The vice presidency
Third of a series
IPREVIOUSLY wrote that political compromise was probably behind the election of Mariano Trias (of the Magdiwang faction) as vice president during the Tejeros Convention in 1897; Emilio Aguinaldo, the elected president, was from the rival Magdalo faction. Compromise likewise led longtime rivals Manuel Quezon and Sergio Osmeña to (temporarily?) set aside their political differences and run as coalition partners during the 1935 presidential elections under the auspices of the Commonwealth government.
With the Revolution of 1896 as context, the vice presidency carried little more than a prestigious albeit hollow title for Trias. It is not clear whether Trias actually functioned as vice president of the revolutionary government. I suppose his main responsibilities were still related to his original position as a Caviteño revolutionary general. Later, Trias seems to have been cast aside when the government in Malolos — which had a more national character than the largely Caviteño affair in Tejeros — came into existence.
Osmeña’s election as vice president in 1935 represented an emerging trend in national politics. As mentioned, the Tejeros Convention, having been dominated by Caviteño voters and candidates, cannot be considered a national (democratic) mandate. Malolos had a better composition but was still Luzon-dominated; there were just a handful of representatives and voters from the Visayas, more so from Mindanao.
National politics was truly ushered in during the National Assembly elections in 1907. Even then the constituency was just indirectly national (and elitist — the voters were mostly landowners and ilustrados). Provincial representatives were elected to the National Assembly, who in turn selected their Speaker (Osmeña). The Speaker used the prestige of his position to assert his influence on national politics. Nevertheless, he was still elected locally.
Even with the establishment of the Senate in 1916, the senators were chosen by their regional constituents. The constituency of Manuel Quezon, the Senate President from 1916 to 1934, came from the provinces of Batangas, Cavite, Marinduque, Mindoro and Tayabas (now Quezon province). Osmeña, a senator from 1922 to 1934, was similarly elected by Cebuano voters only.
It was only during the presidential elections of 1935 when the president and vice president were — separately — elected by the entire country directly. Thus, national politics beginning in 1935 until the declaration of martial law in 1972 saw a new trend: geographic representation figured importantly in choosing candidates for the top positions. If the presidential candidate was from Luzon, the vice presidential candidate ought to come from the Visayas or Mindanao, and vice versa.
Quezon, the winning presidential candidate in 1935 was from Tayabas. The winning vice-presidential candidate, Osmeña, was from Cebu.
Osmeña succeeded to the presidency in 1944 after Quezon died. He did not have a vice president. Jose P. Laurel was unanimously elected president in 1943 during the Japanese occupation by handpicked members of the National Assembly drawn from the Kalibapi party. He also did not have a vice president.
In the 1946 elections, President Manuel Roxas hailed from Capiz and Vice President Elpidio Quirino came from Ilocos Sur. In 1949, Quirino was the president and VP Fernando Lopez was from Iloilo. In 1953, President Ramon Magsaysay represented Zambales and VP Carlos Garcia was the pride of Bohol. Garcia won in 1957 with Pampanga congressman Diosdado Macapagal as vice president. Macapagal became president in 1961 with Emmanuel Pelaez of Misamis as VP. In 1965, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. of Ilocos Norte won the presidency together with the returning Fernando Lopez as vice president. Marcos and Lopez were reelected in 1969.
The snap elections of 1986 broke the trend with “official” winners Marcos and vice presidential candidate Arturo Tolentino (of Tondo, Manila) both hailing from Luzon. Corazon Aquino of Tarlac and Salvador Laurel of Batangas were later swept to power via People Power in 1986 as Marcos was ousted from office. Rodrigo Duterte’s election in 2016 marked the first time since 1973 that some
one from outside of Luzon occupied either the presidency or the vice presidency.
In the context of the historically regionalized nature of the vote in the country, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates were expected to deliver the votes from their region for each other. Vote-wise, therefore, the president and vice president were complementary or may even be viewed as equals. The vice president was accorded due respect by the president and was given a prominent role in the cabinet.
In the case of Vice President Osmeña, the American colonial system or tradition of giving the vice governor the cabinet portfolio of public instruction was continued by the Commonwealth government. In those days, the Secretary of Public Instruction was also in charge of the health portfolio, which was just a bureau then. It reflected the importance of public education and health in the American colonial agenda, which was continued under the Commonwealth government.
(More next week)