1967 Philippine House of Representatives special elections

1967 Philippine House of Representatives special elections

←  1965 November 14, 1967 1969  →
5 of 108 seats in the House of Representatives of the Philippines
Majority party Minority party Third party   Party Nacionalista Liberal Nacionalista (ind.) Seats won 5 0 0 Popular vote 144,093 33,424 25,122 Percentage 68.68 15.93 11.97

Five special elections (known as "by-elections" elsewhere) to the House of Representatives of the Philippines, the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines, were held on November 14, 1967, along with the 1967 Philippine Senate election and the 1967 Philippine constitutional plebiscite. These were for vacancies in the 6th Congress of the Philippines; the winners were to serve the rest of the term, which had ended on December 30, 1969. Political parties were allowed to field multiple candidates per district; the Nacionalista Party won in all districts, mirroring their victory in the Senate election where they won six of the eight seats up.

These were the last special elections until the proclamation of martial law by president Ferdinand Marcos in 1972. The next such special elections are to be in 1993, or seven years after Marcos was overthrown after the People Power Revolution.

Electoral system

All seats in the House of Representatives were elected from single member districts, under the first-past-the-post voting system. Under the Revised Election Code, when a seat becomes vacant prior to ten months before the general election, the president, as soon as he is notified by the chamber where the vacancy occurred, shall call a special election.

The following seats were up for election

• Davao del Sur's at-large district
• Davao Oriental's at-large district
• Ilocos Norte's 1st district
• Northern Samar's at-large district
• South Cotabato's at-large district

Background

In the cases of the special elections in Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental, it was due to the creation of these new provinces from the original Davao province. The congressman from the old Davao's at-large congressional district was free to choose which province he'd continue as an incumbent on. Lorenzo Sarmiento chose to continue at Davao del Norte, another newly created province, necessitating special elections in the other two provinces.

In South Cotabato, the law creating that province specified that the incumbent congressman of Cotabato's at-large congressional district (Salipada Pendatun) shall continue to serve as congressman of the original Cotabato province.

In Ilocos Norte, incumbent Antonio Raquiza was appointed Secretary of Public Works, while in Northern Samar, incumbent Eladio Balite died in office, leaving both seats vacant.

Special elections

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Nacionalista Party	144,093	68.68	5
	Liberal Party	33,424	15.93	0
	Nacionalista Party (independent)	25,122	11.97	0
	No party indicated	53	0.03	0
	Independent	7,111	3.39	0
Total		209,803	100.00	5

Davao del Sur

See also: Davao del Sur's at-large congressional district

Davao del Sur was one of the provinces created from the division of the original Davao province.

The governor of undivided Davao province, Alejandro Almendras, supported Artemio Loyola, then switched his support to Vicente Duterte. ^[1] Duterte was then Secretary of General Services, had previously served as governor of Davao, and wanted to revive his political career, but was defeated by Loyola. Duterte died in 1968. ^[2]

1967 Davao del Sur's at-large congressional district special election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Artemio Loyola	Nacionalista Party	32,096	56.09
	Vicente Duterte	Nacionalista Party (independent)	23,922	41.81
	Celestino Cortes	Nacionalista Party (independent)	1,200	2.10
Total			57,218	100.00
Majority			8,174	14.29
	Nacionalista Party win (new seat)
Source: [3]

Loyola remained House representative until the declaration of martial law in 1972.

Davao Oriental

See also: Davao Oriental's at-large congressional district

Davao Oriental was one of the provinces created from the division of the original Davao province.

1967 Davao Oriental's at-large congressional district special election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Constancio Maglana	Nacionalista Party	18,512	78.83
	Galileo Sibala	Liberal Party	4,385	18.67
	Carlos Ilustre	Nacionalista Party	587	2.50
Total			23,484	100.00
Majority			14,127	60.16
	Nacionalista Party win (new seat)
Source: [3]

Maglana remained House representative until the declaration of martial law in 1972.

Ilocos Norte's 1st district

See also: Ilocos Norte's 1st congressional district

Incumbent Antonio Raquiza was appointed Secretary of Public Works on August 24, 1966. Ilocos Norte Provincial Board Member Roque Ablan Jr. was elected to replace Raquiza in the special election.

1967 Ilocos Norte's 1st congressional district special election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Roque Ablan Jr.	Nacionalista Party	23,500	77.32
	Perfecto Llacar	Liberal Party	4,501	14.81
	Arturo Romero	Liberal Party	2,391	7.87
Total			30,392	100.00
Majority			18,999	62.51
	Nacionalista Party gain from Liberal Party
Source: [3]

Ablan remained House representative until the declaration of martial law in 1972. Ablan retook the district once it was recreated in 1987, and served until 1998 when he was term-limited. Ablan was elected again in 2001 and served until 2010.

Northern Samar

See also: Northern Samar's at-large congressional district

Incumbent Eladio Balite died in office on August 24, 1967. Balite himself entered Congress by winning a special election in 1955 for Samar's 1st congressional district, most of which would later become Northern Samar.

1967 Northern Samar's at-large congressional district special election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Eusebio Moore	Nacionalista Party	18,064	46.91
	Raul Daza	Nacionalista Party	12,110	31.45
	Macario Vicencio	Liberal Party	8,099	21.03
	Jose Peña	Nacionalista Party	233	0.61
Total			38,506	100.00
Majority			5,954	15.46
	Nacionalista Party gain from Liberal Party
Source: [3]

Moore was defeated by Daza in the 1969 regular election, who then remained House representative until the declaration of martial law in 1972.

South Cotabato

See also: South Cotabato's at-large congressional district

South Cotabato was created from the division of the original Cotabato province.

1967 South Cotabato's at-large congressional district special election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	James Chiongbian	Nacionalista Party	22,962	38.14
	Hilario De Pedro	Nacionalista Party	16,029	26.62
	Cornelio Falgui	Liberal Party	14,048	23.33
	Rufino Malunjao Sr.	Independent	5,003	8.31
	Jesus Quintillian	Independent	2,108	3.50
	Dominador Soriano	[a]	53	0.09
	Mauro Tudio	Liberal Party	0	0.00
Total			60,203	100.00
Majority			6,933	11.52
	Nacionalista Party win (new seat)
Source: [3]

1. Party affiliation not indicated in certificate of candidacy

Among the elections on this day, this district had the smallest margin, percentage-wise. Chiongbian remained House representative until the declaration of martial law in 1972.

References

1. Dioneda, Luc (2022-06-14). "Notes from the Sidelines, №12: A Pit stop in Davao City". Medium. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
2. "The governors who ruled undivided Davao (1915–67)". Davao Edge. 2016-03-18. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
3. Report of the Commission on Elections to the President of the Philippines and the Congress. Bureau of Print.

External links

• Republic Act No. 4849, or An Act Creating the Province of South Cotabato
• Republic Act No. 4867, or An Act Creating the Provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental
• Proclamation No. 249, s. 1967, calling for a special election in Ilocos Norte's 1st congressional district
• Proclamation No. 258, s. 1967, calling for a special election in Northern Samar's at-large congressional district