Atienza topped the
Philippine Bar Examination in 1932 as a student at the
University of the Philippines. During
World War II, he was imprisoned by the Japanese in
Fort Santiago, alongside guerilla leader
Guillermo Nakar. After the war, he was elected to the
1st Congress of the Philippines for
Manila's second district. He became a strong opponent of the amnesty granted to collaborationists with the
Japanese occupation. In 1949, he introduced House Bill No. 2613, the Reciprocity Immigration Bill, which would have barred Australians from the country in response to the treatment of
Lorenzo Gamboa under the
White Australia policy. He was re-elected in the same year, this time representing the newly-established
4th district of Manila. However, he was unseated in 1952 upon the annulment of his election due to an electoral protest. ==Personal life==