Jesus Barrera

Jesus Gonzalo Barrera y Alimurung (December 18, 1896 – August 28, 1988) was a member of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 1959-1966.[1]

He was born in Concepcion, Tarlac. His father, Marciano Barrera, served as first appointed Governor of Tarlac province by US government.

Barrera received his law degree from the University of the Philippines in 1921 and then entered private law practice. He later received a master of law degree from the University of Santo Tomas. He was first appointed a judge in 1938. During the Japanese occupation, he headed the Civil Liberties Union an underground movement of prominent former officials who furnished military information to guerillas to be passed on to Gen Douglas Macarthur in Australia.In the late 1940s Barrera was a key figure who attempted to convince Pres.Roxas to negotiate a peace with the Huk guerillas who had rebelled because the US and Phil governments refused to recognize their wartime activities vs the Japanese enemy.[2]

In 1956 while serving as undersecretary of justice in the Philippines, Barrera stated that the situation with regards to US military personnel off base, where they were generally tried by Philippine authorities when accused of a crime was workable, but that the situation on the US military bases where actions were not under Philippine criminal jurisdiction needed to change. He was the chair of the subcommittee negotiating the issue of jurisdiction during the 1956 US/Philippine talks trying to renegotiate the status of the US military areas in the Philippines.[3] Barrera was also the secretary of justice for the Philippines in 1958.

In 1971 Barrera was a member of the Philippines Constitutional Convention and a contender for the presidency of the convention.[4] He was one of 19 convention delegates who refused to sign the Pres Marcos influenced new Constitution which granted Marcos autocratic powers.