, he became a delegate to the 1934 Constitutional Convention that drafted the

1935 Philippine Constitution The Constitution of the Philippines ( Filipino: ''Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas'' or ''Konstitusyon ng Pilipinas'') is the supreme law of the Philippines. Its final draft was completed by the Constitutional Commission on October 12, 1986, and ra ...

. He was reelected to the

10th Philippine Legislature The 10th Philippine Legislature was the meeting of the legislature of the Philippines under the sovereign control of the United States from 1934 to 1935. Sessions Leadership Senate * President: Manuel L. Quezon ( 5th District, Nacio ...

and remained as majority floor leader, which only lasted until the following year when it was effectively replaced by a unicameral national assembly as a result of the 1935 Constitution. In 1935, Romero was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. He served for two consecutive terms from 1935 to 1938 and from 1938 to 1941. He was majority floor leader from 1935 to 1938, and was concurrently chairman of the Congressional standing committees on rules and on education, and ex-officio member of the Board of Regents of the

. He was succeeded as majority floor leader by

Quintin Paredes Quintin (; ) is a commune in the Cotes-d'Armor department (Brittany (administrative region), Brittany region) in the northwest of France from Saint-Brieuc, the department capital. History The area around Quintin has been occupied since the Neo ...

in 1938. In 1937, he was appointed by

Manuel L. Quezon Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina (, , , ; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino people, Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier, and politician who was president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1 ...

to the Joint Preparatory Committee on Philippine Affairs (JPCPA), which was convened to study the

United States Tariff Commission The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It was created by Congress in 1916 as the U.S. Tari ...

report and review the trade provisions of the

Tydings–McDuffie Act The Philippine Independence Act, or Tydings–McDuffie Act (), is an Act of Congress that established the process for the Philippines, then a US territory, to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period. Under the act, th ...

, officially known as the ''Philippine Independence Act''. In 1939, during a meeting convoked by President Quezon, he called for an indefinite suspension of the planned 1946 Philippine independence, which was under the threat of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Together with fellow assemblymen Salvador Z. Araneta, Tomas Oppus and Carlos Tan, they formed the Philippine Civic League, which conducted education campaigns on the problems and deficiencies of the Philippine independence mission. In 1946, Romero was elected to the

Philippine Senate The Senate of the Philippines () is the upper house of Congress, the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, with the House of Representatives as the lower house. The Senate is composed of 24 senators who are elected at-large (the country f ...

but was replaced by Prospero Sanidad after a highly politicized electoral protest filed against him and senators-elect Ramon M. Diokno and Jose O. Vera, and elected members of congress belonging to the Democratic Alliance.

Government service

In 1917, after finishing his undergraduate degree, he worked as an assessor at the

Bureau of Customs The Bureau of Customs (BoC or BOC; ) is a Philippine government agency that is responsible for the collecting of customs, customs duties, excise duties, and other indirect taxes in the Philippines. It is part of the Department of Finance (Philip ...

but only stayed on for four months due to conflicts in schedule with his classes at law school. Romero was appointed as a member of the Philippine Surplus Property Commission by

Manuel Roxas Manuel Acuña Roxas (; January 1, 1892 – April 15, 1948) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of the Philippines from 1946 until his death in 1948. He served briefly as the third and last President of the ...

in 1948. On 20 August 1949, Romero was appointed by

Elpidio Quirino Elpidio Rivera Quirino (; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Philippine nationality law, Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 6th President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953. A lawyer by profession, Quirino entered p ...

envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...

of the Philippine foreign service. He took his oath of office on 6 September 1949 as minister of the Philippine Legation to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, replacing Don Ramon Fernandez who was appointed to the

Philippine Council of State The Council of State of the Philippines () is an advisory body composed primarily of senior statesmen who act as advisors to the President of the Philippines, who is both head of state and head of government, as well as Commander-in-Chief of t ...

. He was accredited by the

Court of St. James's The Court of St James's serves as the official royal court for the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The court formally receives all ambassadors accredited to the United Kingdom. Likewise, ambassadors representing the United Kingdom are formally a ...

on 9 November 1949. The legation was later upgraded to

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

status with Romero serving as the first

ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

of the Philippines to the Court of St. James's. While ambassador, he headed the Philippine delegation, which included senator

José Locsin Jose Corteza Locsin (August 27, 1891 – May 1, 1977) was a Filipino medical doctor and senator. Early life and education Locsin was born on August 27, 1891, in Silay, Negros Occidental. He was the third child of Domingo Locsin and Enriqueta ...

