Haydee Yorac

Early life Yorac was born on March 4, 1941, in the municipality of Saravia (now E. B. Magalona), Negros Occidental to Jose Yorac and Josefa Bofill. She earned a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1962. She placed 8th in the 1962 Philippine Bar Examinations, with an 86.95% rating. She was a member of the Order of the Purple Feather (Law Honor Society) while a student of law. She also earned a Master of Laws major in public international law, minor in anthropology from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1981.

Martial law

When Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law on September 23, 1972, he arrested various lawyers, academics, and intellectuals who were likely to lead protests against the move. Yorac was among the first to be arrested, Upon her release, Yorac volunteered her services to the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), notably helping Lino Brocka and Behn Cervantes when they were charged with inciting to sedition in 1984.

Yorac vied for a seat in the Philippine Senate in the 1998 national elections through the Reporma–LM party of Renato de Villa but lost.

Death

Yorac battled with ovarian cancer and died on September 12, 2005, in Chicago, aged 64. Her remains were buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. She was succeeded as PCGG chair by Camilo Sabio.

Legacy Detail of the Wall of Remembrance at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, showing names from the 2005 batch of Bantayog Honorees, including that of Haydee Yorac. For her activism and volunteer legal work during martial law, and for her later work at the Commission on Elections and the Presidential Commission on Good Government, Yorac was honored upon her death by having her name etched on the Wall of Remembrance of the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which honors the martyrs and heroes who fought to defeat the Marcos dictatorship.