My Fixation With The 1992 Elections

As I’ve said in an earlier post, the 1992 was the first elections that I consciously followed. I was a 7 year-old boy then but seeing all the numbers and tallies appear on the television and on newspapers made me want to see for myself how the election would turn out. The election fifteen years ago arguably featured the best crop of presidential candidates in the history of the Philippines. Seven candidates battled for the post of Chief Executive - two of whom have passed away with one choosing to stay out of the public eye.

 

Salvador “Doy” Laurel is a proud son of Batangas who served as Cory Aquino’s Vice-President after Ferdinand Marcos was ousted from power. If his surname sounds familiar, it’s because he is a son of a former President Jose P. Laurel. Interestingly, he initially took Medicine in UP before shifting to Law School (also in UP). He was supposed to run against Marcos during the snap elections, but after a tedious negotiation process, Laurel stepped aside to let Ninoy Aquino’s widow run for President. Ironically, then-incumbent Cory Aquino didn’t support the candidacy of her second-in-command. After helping organize the Philippine Centennial celebrations, Doy went to the United States to live a relatively private life. He died of lymhoma in 2004.

 

Ramon “Monching” Mitra was one of the local politicians who bore the brunt of Marcos’ wrath during the dark days of the Martial Law era. Mitra, a native of the island of Palawan, served multiple terms as a Congressman (1965-1971, 1987-1992) and was even a senator for a year prior to the proclamation of Martial Law. He was also the Speaker of the House during his last term in Congress. Despite sharing the same party with Fidel Ramos, Mitra was actually the party president and standard bearer of the Laban Ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP). As a result of this, Ramos left the party and launched an all out offensive against his former comrade.

In 1995, he ran again for the Senate but lost by just under 50,000 to the twelfth-ranked candidate Nikki Coseteng. Mitra passed away in the year 2000 after an extended bout with liver cancer.

 

Among all the candidates, Jovito Salonga’s credentials were easily among the most admirable. He attended prestigious institutions the University of the Philippines, Yale University and Harvard University before becoming one of the best legal minds the country had to offer during the post-war era. He was also one of Marcos’ toughest critics and that merited him a stringent response from the dictator. Salonga served his country as Senate President and a Congressman during his long stint as a government official.

He was the oldest candidate back in ‘92 but he’s still around. The eighty-seven years old young Salonga still returns to the public eye from time to time to share his insights about good governance.

Cory Aquino was the nation’s first woman president and the likelihood of having another one was definitely alive in 1992. Two women vied for the top post in the land.

 

Who doesn’t know her? Imelda Romualdes Marcos, fresh from losing her husband to lupus decided to revive the Bagong Lipunan that Ferdinand built. It had the makings of a strong campaign. Despite the ouster of Marcos, the 1986 Snap Election was hardly a landslide win for Cory. There was still a considerable number of people (46% according to NAMFREL) who still opted for an extension of Marcos rule. But then again, we all know that a lot of Marcos die-hards often blame Imelda for screwing it all up. And yes, she’s still alive.

 

The fiery and verbose Ilongga literally came out of nowhere to contest the Presidency. Though Miriam Defensor-Santiago resume was rich with her experiences through her law practice and career as a judge, she was still limited to holding cabinet positions prior to her bid for the the highest post in the country. Surprisingly, the fact that she has never joined a national election was not something that would faze voters. If you haven’t been living under a rock, you would know that she’s an incumbent senator.

The last two candidates are people that you know very well - San Miguel’s top honcho Danding Cojuangco and the eventual winner Fidel Valdez Ramos. Both are still politically-relevant because up to the present, their moves and decisions still influence the political climate. Cojuangco is a known kingmaker and financier, while Ramos is a President-Emeritus of the dominant LAKAS-CMD party.

This was how the nation voted during the 1992 elections:

No, that’s not a coloring book page. That’s a graphical account of who won what province during the 1992 Presidential Elections. All seven candidates won at least one province. Even the last placed candidate - incumbent Vice-President Laurel — was able to win a handy majority in his home turf of Batangas.

It was a close race:

Fidel Ramos	Lakas-NUCD	5,342,521	23.58%
Miriam Defensor Santiago	People’s Reform Party	4,468,173	19.72%
Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr.	Nationalist People’s Coalition	4,116,376	18.17%
Ramon Mitra, Jr.	Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino	3,316,661	14.64%
Imelda Marcos	Kilusang Bagong Lipunan	2,338,294	10.32%
Jovito Salonga	Liberal Party - PDP Laban	2,302,123	10.16%
Salvador Laurel	Nacionalista Party	770,046	3.40%

If you would take note of the map, Miriam Defensor-Santiago won in areas where there was a considerably voting population (the island of Panay and Metro Manila). What ultimately clinched the victory for Fidel Ramos was his strong performance in Mindanao. Curiously, Ramos is former military man and… ok, I wouldn’t get into that. Ramos probably won this election due to the endorsement that Cory Aquino gave him. Apparently, Cory’s choice still mattered in 1992. Hehe.

The 1992 elections also saw the rise of two future Philippine Presidents. Joseph Estrada was the winner of the Vice-Presidential race with 33% of the total votes cast. He was Danding Cojuangco’s running mate. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was number 13 in the Senatorial Race, but luckily for her, 24 Senators were declared winners in 1992. The top 12 were to serve 6-year terms while the next 12 got to serve for the next three years.

Rank	Candidate	Party	Votes
1	Vicente Sotto III	LDP	11,792,121
2	Ramon Revilla	LDP	8,321,278
3	Edgardo Angara	LDP	8,019,011
4	Ernesto Herrera	LDP	7,219,170
5	Alberto Romulo	LDP	6,824,256
6	Ernesto Maceda	NPC	6,820,717
7	Orlando S. Mercado	LDP	6,691,132
8	Neptali Gonzales	LDP	6,578,582
9	Leticia Ramos Shahani	Lakas-NUCD	6,578,582
10	Heherson Alvarez	LDP	6,360,898
11	Blas Ople	LDP	6,024,930
12	Freddie Webb	LDP	5,929,426

Does it look familiar? Look at how many LDP guys made it! That just shows you how strong Mitra’s party was. Eleven of the top twelve candidates were from the LDP and the only one who wasn’t from the party was *gasp* Fidel Ramos’ sister! Haha

1. Tito Sotto is of course still running in this year’s elections. He got into the Senate with a whopping total of almost 12 million votes *yikes*!

2. Ramon Revilla “served” (term used loosely) 12 years in the Senate and has since been replaced by one of his 7830493 children, Ramon “Bong” Revilla.

3. Edgardo Angara, just like Sotto, is running under Team Unity this election! He’s an incumbent senator who was one of the few Puwersa ng Masa candidates who won during the post-EDSA Dos elections of 2001.

4. Orlando Mercado (#7) used to be a strong political personality until he flip flopped one time too many. He went to EDSA Dos AND EDSA Tres! How’s that for turncoatism! He ran under Gloria’s K4 during the 2004 elections and expectedly, lost. Fortunately, he has made up his mind about not running in this year’s elections.

5. Four TV personalities were in the Top 12. Tito Sotto is from Eat Bulaga-fame while Ramon Revilla is a popular actor who stars in films with magical amulets in the plot. Orly Mercado was a mainstay in the long-running charity show

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All figures and pictures were taken from Wikipedia. Credit goes to the party <Joseph Solis>  responsible for their production and distribution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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