, to the 1953

International Sugar Agreement The International Sugar Agreements and similarly named agreements were a series of International treaties that attempted to establish an "orderly relationship between the supply and demand for sugar in the world market." They eventually establis ...

convened by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

in London. In 1953, he ended his tour of duty when he resigned to become the representative of the Philippine Sugar Association (PSA) to

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

for whom he was longtime executive officer and secretary-treasurer, and later president. Upon the recommendation of the PSA, he served as a director of the Philippine Sugar Institute (PHILSUGIN), an agency tasked to conduct research work for the sugar industry in all its phases, agricultural and industrial. PHILSUGIN together with the then Sugar Quota Administration (SQA) effectively replaced the Philippine Sugar Administration in 1951. In May 1956, together with

Joaquín M. Elizalde Joaquín or Joaquin is a male given name, the Spanish version of Joachim. Given name * Joaquín (footballer, born 1956) (Joaquín Alonso González), Spanish football midfielder * Joaquín (footballer, born 1981) (Joaquín Sánchez Rodríguez), ...

who was chief delegate, he represented the Philippines at one of the meetings of the United Nations Sugar Conference, which opened at the

Headquarters of the United Nations , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004 (cropped).jpg , image_size = 275px , caption = View of the complex from Long Island City in 2021; from left to right: the Secretariat, Conference, and General Assembly buil ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Romero served as

Carlos P. Garcia Carlos Polestico Garcia (; November 4, 1896 – June 14, 1971), often referred to by his initials CPG, was a Filipino teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist, guerrilla and Commonwealth military leader who was the ...

and Diosdado P. Macapagal from 1959 to 1961 and from 1961 to 1962 respectively. He was then concurrently ex-officio chairman of the Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, a commission created in 1954 by

Ramon Magsaysay Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a Filipino statesman who served as the seventh President of the Philippines, from December 30, 1953, until his death in an 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash, aircraft disast ...

to spearhead preparations for the centenary of

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a na ...

's birth in 1961. He was also ex-officio chairman of the Board of Regents of the

. On 13 August 1959, Romero issued Department Order (D.O.) no. 7, s. 1959 ordering the use of the term ''Pilipino'' as the proper name for the

national language '' '' A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection— de facto or de jure—with a nation. The term is applied quite differently in various contexts. One or more languages spoken as first languag ...

of the Philippines, which up until that point was referred to as either ''wikang pambansa'' or

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

Personal life

Marriage and children

He was married to Pilar Guzmán Sinco, a schoolteacher and sister of University of the Philippines president and

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the United Nations (UN). It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, UN system, including its United Nations System#Six ...

signatory Vicente G. Sinco, on 16 June 1923 and had one child: * Edgar Romero (7 July 1924 – 28 May 2013),

National Artist of the Philippines The Order of National Artists of the Philippines ( Tagalog: ''Orden ng mga Pambansang Alagad ng Sining ng Pilipinas'') is an order bestowed by the President of the Philippines on Philippine nationals who have made significant contributions to ...

for Cinema and Broadcast Arts After the death of his first wife in childbirth on 7 July 1927, he married Elisa Zuñiga Villanueva on 6 September 1930. She was the granddaughter of Don Leonardo Villanueva, brother of senator

Hermenegildo Villanueva Hermenegildo Villanueva y Teves (September 25, 1876 – December 17, 1941), fondly called Bindoy, was a Filipino politician. He served as Secretary of Labor for Manuel L. Quezon from December 1938 until his resignation in April 1939. Person ...

. They had seven children: * Maria Luisa Romero (11 November 1931 – 9 June 1987), married to Pelayo Valera Gabaldón, grandson of Filipino statesman

Isauro Gabaldón Isauro Gabaldón y González (born Isauro González; December 8, 1875 – December 21, 1942) was a Filipino politician who served as a resident commissioner of the Philippines to the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1920 unti ...

and nephew of Ramon O. Valera,

for Fashion Design. * Jose Emeterio Romero Jr. (4 May 1934 - 10 September 2018), former Philippine ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

; co-founder of the

Makati Business Club The Makati Business Club is a private non-profit business association in the Philippines founded in 1981 to promote the role of the business sector in national development efforts. Counting senior executives from some of the Philippines' larg ...

; former permanent representative to the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

and the

International Fund for Agricultural Development The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialised agency of the United Nations that works to address poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. It is the on ...

; former executive director of the Common Fund for Commodities; former chairman of the

Philippine Coconut Authority The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA or PHILCOA; ) is an agency of the Philippine government under the Department of Agriculture (Philippines), Department of Agriculture (from 2014 to 2018, under the Office of the President of the Philippines a ...

; formerly married to Carmelita Beatriz Corominas, niece of Anita Corominas-Guerrero, wife of Leon Ma. Guerrero III. * Teresita Romero (died in 1992), married in 1961 to lawyer Ricardo J. Romulo, son of Filipino statesman

. * Jose Ernesto Romero, president of the Georgetown Club of the Philippines. * Jose Rodolfo Romero, lawyer and journalist. * Raquel Romero-Smith, retired diplomat and civil servant. * George Albert Romero, former diplomat and civil servant.

''SS Corregidor''

On 17 December 1941, he was aboard the ill-fated ''SS'' Corregidor when it hit a mine off the coast of Manila Bay where his cousin Juanito Calumpang, an academic supervisor of the Department of Education, and his daughter died. His wife's great-uncle

and his son also perished in the incident.

