JPL 1

• José Paciano Laurel Y García was born on March 9, 1891, in Tanauan, Batangas
• His father, Sotero Laurel, Sr., was an official in the revolutionary government of Emilio Aguinaldo and a signatory to the 1898 Malolos Constitution
• José Laurel worked as an altar boy and chorister after his father's death in 1902 during the Filipino-American War
• At 18, he worked as a part-time laborer at the Bureau of Forestry to support his studies
• José Laurel eloped with Paciencia Hidalgo and enrolled at the University of the Philippines College of Law, where he earned his doctorate in Philosophy
• He ranked second in his class of 60 and also came out second in the 1915 Bar Examinations
• José Laurel received his law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1915 under Dean George A. Malcolm
• He obtained a Licenciado en Jurisprudencia degree from the Escuela de Derecho in Manila and a Master of Laws degree from University of Santo Tomas in 1919
• José Laurel obtained a Doctorate of Law from Yale Law School in 1919 and took special courses in international law at Oxford University and the University of Paris
• He was the president of the Republic of the Philippines, a Japanese-sponsored administration during World War II, from 1943 to 1945
• José Laurel was recognized as a legitimate president of the Philippines since the administration of President Diosdado Macapagal (1961 – 1965)
• After retiring from politics, Laurel focused on managing the Lyceum of the Philippines, which he founded on July 7, 1952
• José Laurel had nine children with his wife Paciencia, some of whom entered politics
• He died on November 6, 1959, of a massive heart attack and stroke
• Jose Laurel's mother is Jacoba Garcia.
• He later became a clerk for the Code Committee, where he met Thomas Atkins Street, a future member of the Philippine Supreme Court and who served as his mentor.