Philippine general election, 1946

Philippines
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the Philippines
Constitution Charter Change Laws and legal codes
Legislature Congress Senate Senate President Franklin Drilon President pro tempore Ralph Recto Majority Floor Leader Alan Peter Cayetano Minority Floor Leader Juan Ponce Enrile House of Representatives Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. Deputy Speakers Dina Abad Giorgidi Aggabao Sergio Apostol Pangalian Balindong Carlos M. Padilla Roberto Puno Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzales II Minority Floor Leader Ronaldo Zamora
Executive President of the Philippines President Benigno Aquino III Vice President Jejomar Binay Cabinet Executive departments Local government
Judiciary Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno Carpio Velasco Leonardo-De Castro Brion Peralta Bersamin Del Castillo Perez Mendoza Reyes Perlas-Bernabe Leonen Jardeleza Caguioa Court of Appeals Regional Trial Courts Sandiganbayan (special appellate) Ombudsman Katarungang Pambarangay (barangay justice)
Constitutional Commissions Civil Service Commission Chairperson Alicia dela Rosa-Bala Commission on Elections Chairman Andres D. Bautista Commission on Audit Chairman Michael G. Aguinaldo
Elections Recent elections General: 2007 2010 2013
Political parties Liberal Party Lakas–CMD Nationalist People's Coalition Nacionalista Party National Unity Party United Nationalist Alliance
Administrative divisions Capital Regions Provinces Cities Municipalities Barangays Sitios Puroks
Related topics Foreign relations Human rights Taxation
Other countries Atlas Philippines portal

The Elections for the President, Vice-President, Members of the Senate, Members of the House of Representatives and Local Positions held on April 23, 1946 (pursuant to Commonwealth Act No. 725).

Background

Soon after the reconstitution of the Commonwealth Government in 1945 Senators Manuel Roxas, Elpidio Quirino and their allies called for the holding on an early national election to choose the president and vice president of the Philippines and members of the Congress. In December, 1945 the House Insular Affairs Committee of the United States Congress approved the joint resolution setting the election date for not later than April 30, 1946.

Prompted by this congressional action, President Sergio Osmeña called the Philippine Congress to a three-day special session. Congress enacted Commonwealth Act No. 725, setting the election on April 23, 1946, and was approved by President Osmeña on January 5, 1946.

Candidates

Three parties presented their respective candidates for the different national elective positions. These were the Nacionalista Party – Conservative (Osmeña) Wing, the Liberal Wing of the Nacionalista Party, and the Partido Modernista. The Nacionalistas had Osmeña and Senator Eulogio Rodriguez as their candidates for president and vice president, respectively. The Modernistas chose Hilario Camino Moncado and Luis Salvador for the same positions. The standard bearers of the Liberals were Senators Manuel Roxas and Elpidio Quirino.

On January 3, 1946 President Osmeña announced candidacy for President. On January 22, 1946 Eulogio Rodriguez was nominated as Osmeña's running mate for Vice President, in a convention held at Ciro's Club in Manila. According to the Manila Chronicle:

The convention opened at 10:15 in the morning when the acting secretary of the party, Vicente Farmoso, called the confab to order.

Congressman Jose C. Romero, who delivered the keynote speech accused Senate President Manuel Roxas and his followers of fanning the flames of discontent among the people, of capitalizing on the people's hardship, and of minimizing the accomplishment of the [Osmeña] Administration. These men with the Messiah complex have been the bane of the country and of the world. This is the mentality that produces Hitlers and the Mussolinis, and their desire to climb to power. they even want to destroy the party which placed them where they are today.

Senator Carlos P. Garcia, who delivered the nomination speech for President Sergio Osmeña, made a long recital of Osmeña's achievements, his virtues as public official and as private citizen.

Entering the convention hall at about 7:30 p.m, President Osmeña, accompanied by the committee on notification, was greeted with rounds of cheer and applause as he ascended the platform. President Osmeña delivered his speech which was a general outline of his future plans once elected. He emphasized that as far as his party is concerned, independence is a close issue. It is definitely coming on July 4, 1946^[1]

On January 19, 1946, Senator Roxas announced his candidacy for President in a convention held in Santa Ana Cabaret in Manila. According to Manila Chronicle:

...more than three thousand (by conservative estimate there were only 1,000 plus) delegates, party members and hero worshipers jammed into suburban, well known Santa Ana Cabaret (biggest in the world) to acclaim ex-katipunero and Bagong Katipunan organizer Manuel Acuña Roxas as the guidon bearer of the Nacionalista Party's Liberal Wing.