Ancestry

Romero's paternal grandfather José Maria Romero emigrated from

Sanlúcar de Barrameda Sanlúcar may refer to: * Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a city in the Province of Cádiz, Spain * Sanlúcar de Guadiana, a village in the Province of Huelva, Spain * Sanlúcar la Mayor, a city in the Province of Seville, Spain *Sanlúcar de Albaida, forme ...

in the middle of the 19th century and married Maria Ramona Derecho of Manila. His maternal family was descended from gentry who were part of the

Principalía The ''principalía'' or Nobility, noble class was the ruling and usually educated upper class in the ''Municipality, pueblos'' of History of the Philippines (1521–1898), Spanish Philippines, comprising the ''gobernadorcillo'' (later called t ...

. His maternal grandfather José Teves Muñoz was the last ''

'' and '' capitan municipal'' of

who became the town's first ''presidente municipal'' in 1901. His maternal grandmother Aleja Silva Calumpang was the daughter of Leogardo Garcia Calumpang, a ''capitan pasado'' of Tanjay. Siblings Martin Silva Calumpang and Agapito Silva Calumpang, as well as brother-in-law Don Bernardo Vea Barot were also ''capitanes pasados'' of Tanjay. Agapito later became the first ''vice presidente municipal'' of Tanjay in 1901. Jose E. Romero's maternal grandmother Aleja Silva Calumpang was a great-granddaughter of Fernando Vélaz de Medrano y Bracamonte y Dávila, 4th Marquess of Tabuérniga de Velazar ( es), 15th Marquis of Cañete ( GE) ( es), 6th Marquis of Fuente el Sol ( es), 8th Marquis of Navamorcuende ( es), 15th Lord of Montalbo, and Knight of the

Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic Church, Cathol ...

who was exiled to the Philippines in 1781. Through his maternal grandmother, Romero was a descendant of

Alfonso XI of Castile Alfonso XI (11 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes ...

through four of his sons:

Peter of Castile Peter (; 30 August 133423 March 1369), called Peter the Cruel () or the Just (), was King of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. Peter was the last ruler of the main branch of the House of Ivrea. He was excommunicated by Pope Urban V for h ...

, the twins

Henry II of Castile Henry II (13 January 1334 – 29 May 1379), called Henry of Trastámara or the Fratricidal (''el Fratricida''), was the first List of Castilian monarchs, King of Castile and List of Leonese monarchs, León from the House of Trastámara. He became ...

and Fadrique Alfonso, 1st Lord of Haro, and Sancho Alfonso, 1st Count of Albuquerque. Through Peter of Castile's mother Maria of Portugal, he was also a descendant of

Afonso IV of Portugal Afonso IVEnglish: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' ( Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin). (; 8 February 129128 May 1357), called the Brave (), was King of Portugal from 1325 ...

Later life and death

In 1961, Romero together with

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Justices ''Justice'' (abbreviation: ame ''J.'' and other variations) is an honorific style and title traditionally used to describe a jurist who is currently serving or has served on a supreme court or some equal position. In some countries, a justice ma ...

Jose B.L. Reyes and

Calixto Zaldivar Calixto Oirola Zaldivar (September 13, 1904 – October 13, 1979) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who was a Supreme Court Justice from 1964 to 1974 best known in Philippine history for being one of only four dissenting voices against the con ...

Central Bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Miguel Cuaderno Sr., and Senator Salvador Z. Araneta founded the Philippine Constitution Association (PHILCONSA) to defend, preserve and protect the Constitution. A longtime member of the

Nacionalista Party The Nacionalista Party (Filipino language, Filipino and Spanish language in the Philippines, Spanish: ''Partido Nacionalista''; , NP) is a political party in the Philippines which is the oldest existing party in the country and in Southeast Asi ...

, he ran for a seat in the senate during the 1961 Philippine Senate election but lost where all but two candidates of the Nacionalista ticket, Lorenzo S. Sumulong and Jose J. Roy, won. In 1970, he ran for a seat as delegate to the Constitutional Convention that year representing the first district of Negros Oriental but lost. In 1973, Romero became president of Bel-Air Village Association, which manages

Bel-Air Village Bel-Air refers to both a private subdivision, a gated community and a barangay in Makati, Philippines. To the north the village itself is bound by Kalayaan Avenue, Anza, Orion, Mercedes and Amapola Streets. Estrella Street on the northeast, Ep ...

, a gated community in

Makati Makati ( ; ), officially the City of Makati (), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, known for being one of the leading financial centers in the country. As of 2013, the city has the highest concent ...

where he was a resident. Romero died on 23 October 1978 in

Manila, Philippines Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon, it is ...

and is buried at the

Manila North Cemetery The Manila North Cemetery (Spanish: ''Cementerio del Norte'') is one of the oldest cemeteries in Metro Manila, Philippines. The cemetery is owned by and located in the City of Manila, the national capital, and is one of the largest in the met ...