Cebu politics from American occupation to martial law

In a previous column, we traced the senators from Cebu from 1949 to 2021. There were only nine Cebuanos elected in a span of 72 years; Serge Osmeña, Sonny Osmeña, Serging Osmeña, Alejandro Almendras, Rene Espina, Marcelo Fernan, Ernesto Herrera, Mariano Jesus Cuenco, and Manuel Briones. From 1916 to 1949, there were also nine; Mario Guarina, Leoncio Imperial, Sergio Osmeña Sr., Filemon Sotto, Vicente Sotto, Celestino Rodriguez, Pedro Rodriguez, Manuel Briones, and Vicente Rama. If we consider Senate President Tito Sotto as a Cebuano, then we have only 19 in a span of 105 years.

The first-ever Philippine senatorial elections were held on October 3, 1916 pursuant to the Jones Law. The country was divided into 12 senatorial districts with Cebu as the tenth. Mario Guarina and Leoncio Imperial were elected to represent us. They were reelected in 1919. In 1922, Don Sergio Osmeña and Celestino Rodriguez were voted to represent the tenth. In 1925, Pedro Rodriguez replaced Celestino while Sergio Osmeña remained. They were reelected in 1928. Then in 1931, Manuel Briones replaced Rodriguez while Osmeña remained. They were both reelected in 1934. Then the Second World War broke out. In 1941, 24 senators were elected at large. Mariano Jesus Cuenco and Vicente Rama were elected. In 1946, 16 were elected at large too. Don Vicente Sotto got the second place, next to Vicente Francisco.

After Philippine independence on July 4, 1946, an election was held and the eight newly-elected senators started holding office in 1947. No Cebuano was among them. The Liberal Party dominated the elections due to the leadership of LP founder Manuel Roxas. Cebu's Sotero Cabahug, of the Nacionalista Party, was only number 14. In the 1949 elections, all winners were LP bets led by Quintin Paredes. Don Filemon Sotto was only number 20. The NP lost its steam after Manuel Quezon died, and Don Sergio Osmeña took over. He was challenged by NP party mate Manuel Roxas from Capiz in a party convention. Roxas lost. He left NP and founded the Liberal Party. After Roxas died in office he was replaced by his LP vice president Elpidio Quirino. From 1946 to 1953, the LP dominated the Senate.

As flashback, when he was in the Senate, Don Sergio Osmeña was sent to the US in 1933 to head the Os-Rox (Osmeña-Roxas) Mission to lobby for the passage of the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Bill pushing for Philippine Independence. The provisions of the law were rejected by Quezon, who worked for the passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Law also for the same purpose. This caused a rift between Osmeña and Quezon, and weakened the NP. Roxas started thinking of leaving the party. But later Quezon and Osmeña reconciled. They ran for president and vice president, respectively, in 1935 and won. In 1941, they were reelected. Then war broke out and Quezon died in New York. Osmeña took over the presidency. He was challenged by Roxas in 1949 and Osmeña lost with a very slim plurality.

Don Sergio is the father of Serging Osmeña who was elected senator, after serving as Cebu provincial governor and Cebu City mayor. Serging ran for president against Marcos in 1969 and lost. He even lost in the province of Cebu because practically all the congressmen favored Marcos. Then congressmen Ramon Durano and Tereso Dumon of northern Cebu campaigned very hard against Serging Osmeña. The congressmen from the south also supported Marcos, namely Manuel Zosa representing the towns in the west, from Toledo City to Ronda then called the 6th District, and Cuenco representing the old 5th District from Alcantara to Boljoon. The 4th District known as SAAD or Sibonga, Argao, Alcoy, and Dalaguete, was represented by Isidro Kintanar who also made Marcos win his district.

When martial law was declared, new leaders rose in opposition to the regime, young and dynamic lawyers like Hilario Davide Jr., who later rose to become delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1973, member of the Batasan Pambansa, then Comelec chairman, commissioner of the Constitutional Commission of 1986, associate justice then chief justice of the Supreme Court, then ambassador extraordinary plenipotentiary to the United Nations. Then Marcelo Fernan, Pablo Garcia and, of course, Eddie R. Gullas. They followed and they have their own political journeys. Cebu politics is a kaleidoscope of many colors reflecting the culture and the values of Cebuanos. I would love to write about them, one item in my bucket list, to leave as a legacy to the new breed of Cebuano leaders.