A parliamentary election was held in the Philippines on April 7, 1978, for the election of the 165 regional representatives to the Interim Batasang Pambansa (the nation's first parliament). The elections were participated in by the leading opposition party, the Lakas ng Bayan (LABAN), which had twenty-one candidates for the Metro Manila area while the leading candidate was the jailed opposition leader Ninoy Aquino, and the Marcos regime's party known as the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), which was led by the then-First Lady Imelda Marcos. Ninoy was allowed to run by his fellow partymates under the Liberal Party, who boycotted the election and was not allowed to campaign, and so his family campaigned for him. The night before the election on April 6, 1978, a noise barrage was organized by the supporters of (LABAN) which occurred up to dawn.
These elections were followed by the sectoral election on April 27, which elected additional 14 representatives. Another 10 representatives were appointed, bringing up the total number of representatives to 189.
The Philippines had been under martial law since 1972, with incumbent president Ferdinand Marcos ruling by decree. Prior to this, the Constitution of the Philippines was being drafted by the Constitutional Convention, whose delegates were elected in 1970. The Constitutional Convention approved the final draft of the constitution, which consisted of the abolition of the Philippine Congress and its replacement with an interim National Assembly consisting of the President, the Vice-President, the President of the Constitutional Convention, and members of the Senate and the House of Representatives in November 1972 and was later ratified on January 17, 1973, through so-called "citizens' assemblies". The Constitution was amended twice, on July 27–28, 1973 and February 27–28, 1975. The Constitution was amended once again on October 16–17, 1976 with the passage of "Amendment No. 6", which changed the name of the Interim National Assembly into the "Interim Batasang Pambansa", more commonly as the "Batasan".
In 1978, from his prison cell, Aquino was allowed to take part in the elections. Although his friends, former Senators Gerry Roxas and Jovito Salonga, preferred to boycott the elections, Aquino urged his supporters to field 21 candidates in Metro Manila. Thus, his political party, dubbed Lakas ng Bayan ("People's Power"), was born. The party's acronym was "LABAN" ("fight" in Tagalog). He was entitled to one television interview on GTV's Face the Nation (hosted by Ronnie Nathanielsz), and proved to a startled and impressed populace that imprisonment had neither dulled his rapier-like tongue nor dampened his fighting spirit. Foreign correspondents and diplomats asked what would happen to the LABAN ticket. People agreed with him that his party would win overwhelmingly in an honest election. On April 6, 1978, supporters of the Lakas ng Bayan (LABAN), the opposition party headed by former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. who was still in jail and twenty other candidates contesting the Region IV-A (Metro Manila) seats, came out in protest by asking bystanders and cars to make noise in support the opposition.
Kilusang Bagong Lipunan
President Marcos created the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (New Society Movement) as his political vehicle for the elections.
Source: Nohlen, Grotz, Hartmann, Graham and Santos[1] and Teehankee[2]
Vote share
KBL
71.13%
LABAN
10.36%
PB
4.57%
BLKNNL
3.84%
MA
3.22%
Others
6.88%
District seats
KBL
82.53%
LABAN
0.00%
PB
7.83%
BLKNNL
8.43%
MA
0.60%
Others
0.60%
Sectoral election
A separate election was held for the 14 members of the Batasang Pambansa's sectoral representatives.
This was via electoral college, with youth, industrial labor and agricultural labor as the three sectors. Each sector shall elect among themselves an electoral council, the members coming from provinces and cities. Each electoral council elected two members from Luzon, and a member each from Visayas and Mindanao, with two additional seats from the youth sector elected at-large, for a total of 14 seats.[3]
Allegations of fraud
Marcos said that fraud was committed by "both sides" during the elections, but not on a scale that would have affected the results.[4] Jovito Salonga disagreed with the assessment and said that he did not observe people celebrating KBL’s victory because they felt "like they’ve been cheated."[4]
^Dieter Nohlen; Florian Grotz; Christof Hartmann; Graham Hassall; Soliman M. Santos (November 15, 2001). Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook: Volume II: South East Asia, East Asia, and the South Pacific. ISBN9780199249596.
