Emmanuel Pelaez

Emmanuel Neri Pelaez (November 30, 1915 – July 27, 2003) was a Filipino public servant and politician who served as the 6th Vice President of the Philippines from 1961 to 1965.

Pelaez was born in Medina, Misamis (now part of Misamis Oriental) to Gregorio Aguilar Pelaez, Sr. and Felipa Vicente Neri (second wife). He was fourth among eight children between Gregorio and Felipa: Rosario, Concepción, Gregorio Jr., Emmanuel, Jose Ma., Lourdes, Antonio, and Carmen. He studied in Cagayan de Misamis (former name of Cagayan de Oro) Elementary School where he got the highest honors. He then went to the Ateneo de Manila High School and got his Associate in Arts at the Cebu UP Junior College.

He received his law degree from the University of Manila in 1938, and in the same year topped the Bar examinations. He worked as a Senate Clerk at the Journal Division from 1934 to 1935, Debate Reporter from 1935 to 1937, and court translator from 1937 to 1938. He was employed as assistant court reporter at the Court of Appeals from 1939 to 1940, then later Special Prosecutor of the People's Court from 1945 up to 1946. Pelaez practiced law and at the same time professor of law at the University of Manila from 1946 up to 1963.

In 1949, he was elected Congressman, representing his home province. During his term as representative, He was adjudged one of the Ten Outstanding Congressmen by the Congressional Press Club, one of the Ten Most Useful Congressmen by the Philippine Free Press, and one of the two Most Outstanding Congressmen by the League of Women Voters of the Philippines.

Such achievements in the Lower House of Congress brought him to the Senate floor in 1953. He was unanimously chosen Most Outstanding Senator by the League of Women Voters of the Philippines and the Senate Press Club. In 1959, he was unsuccessful in his Senate re-election bid, placing 10th out of the 8 seats up for election.

Pelaez was elected vice president in 1961, simultaneously performing the functions of Foreign Affairs Secretary. He resigned in 1963 as Secretary, after a dispute with the Macapagal administration. In the same year, he was chosen Man of the Year by the Examiner and the following year was adjudged the Most Outstanding Alumnus during the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the University of Manila.

In May 1962, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a bill to authorise payment of the remaining US$73,000,000 owed to the Philippines for war damage claims despite support from the U.S. State Department, and Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. Pelaez stated on the matter "the United States treats her friends more shabbily than those who are not with her... one has to blackmail Americans to get anything from them."

On July 20, 1963, Justice Secretary Salvador Mariño falsely implicated Pelaez in an exposé on the Stonehill scandal broadcast on both radio and television, upon which Pelaez immediately submitted his resignation as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. On the evening of July 23, Pelaez held a contentious meeting with President Macapagal and other Liberal Party members at the Malacañang Palace, where Press Secretary Rufino "Fenny" Hechanova incurred a furious reaction from Pelaez after explaining to him that Liberal strategists had merely intended to borrow his honor to demonstrate that the Stonehill list clamored for by the Nacionalista Party was fake. Pelaez later left the Liberal Party to switch back to the Nacionalista Party on January 15, 1964.