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Salvador P. Lopez

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Filipino politician and academic administrator In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Ponce and the surname or paternal family name is Lopez.
Salvador P. Lopez
10th Secretary of Foreign Affairs
In office
July 1963 – 1963
PresidentDiosdado Macapagal
Preceded byEmmanuel Pelaez
Succeeded byCarlos P. Romulo
12th President of the University of the Philippines
In office
1969–1975
Preceded byCarlos P. Romulo
Succeeded byOnofre Corpuz
Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
In office
1966–1966
Personal details
BornSalvador Ponce Lopez
(1911-05-27)May 27, 1911
Currimao, Ilocos Norte, Philippine Islands
DiedOctober 18, 1993(1993-10-18) (aged 82)
Manila, Philippines
Alma materUniversity of the Philippines Manila (BA, MA)

Salvador Ponce Lopez (May 27, 1911 – October 18, 1993) was a Filipino writer, journalist, educator, diplomat and statesman.

He studied at the University of the Philippines (UP) and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1931 and a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy in 1933. At UP, he was drama critic for the Philippine Collegian and member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity. From 1933 to 1936, Lopez taught literature and journalism at the University of Manila. He also became a daily columnist and magazine editor of the Philippine Herald until World War II.

In 1940, Lopez's essay "Literature and Society" won the Commonwealth Literary Awards. His essay posited that art must have substance and that poet José García Villa's adherence to "art for art's sake" is decadent. The essay provoked debates, the discussion centering on proletarian literature, i.e., engaged or committed literature versus the orientation of literature as an art for the sake of art itself. In 1953, Lopez authored an important report on Freedom of Information for the United Nations.

He was appointed by President Diosdado Macapagal as Secretary of Foreign Affairs and then became ambassador to the United Nations for six years before being reassigned to France for seven years. He would also serve as Chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Lopez was the president of the University of the Philippines from 1969 to 1975. He established a system of democratic consultation wherein decisions such as promotions and appointments were made through greater participation by faculty and administrative personnel; he also reorganized UP into the UP System.

It was during Lopez's presidency that UP students were politically radicalized, launching mass protests against the Marcos regime right from the so-called "First Quarter Storm" in 1970 to the Diliman Commune in 1971. During the latter, Lopez called on all UP students, faculty, and employees to defend the university and its autonomy from Marcos's militarization, as the military sought to occupy the campus in search of alleged leftists, activists, and other opponents of the regime. Due to his defense of UP's autonomy and democracy, many considered him a progressive and a militant member of the UP academe.

References

  1. "UP's gangland wars: A historical note". Rappler. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
  2. The Fookien Times Philippines Yearbook. Fookien Times. 1986. p. 226. ISBN 9789710503506.
  3. "UP Forum July-August 2011". Issuu. 8 September 2011. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  4. "Twenty-First Session of the Commission on Human Rights". www.unmultimedia.org. 1965-03-22. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
Academic offices
Preceded byCarlos P. Romulo President of the University of the Philippines
1969–1975 		Succeeded byOnofre D. Corpuz
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