^Julio Teehankee. "Electoral Politics in the Philippines" (PDF). quezon.ph.
^"Presidential Decree No. 1296, s. 1978 | GOVPH". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
^ abMiguel Paolo, Reyes (November 27, 2020). "The Marcoses: A history of rejecting election defeats". VERA Files. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
Further reading
Philippine Commission on Elections — Records and Statistics Division
Philippine House of Representatives Congressional Library
Pobre, Cesar P. (2000). Philippine Legislature 100 Years. ISBN971-92245-0-9.
Machado, Kit G. (February 1979). "The Philippines 1978: Authoritarian Consolidation Continues". Asian Survey. 19 (2): 131–140. doi:10.2307/2643779. JSTOR 2643779.
"The first election". Martial Law Museum. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
External links
Official website of the Commission on Elections
April 24, 2023
1978, philippine, parliamentary, election, parliamentary, election, held, philippines, april, 1978, election, regional, representatives, interim, batasang, pambansa, nation, first, parliament, elections, were, participated, leading, opposition, party, lakas, b. A parliamentary election was held in the Philippines on April 7 1978 for the election of the 165 regional representatives to the Interim Batasang Pambansa the nation s first parliament The elections were participated in by the leading opposition party the Lakas ng Bayan LABAN which had twenty one candidates for the Metro Manila area while the leading candidate was the jailed opposition leader Ninoy Aquino and the Marcos regime s party known as the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan KBL which was led by the then First Lady Imelda Marcos Ninoy was allowed to run by his fellow partymates under the Liberal Party who boycotted the election and was not allowed to campaign and so his family campaigned for him The night before the election on April 6 1978 a noise barrage was organized by the supporters of LABAN which occurred up to dawn 1978 Philippine parliamentary election 1969 April 7 and 27 1978 1984 179 of the 189 seats in the Interim Batasang Pambansa90 seats needed for a majority First party Second party Third party Leader Ferdinand Marcos Benigno Aquino Jr Hilario Davide Jr Party KBL LABAN Pusyon BisayaLeader s seat none Region IV A lost Region VIILast election new party new party new partySeats won 150 0 13Seat change 150 13Popular vote 147 885 493 21 541 600 9 495 416Percentage 71 13 10 36 4 57 Prime Minister designate Ferdinand MarcosKBLThese elections were followed by the sectoral election on April 27 which elected additional 14 representatives Another 10 representatives were appointed bringing up the total number of representatives to 189 Contents 1 Background 2 Campaign 2 1 Lakas ng Bayan 2 2 Kilusang Bagong Lipunan 3 Results 3 1 District elections 3 2 Sectoral election 4 Allegations of fraud 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksBackground EditThe Philippines had been under martial law since 1972 with incumbent president Ferdinand Marcos ruling by decree Prior to this the Constitution of the Philippines was being drafted by the Constitutional Convention whose delegates were elected in 1970 The Constitutional Convention approved the final draft of the constitution which consisted of the abolition of the Philippine Congress and its replacement with an interim National Assembly consisting of the President the Vice President the President of the Constitutional Convention and members of the Senate and the House of Representatives in November 1972 and was later ratified on January 17 1973 through so called citizens assemblies The Constitution was amended twice on July 27 28 1973 and February 27 28 1975 The Constitution was amended once again on October 16 17 1976 with the passage of Amendment No 6 which changed the name of the Interim National Assembly into the Interim Batasang Pambansa more commonly as the Batasan Campaign EditLakas ng Bayan Edit Main article Lakas ng Bayan In 1978 from his prison cell Aquino was allowed