Laurel, Jose Paciano (1891-1959), a lawyer and politician, served as president of the Philippines in the government set up by the Japanese in 1943. When the Americans returned to the Philippines at the end of World War II in 1945, Laurel fled to Tokyo. He was jailed for two years. In 1949, he ran for the presidency of the Philippines against Elpidio Quirino. He lost narrowly amid charges of collaboration with the Japanese. In 1951, he was elected to the Senate.
Laurel was born in Tanawan, near Bantangas, the Philippines. He studied law at the University of the Philippines. He received a doctor’s degree from Yale University in the United States in 1920. He served as a senator from 1925 to 1931. He was secretary of justice when war broke out in 1941.
