Arturo Tolentino

Tolentino passed away of a heart attack on the night of August 2, 2004, at the age of 93. He is buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

In 1992, Tolentino successfully ran for the Senate, placing 18th under the Nationalist People's Coalition. However, his bid for re-election in 1995 was not successful, and he retired from politics.

When the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines was overwhelmingly approved in a plebiscite, Tolentino announced he would respect the will of the people.

Tolentino was chosen by Marcos as his vice-presidential running mate for the February 7, 1986 snap election. They were against the united opposition of Corazon Aquino and Salvador Laurel. According to the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) final tally, Aquino and Laurel were consistently in the lead. The final tally showed Laurel winning by over 800,000 votes—roughly the same margin by which it showed Aquino defeating Marcos. However, according to the COMELEC tally, Tolentino won over Laurel with a margin of approximately one million votes. He was ceremonially sworn in as Vice President of the Philippines on February 16, 1986, but functionally never took office. The disputed outcome would eventually lead to the People Power Revolution which ousted Marcos and installed Aquino as a revolutionary president.

Tolentino then launched a coup on July 6, 1986, declaring that since Marcos was in exile, he was constitutionally the acting president of the Philippines. Marcos allies and about 100 soldiers marched to the luxurious Manila Hotel, barricading it with trucks. He was expecting massive support, but only several thousands of Marcos loyalists supported his cause. On July 8, he agreed to disperse his thousands of civilian supporters and about a hundred military backers, ending the failed coup attempt.

The duties and responsibilities of majority floor leader and the reason for Tolentino's selection was explained in an article by Manuel Martinez in Tempo October 7, 1983.

He had seven children, as acknowledged in his last will and testament (1971): Arturo Jr., Evelyn and Annabella with Consuelo David; Bernadette, Salvador and Victorio with Constancia Conde; and Ma. Elenita with Rosita Robles.

In 1966, shortly after Ferdinand Marcos was elected president, Tolentino was elected Senate president. A year later, however, he was ousted from his position.

Tolentino was elected in the Senate that year. He was re-elected in 1963 and in 1969.

Tolentino was once the foremost expert in civil law and persons throughout the 1960s to 1980s. The civil law volumes mainly used in the UP College of Law and other law universities are still the Commentaries and Jurisprudence on the Civil Code of the Philippines volumes by Tolentino, a series of volumes published beginning circa 1960.

On March 17, 1957, President Magsaysay took off from the airport in Cebu. He was at the height of his popularity. A few minutes later, his plane crashed into the side of the mountain. All on board, with the exception of one newspaperman were killed.

"I had been going with the President on Provincial trips because the President wanted to introduce me to party leaders and rural electorate for possible candidacy as a senator in 1957. Normally he would go to series of towns briefly speaking in one before proceeding to the next. I would start my speech immediately after he had finished, then follow him as soon as mine was over. On this occasion however I was committed to a speaking engagement in Manila even though I had been scheduled to accompany Magsaysay. I explained my predicament to the President who was very understanding, who gave my seat to the Education Secretary then, who perished with the others on that ill fated flight."

Tolentino was first elected as representative for Manila in 1949. He was re-elected in 1953. Shortly after his re-election, Tolentino was given the position of majority floor leader, which he held until his entry to the Senate four years later and one which, though less glamorous than that of speaker, he preferred and enjoyed.

As a debater and orator, he won seven gold medals (including the Quezon Medal) and two silver loving cups. He held the title of “Inter-Collegiate Oratorical Champion of the Philippines” in 1934. He successfully debated with American students from the University of Oregon in 1933 and from the University of Washington in 1934. In UP, he was editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian and a fellow of the Upsilon Sigma Phi.

Tolentino engaged in the practice of law after passing the bar in 1934, and was a recognized legal luminary.

As a student, Tolentino was noted for his scholarship. He was valedictorian of the Manila East High School (now Victorino Mapa High School; 1928), valedictorian (cum laude) of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law (1934), and a bar topnotcher (1934). He obtained the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy (cum laude) with a gold medal award from UP in 1938, and received the degrees of Master of Law (meritissimus) and Doctor of Civil Law (meritissimus) from the University of Santo Tomás.

Arturo "Ka Turing" Modesto Tolentino (September 19, 1910 – August 2, 2004) was a Filipino politician and diplomat who served as the Senate president and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He ran as the vice-presidential running mate of Ferdinand Marcos for the 1986 Philippine snap election.