The delegates, who came from all over the Islands, met in formal convention from 10:50 am and did not break up till about 5:30 pm.

They elected 1. Mariano J. Cuenco, professional Osmeñaphobe, as temporary chairman; 2. Jose Avelino and ex-pharmacist Antonio Zacarias permanent chairman and secretary, respectively; 3. nominated forty-four candidates for senators; 4. heard the generalissimo himself deliver an oratorical masterpiece consisting of 50 per cent attacks against the (Osmeña) Administration, 50 per cent promises, pledges. Rabid Roxasites greeted the Roxas acceptance speech with hysterical applause.^[2]

President Osmeña tried to prevent the split in the Nacionalista Party by offering Senator Roxas the position of Philippine Regent Commissioner to the United States but the latter turned down the offer.

As a result of the split among the members of the Nacionalista Party, owing to marked differenced of opinion on certain vital issues of which no settlement had been reached, a new political organization was born and named the Liberal Wing of the Nacionalista Party, which would later become the Liberal Party.

Results

The election was generally peaceful and orderly except in some places where passions ran high, especially in the province of Pampanga. According to the controversial decision of the Electoral Tribunal of the House of Representatives on Meliton Soliman vs. Luis Taruc, Pampanga was under the terroristic clutches and control of the Hukbalahaps.So terrorized were the people of Arayat, at one time, 200 persons abandoned their homes, their work, and their food, all their belongings in a mass evacuation to the poblacion due to fear and terror.

A total of 2,218,847 voters went to the polls to elect their President and Vice President who were to be the Commonwealth's last and the Republic's first.

Four days after election day, the Liberal candidates were proclaimed victors. Roxas registered an overwhelming majority of votes in 34 provinces and nine cities: Abra, Agusan, Albay, Antique, Bataan, Batanes, Batangas, Bukidnon, Bulacan, Cagayan, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Capiz, Cavite, Cotabato, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Laguna, La Union, Leyte, Marinduque, Mindoro, Misamis Oriental, Negros Occidental, Nueva Vizcaya, Palawan, Pangasinan, Rizal, Romblon, Samar, Sorsogon, Sulu, Surigao, Tayabas, Zambales, Manila, Quezon City, Bacolod City (Negros Occidental), Iloilo City (Iloilo), Baguio City (Mountain Province), Zamboanga City (Zamboanga), Tagaytay City (Cavite), Cavite City (Cavite) and San Pablo City (Laguna)

Likewise, the Liberals won nine out of 16 contested senatorial seats.

In the House of Representatives, the Liberals won an overwhelming majority with 50 seats while the Nacionalistas and the Democratic Alliance only got 33 and six seats, respectively.

President

Presidential Canvass (by Province)

^2 Aklan only became a province on November 8, 1956 by virtue of Republic Act No. 1414.

^3 Including the cities of Tagaytay and Cavite.

^4 Including Cebu City. In Cebu City, Sergio Osmeña got 15,569 votes while Roxas only got 8,759 votes.

^5 The present-day provinces of North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan and Sultan Kudarat were part of the then province of Cotabato.

^6 The then province of Lanao was divided in 1959 into two provinces: Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.

Vice-President

Vice Presidential Canvass (by Province)

Senate

The first eight Senators would serve until 1951, and the second eight until 1949:

^1 Replaced by Prospero Sanidad as a result of an election protest.

House of Representatives

See also

• Commission on Elections
• Politics of the Philippines
• Philippine elections
• President of the Philippines
• 1st Congress of the Philippines

References

External links

• The Philippine Presidency Project
• Official website of the Commission on Elections

General elections in the Philippines 1935 1941 1946 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1978 1984 1987 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 Commission on Elections Barangay elections Presidential elections Senatorial elections Special elections to Congress