In The Know: Ernesto Maceda

ERNESTO Maceda, 81, was dubbed the Senate’s “Mr. Exposé” for having unearthed hundreds of anomalies in the government.

One of the irregularities he denounced was the joint venture agreement (JVA) between the Public Estates Authority and the Amari Coastal Bay and Development Corp. to reclaim lands from submerged areas of Manila Bay and develop Freedom Islands. The Supreme Court later declared the JVA null and void in 2002.

In 1993, Maceda also called for a Senate investigation on the “Brunei beauties,” or beauty queens, models and actresses who purportedly served as high-priced prostitutes for an elite clientele in Brunei.

Maceda was one of the “Magnificent 12”—the senators who voted on September 1991 to expel the American military bases in the Philippines. The 12-to-11 Senate vote rejected the “Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Security” that would have retained US military presence in the country until 2001.

Maceda first won a senatorial seat in 1971. His bill granting protection to real estate buyers on installment basis was the only bill signed into law before martial law was proclaimed in 1972. The bill is known as the Maceda Law.

He went into exile in the United States, fearing there was a ploy to arrest him. There, he became the aide and adviser of the late Sen. Benigno S. Aquino.

After Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, Maceda was appointed by Cory Aquino the head of the then Ministry of Natural Resources.

Maceda came back to the Senate in 1987 and again in 1992 and became Senate President from 1996 to 1998.

He started his government career at 23 when he was elected as Manila councilor in 1959. Marcos then named Maceda the secretary of community development, making him the youngest Cabinet member in the Marcos administration at 29.

He finished his law degree cum laude at Ateneo de Manila University in 1956 and passed the bar a year after. He also holds a doctorate in public administration from Polytechnic University of the Philippines and doctorate in education from Philippine Normal University.

He taught law at Ateneo, University of Manila, National University and Maryknoll College.

In 2013, he ran for senator under the United Nationalist Alliance ticket but lost.

Born in Pagsanjan, Laguna, on March 26, 1935, Maceda has four children with wife Marichu Vera-Perez.  Inquirer Research

Sources: senate.gov.ph, washingtonpost.com, sc.judiciary.gov.ph, senatormaceda.weebly.com, Inquirer Archives