Tañada was also a longtime opponent of the U.S. role in the Philippines. He was the organizer of the Anti-Bases Coalition and other groups that rallied public opposition to the presence of American troops in the Philippines. Lorenzo Tañada is often called the "grand old man of Philippine politics", due to his reputation as one of the Philippine's foremost nationalists. He was a familiar fixture during the Martial law era of Ferdinand Marcos, leading rallies and demonstrations being the founding chairperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. Due to his esteem among national democrats, Tañada chaired some national democrats coalitions in his later years to oppose Marcos in the streets, although Tañada himself was never regarded by others as a radical leftist. After Marcos oppositionist Ninoy Aquino was assassinated, JAJA was formed, which was the first united front built to stop Marcos. Tañada was elected the chairman of the alliance. However JAJA could not unite the different competing groups and ideologies, and eventually former members left to form different alliances, with the largest being the "Kongreso ng Mamamayang Pilipino" (Congress of the Filipino People) or "KOMPIL", of which Tañada served as one of the chief delegates. During Corazon Aquino's presidency, he was a staunch anti-U.S. Bases activist and an anti-nuclear power plant advocate.