Vicente Sotto
| Vicente Sotto y Yap | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Senator of the Philippines | |
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In office 1946–1950 |
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| Member of the Philippine House of Representatives from Cebu's Second District | |
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In office 1922–1925 |
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| Preceded by | Sergio Osmeña |
| Succeeded by | Paulino Gullas |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 18, 1877 Cebu City, Captaincy General of the Philippines |
| Died | May 28, 1950 (aged 73) Manila, Philippines |
| Website | Sen. Vicente Sotto |
Vicente Sotto y Yap (April 18, 1877 – May 28, 1950) was a Filipino politician and former Senator of the Philippines. Sotto was the main author of the Press Freedom Law (now known as the Sotto Law, Republic Act No. 53)
Sotto was born in Cebu City on April 18, 1877 to Marcelino Sotto and Pascuala Yap. He finished his secondary education at the University of San Carlos (formerly Colegio de San Carlos), Cebu City. He obtained the degree of Bachelor of Laws and Judicial Science and passed the bar examinations in 1907.
In 1902, Senator Sotto entered politics when he ran for the municipal council of Cebu and won. In 1907, he was elected mayor despite his absence during the election owing to his involvement in a court battle caused by a kidnapping suit lodge against him by his opponent, and was forced to stay in Hong Kong. Sotto returned to the country in 1914.
In 1922, he was elected representative of the second district of Cebu until 1925. On November 1946, he ran for senator and won and served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance until 1950. He served in the Senate until 1950.
When he died at the age of 73, his colleagues in the Senate remembered him as "recalcitrant, principled Sotto."
Sotto was the main author of the Press Freedom Law (now known as the Sotto Law, Republic Act No. 53) enacted in 1946. The Sotto Law protects journalists from being compelled to name their news sources.
In 1899 (then just 22 years old), he put up La Justicia, the first newspaper in Cebu published by a Philippine citizen, in which he defended the issue of Philippine independence. It was suspended on orders by the American military governor.
In the week following, the undaunted Sotto begun publishing El Nacional. This was also ordered closed and Sotto was imprisoned at Fort San Pedro for two months and six days. After this experience, he began using the pen name Taga Kotta (of the fort, or resident of the fort).
He was found guilty of treason as a member of a committee of rebels along with those in Manila and Hong Kong. When he was freed in 1900, he published Ang Suga (The Light), which was first issued on June 16, 1901.
He organized in Hong Kong in 1911 the English-Spanish fortnightly The Philippine Republic. Its publication was stopped a year later and its editor was arrested. Sotto's extradition was requested three times by the American government but every time it was denied by the British courts. The Philippine Republic resumed publication after a month of suspension.
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Wikipedia