58. Forward the Filipino! POLITICAL ADS OF YESTERYEARS

LIBERAL-MINDED. The mid-term senatorial election of 1963 yielded 4
 LP winners (Ziga, Liwag, Padilla, with Roxas, topping the leaderboard) 
and 4 NP winners (Diokno, Tolentino, Guanzon, Puyat). Print ad, 1963.

As the political candidates of this year's presidential elections go into their last-minute campaigning frenzy, let us take time to look at some of the print ads from Philippine elections of yesteryears, For many years, the polls were dominated by just 2 parties--Liberals and Nacionalistas. In the 1961 elections, Liberal Diosdado Macapagal (28 Sep. 1910/21 Apr. 1997) went up against the incumbent, Carlos P, Garcia, after Independent Rogelio dela Rosa--actor and Macapagal's brother-in-law--pulled out of the presidential race to run again for Senator under the LP ticket. Macapagal went on to become the 6th president of the Philippines. 

In the next presidential elections of 1965, rising star and Nacionalista Party leader Ferdinand Edralin Marcos (11 Sep. 197/28 Sep. 1989), Senate President, ran against Macapagal and won the presidency, serving three unprecedented terms. His hold on power was thwarted when he called for a snap elections that was rigged, but which was actually won by Ninoy's widow, Corazon Aquino. Marcos was ousted during the People Power revolution of 1986.

Marcos' running mate, Fernando Hofilena Lopez, (13 Apr. 1904/26 May 1993) had previously served as Vice President to Elpidio Quirino (1949-1953) and handily won the same post in 1965. He would serve 2 terms with Marcos until Martial Law was declared in 1972. The Lopezes fell out of favor when they denounced the corruption of Marcos. As a result, the VP position was dissolved and the Lopezes were stripped of their political and business assets like ABS-CBN and Meralco.

One of the victorious senatorial candidates in the 1965 elections was Sergio Osmeña Jr. (4 Dec. 1916/26 Mar. 1984) of the Liberal Party. The son of the 4th Philippine president, Osmeña had unsuccessfully ran for VP against Emmanuel Pelaez in 1961, and against Marcos for the presidency in 1969. He was in the U.S. when Martial Law was declared.

The three-termer Ernesto Maceda (26 Mar. 1935) got his start in the Senate in 1971, under the Nacionalista Party. At age 23, the young lawyer was voted as No. 1 councilor of Manila.

The Nacionalista Party senatorial bets in 1971 saw only 3 being elected as Senators. Aside from Maceda, Eva Estrada-Kalaw and Alejandro Almendras won Senate seats, while the opposition Liberal Party got 5, led by the esteemed senator Jovito Salonga. This was after the bloody Plaza Miranda bombing, that wounded the Liberal candidates, many seriously. As we all know, their term as senators abruptly ended with Marcos' proclamation of Martial Law on 23 Sep. 1972.  The rest is history.

With the divisiveness, level of muckraking, name-calling and charcarcter assassinatins going on, it looks like  the May 9, 2016 Presidential Elections will be another history in the making.