Gregorio Milián Perfecto (November 28, 1891 – August 17, 1949[2]) was a Filipino journalist, politician and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 1945 to 1949.

A controversial figure who was described as an "apostle of liberal causes",[3] Perfecto was notable for his libertarian views, his colorful writing style, and the frequency of his dissenting opinions while on the Supreme Court.

[citation needed] Impeachment proceedings were initiated against Perfecto in Congress for converting his office into living quarters, though he had done so with the authorization of Chief Justice Manuel Moran on account of his physical disability.

In his dissent, Perfecto admitted that he was the editor's source for the report, but defended his action by observing that in the several months after the vote, before the decision was finally released, the issue had been widely debated in the media, and a rush had begun to complete the transfer of lands to foreigners.

Perfecto also defended the editor, who he said had performed a public service but was being punished for publishing the truth, and asserted that press freedom was a constitutional right.

"This Supreme Court has the power to stop the rampage of constitutional breaches in which other agencies of our government are indulging in a servile attitude of complaisance to former masters who are bent on keeping in their hands the strings, the chains, and the whip of unquestioned command.

"[16] Perfecto was not hesitant in insisting upon judicial review over acts of the executive or legislative branches of government, even against the defense that the issues raised were political questions.

1 (1947), Perfecto dissented after the majority declined to examine whether the requisite votes in the House and Senate were obtained in the passage of an amendment to the Constitution allowing American citizens the right to use and develop natural resources in the Philippines.

Perfecto opined that while the questions raised were political in nature, they were "justiciable because they involve the enforcement of legal precepts, such as the provisions of the Constitution and of the rules of the Senate.

"[17] In writing his opinions, Perfecto employed "picturesque language" which according to Justice Isagani Cruz had "earned him a special place in jurisprudence" and would "enliven generations of law students to come".

Very often man walks in the darkness of a blind alley obeying the pullings and pushings of hidden and unhidden forces, or the arcane predeterminations of the genes of human chromosomes.

The mysterious genes which keep uninterrupted the chain of heredity, while permitting the transmission of the best qualities and characteristics, seems to lack the power of checking and staving off the tendencies of atavism.

[14]It is useless to panegyrize democracy as the best political system ever conceived, when once put into practice it is sabotaged by the double-dealing of the men on whose shoulders weighs the responsibility of making it a success.

A sham democracy is a fertile breeding ground for any doxy that may offer the allurement of a promissory land, where the masses will enjoy better conditions of life.

[22] Shortly before his death, Perfecto took the highly unusual step of filing in his behalf a petition with the Supreme Court arguing that the salaries of judges and justices were exempted from income taxes by the Constitution.