1946 Philippine presidential election

Soon after the reconstitution of the Commonwealth government in 1945, Senators Manuel Roxas, Elpidio Quirino, and their allies called for an early national election to choose the president and vice president of the Philippines, as well as the members of Congress. In December 1945, the House Insular Affairs Committee of the United States Congress approved the joint resolution, setting the election date by 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 date on April 23, 1946. President Osmeña signed the act on January 5, 1946.

Three parties presented their respective candidates for the different national elective positions. These were the Nacionalista Party, the 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. On the other hand, the standard bearers of the Liberals were Senators Manuel Roxas and Elpidio Quirino.

On January 3, 1946, President Osmeña announced his 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, capitalizing on the people's hardship, and minimizing the accomplishment of the [Osmeña] Administration. These men with the Messiah complex have been the country's and world's bane. This is the mentality that produces Hitlers and Mussolinis, and in 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, recited Osmeña's achievements and virtues as a public official and private citizen.

Entering the convention hall at about 7:30 p.m., President Osmeña, accompanied by the committee on notification, was greeted with cheer and applause as he ascended the platform. President Osmeña delivered his speech, a general outline of his plans once elected. He emphasized that as far as his party is concerned, independence is a close issue. It was 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 the Manila Chronicle:

...more than three thousand (by conservative estimates, 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 from all over the Islands met in a formal convention from 10:50 a.m. and broke up at about 5:30 p.m.

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 differences of opinion on specific 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.

Manuel Roxas (right) and Elpidio Quirino (left)

The election was generally peaceful and orderly except in some places where passions ran high, especially in 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 were terrorized; at one time, 200 persons abandoned their homes, work, food, and belongings in a mass evacuation to the Poblacion due to fear and terror."

A total of 2,596,880 voters went to the polls to elect their President and Vice President, who was to be the Commonwealth's last and the Republic's first. President Osmena chose not to actively campaign, saying the Filipinos knew his record of 40 years of loyal service to the country.

Four days after election day, the Liberal candidates were proclaimed victors. Roxas registered a 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 (Negros Occidental), Iloilo City (Iloilo), Baguio (Mountain Province), Zamboanga City (Zamboanga), Tagaytay (Cavite), Cavite City (Cavite) and San Pablo City (Laguna)

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

In the House of Representatives, the Liberals achieved a majority with 50 seats won, while the Nacionalistas and the Democratic Alliance were only victorious in 33 and six seats, respectively.

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

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