Early legislative career In 1959, he was elected to the
Cebu Provincial Board and served until 1961. He was also elected to the 1971 Constitutional Convention as a delegate from his home province and actively participated in its sessions, and committee meetings/hearings for the formulation of a new Constitution for the country then. In 1984, during the Marcos regime, he was elected to the
Regular Batasang Pambansa, then the country's unicameral parliament with
Antonio Cuenco, representing the at-large district of Cebu City under the banner of the opposition UNIDO party and actively scrutinized the bills presented by the administration lawmakers and delivered privilege speeches against the Marcos regime. In 1986, after the snap elections, he was one of the opposition lawmakers who walked out when the administration lawmakers after a canvassing session that was then filled with debates and tensions, proclaimed then President
Ferdinand E. Marcos and his running mate, then former Senator
Arturo Tolentino as the winners of that year's snap presidential and vice presidential polls in which the opposition claimed was marred with fraud.
Judicial In 1977, he was elected national president of the
Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the country's national organization of lawyers. After the People Power Revolution and the dissolution of the Batasang Pambansa, he was appointed by President
Corazon Aquino as an Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court and served until 1988 and acted also as Chairman of the Supreme Court Committee on the Revision of the Rules of Court and Chairman of the House Electoral Tribunal. He was then promoted in 1988 as Chief Justice, the highest position of leadership in the Supreme Court and the judiciary and was Chairman of the Judicial and Bar Council, the country's screening body of the potential judges and justices and the Judiciary Planning and Implementation Office. During his term as Chief Justice, several bold judicial reforms were instituted, among them the judicial orientation and career enrichment program, updating of the Code of Judicial Conduct and the continuous trial program.
Vice Presidential bid He resigned as Chief Justice in 1991 to run as
president of the country. He later accepted the offer of House Speaker
Ramon Mitra as his vice presidential candidate of the
Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino. He was the first former Chief Justice to run for vice president. In the
1992 elections, however both lost to
Fidel Ramos and
Joseph Estrada, respectively.
Senate and Senate Presidency In the
1995 elections, Fernan ran for the
Senate under the
Lakas–Laban coalition and was elected, his fourth time entrance in politics and was named as the Assistant Majority Leader and Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights as well as the Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development for the Tenth Congress (1995-1998) and authored several significant bills that became laws of the country, among these are: Republic Act No. 8246 or the Court of Appeals Regionalization Act, RA 8493 or the Speedy Trial Act of 1998, RA 8557 or the Philippine Judicial Academy, RA 8525 or the Adopt-a-School Act of 1997 and RA 8558 or the Underground Mine Workers Act. He also sponsored RA 8247 or the Alien Social Integration Act of 1995. RA 8282 or the Social Security Act of 1997, and RA 8369 or the Family Courts Acts of 1997. Fernan was elected Senate President, the top post of leadership in the Senate, and concurrently, the Chairman of the Commission on Appointments, a congressional body tasked to scrutinize and confirm presidential appointments at the opening of the
11th Congress in 1998. Under his leadership as Senate President, the Senate passed the Clean Air Act, the Visiting Force Agreement and the General Appropriations Act of 1999 and other various laws. ==Death==