23 Facts About Gregorio Perfecto

Gregorio Milian Perfecto was a Filipino journalist, politician and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 1945 to 1949.

Gregorio Perfecto finished his secondary education at San Beda College in Manila.

Gregorio Perfecto entered Colegio de San Juan de Letran, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree.

Gregorio Perfecto then enrolled in the law program of the University of Santo Tomas, where he received his law degree.

Gregorio Perfecto passed the bar examinations and was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1916.

Gregorio Perfecto practiced law for some time, then began a career for journalism as a reporter for the La Vanguardia and the Consolidacion Nacional newspapers.

Gregorio Perfecto was sued for criminal libel at least four times, the complaints being lodged by various local and national officials, including by the Philippine Senate.

Gregorio Perfecto was nonetheless acquitted of all charges by the Philippine Supreme Court, in a series of decisions promulgated between 1921 and 1922.

In 1922, Gregorio Perfecto was elected to the Philippine Legislature, as a representative from the North District of Manila.

In 1931, Gregorio Perfecto was stricken with polio and was left disabled by the disease.

In 1934, Gregorio Perfecto was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention that drafted the 1935 Constitution.

Gregorio Perfecto served in such capacity for two terms, from 1935 to 1941.

Gregorio Perfecto advocated for laws for the improvement of conditions for the employment of laborers, and for the grant of women's suffrage.

In June 1945, Gregorio Perfecto was appointed by President Sergio Osmena to the Supreme Court, which had been reorganized following the end of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.

Gregorio Perfecto served on the court until his death in 1949.

Gregorio Perfecto is the only Justice in Philippine Supreme Court history to have penned more dissenting opinions than majority opinions.

Gregorio Perfecto charged that the attempts at impeachment, which were ultimately unsuccessful, were politically motivated.

Gregorio Perfecto defended the editor, who he said had performed a public service but was being punished for publishing the truth, and asserted that press freedom was a constitutional right.

Gregorio Perfecto criticized what he perceived as the servility of the Philippine government to the United States.

Gregorio Perfecto was not hesitant in insisting upon judicial review over acts of the executive or legislative branches of government, even against the defense that the issues raised were political questions.

Gregorio Perfecto died on August 17,1949, after a brief illness.

Shortly before his death, Gregorio Perfecto took the highly unusual step of filing in his behalf a petition with the Supreme Court arguing that the salaries of judges and justices were exempted from income taxes by the Constitution.

Several years after his death, many of the decisions Perfecto dissented from were overturned by the Supreme Court, most notably Moncado v People's Court and Mabanag v Lopez Vito.