{{Short description|Filipina public servant, law professor and politician (1941-2005)}} {{Philippine name|Bofill|Yorac}} {{More citations needed|date=September 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Haydee Bofill Yorac Libingan ng Mga BayaniCNE1.jpg | honorific_prefix = The Honorable | name = Haydee B. Yorac | office = Chairperson of the Commission on Elections | status = Acting | term_start = January 12, 1990 | term_end = June 5, 1991 | predecessor = Hilario Davide Jr. | successor = Christian Monsod | appointer = Corazon Aquino | office2 = Commissioner on Elections | term_start2 = July 15, 1986 | term_end2 = February 11, 1993 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | office3 = Chairperson of the Presidential Commissioner on Good Government | term_start3 = July 17, 2001 | term_end3 = September 12, 2005 | predecessor3 = Jorge V. Sarmiento | successor3 = Camilo Sabio | birth_date = {{birth date|1941|03|04}}<ref name="BantayogProfileYorac"/> | birth_place = Saravia, Negros Occidental, Commonwealth of the Philippines | death_date = {{death date and age|2005|09|12|1941|03|04}}<ref name="BantayogProfileYorac"/> | death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | alma_mater = University of the Philippines Diliman (LL.B.) <br> Yale University (LL.M.) }} '''Haydee Bofill Yorac''' ({{IPAc-en|'|h|ai|d|i}}; {{IPA|es|ajˈde.e}} March 4, 1941 — September 12, 2005) was a Filipina public servant, law professor and politician. She was its first female acting chairperson (1990-1991).<ref name="BantayogProfileYorac">{{Cite web |date=2017-01-18 |title=MARTYRS AND HEROES: Yorac, Haydee B. |url=http://www.bantayog.org/yorac-haydee-b/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229043209/http://www.bantayog.org/yorac-haydee-b/ |archive-date=2017-12-29 |access-date=2021-05-16 |website=Bantayog ng mga Bayani |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="RMAFProfileYorac">{{Cite web |title=Awardees: Yorac, Haydee |url=http://rmaward.asia/awardees/yorac-haydee/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209113823/http://rmaward.asia/awardees/yorac-haydee/ |archive-date=2017-12-09 |access-date=2021-05-17 |website=Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation}}</ref>

==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.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Alvarez|first=Roderick Alain|title=Haydee Bofill Yorac |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Haydee-Yorac/6000000152716258913|date=2022-04-28}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mclaw08.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/bar-topnotchers-1946-2008/ |title=Bar Topnotchers, 1946-1976 |website=mclaw08.wordpress.com |date=10 September 2009 }}</ref> 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 == {{see also|Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos}} 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,<ref name="BantayogProfileYorac"/> and was imprisoned in Camp Crame for three months.<ref name="PhilStarOBIT">{{Cite web |last=Araneta |first=Sandy |date=2005-09-14 |title=Nation mourns as Haydee Yorac passes away in US |url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2005/09/14/296653/nation-mourns-haydee-yorac-passes-away-us |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516161625/https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2005/09/14/296653/nation-mourns-haydee-yorac-passes-away-us |archive-date=2021-05-16 |access-date=2021-05-16 |website=Philstar.com}}</ref> 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.<ref name="BantayogProfileYorac"/>

==Private career== Yorac taught and served in the Admissions Screening Committee of the University of the Philippines College of Law. She was an assistant vice president for academic affairs at the University of the Philippines Diliman and a senior researcher at the University of the Philippines Law Center. She also became the chief legal counsel of the University of the Philippines for a few years.

==Public career== She was appointed by then President Corazon Aquino to serve as commissioner of the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in 1986.

She was also a key figure in the new government's peace process, having served as chairperson of the National Unification Council, a predecessor of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, which was created on the council's recommendation in July 1993.<ref name="OPAPPhist">{{Cite web |last=Process |first=Office of Presidential Adviser on the Peace |date=2016-11-08 |title=A Brief History of OPAPP and the Peace Process |url=https://peace.gov.ph/2016/11/brief-history-opapp-peace-process/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705202336/https://peace.gov.ph/2016/11/brief-history-opapp-peace-process/ |archive-date=2020-07-05 |access-date=2021-05-16 |website=Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process |language=en-US}}</ref>

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== [[File:Haydee yorac grave.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Haydee Yorac's tomb at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.]] 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== thumb|right|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.<ref name="BantayogProfileYorac"/>

==Publications== *"Legal Status of Mercenaries" *"Preventive Detention and Metaphysics of Repression" *"Child Custody Determinations: A Reappraisal" *"The Philippine Claim to the Spratly Island Group," ''Philippine Law Journal'' *Philippine Treaty Series, Vols. 1–4, 6–7 (editor)

== Professional and civic affiliations == *[http://www.ibp.org.ph Integrated Bar of the Philippines] *Philippine Society of International Law *[http://www.asil.org American Society of International Law] *Free Legal Assistance Group (National Board Member) * U.P. Alpha Phi Omega sorority (Formerly U.P. Kappa Phi Omega Sorority)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120709051528/http://www.upapo.org/apo-eta-alumni/ U.P. Alpha Phi Omega sorority alumni listing]</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{S-start}} {{succession box | before= Hilario Davide, Jr. | title= COMELEC Chairman | years= 1989&ndash;1989 | after= Christian Monsod }} {{S-end}} {{Commission on Elections (Philippines)}} {{Ramon Magsaysay Award Winners}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yorac, Haydee}} Category:1941 births Category:2005 deaths Category:Deaths from ovarian cancer in Illinois Category:University of the Philippines Diliman alumni Category:Ramon Magsaysay Award winners Category:People from Negros Occidental Category:Heads of government agencies of the Philippines Category:Partido para sa Demokratikong Reporma politicians Category:Burials at the Libingan ng mga Bayani Category:Arroyo administration personnel Category:Corazon Aquino administration personnel Category:20th-century Filipino women politicians Category:20th-century Filipino politicians Category:Individuals honored at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Category:20th-century Filipino lawyers Category:Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Merit (Philippines) Category:20th-century Filipino women lawyers