to take part in the elections Although his friends former Senators Gerry Roxas and Jovito Salonga preferred to boycott the elections Aquino urged his supporters to field 21 candidates in Metro Manila Thus his political party dubbed Lakas ng Bayan People s Power was born The party s acronym was LABAN fight in Tagalog He was entitled to one television interview on GTV s Face the Nation hosted by Ronnie Nathanielsz and proved to a startled and impressed populace that imprisonment had neither dulled his rapier like tongue nor dampened his fighting spirit Foreign correspondents and diplomats asked what would happen to the LABAN ticket People agreed with him that his party would win overwhelmingly in an honest election On April 6 1978 supporters of the Lakas ng Bayan LABAN the opposition party headed by former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr who was still in jail and twenty other candidates contesting the Region IV A Metro Manila seats came out in protest by asking bystanders and cars to make noise in support the opposition Kilusang Bagong Lipunan Edit President Marcos created the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan New Society Movement as his political vehicle for the elections Results EditMain article Results of the 1978 Philippine parliamentary election District Sec App137 14 13 2 14 10KBL BLKNNL PB O Sec AppDistrict elections Edit PartyVotes SeatsKilusang Bagong Lipunan147 885 49371 13137Lakas ng Bayan21 541 60010 360Pusyon Bisaya9 495 4164 5713Bagong Lipunan Kilusan ng Nagkakaisang Nacionalista Liberal7 981 0603 8414Mindanao Alliance6 685 2243 221Bicol Saro2 105 5991 010Young Philippines1 471 3810 710Concerned Citizens Aggrupation1 374 5490 660Nacionalista Party688 1300 330Emancipated Scientists392 8190 190Partido ng Bagong Pilipino140 3650 070Democratic Party112 1400 050Philippine Labor Party94 2870 050Confederation of Ilocano Associations81 5940 040Consumers Party69 2160 030Citizens Union Progress Party44 8930 020Youth Democratic Movement40 5710 020Sovereign Citizens Party18 8140 010Partido Sambayanang Pilipino15 0500 010Lapiang Bagong Silang11 4570 010Bagong Anyo ng Buhay11 1900 010Independent7 633 8513 671Sectoral seats14Appointed seats10Total207 894 699100 00190Registered voters turnout21 464 21385 52Source Nohlen Grotz Hartmann Graham and Santos 1 and Teehankee 2 Vote shareKBL 71 13 LABAN 10 36 PB 4 57 BLKNNL 3 84 MA 3 22 Others 6 88 District seatsKBL 82 53 LABAN 0 00 PB 7 83 BLKNNL 8 43 MA 0 60 Others 0 60 Sectoral election Edit A separate election was held for the 14 members of the Batasang Pambansa s sectoral representatives This was via electoral college with youth industrial labor and agricultural labor as the three sectors Each sector shall elect among themselves an electoral council the members coming from provinces and cities Each electoral council elected two members from Luzon and a member each from Visayas and Mindanao with two additional seats from the youth sector elected at large for a total of 14 seats 3 Allegations of fraud EditMarcos said that fraud was committed by both sides during the elections but not on a scale that would have affected the results 4 Jovito Salonga disagreed with the assessment and said that he did not observe people celebrating KBL s victory because they felt like they ve been cheated 4 See also EditCommission on Elections Politics of the Philippines Philippine elections Interim Batasang PambansaReferences Edit Dieter Nohlen Florian Grotz Christof Hartmann Graham Hassall Soliman M Santos November 15 2001 Elections in Asia and the Pacific A Data Handbook Volume II South East Asia East Asia and the South Pacific ISBN 9780199249596 Julio Teehankee Electoral Politics in the Philippines PDF quezon ph Presidential Decree No 1296 s 1978 GOVPH Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines Retrieved October 19 2021 a b Miguel Paolo Reyes November 27 2020 The Marcoses A history of rejecting election defeats VERA Files Retrieved September 22 2022 Further reading EditPhilippine Commission on Elections Records and Statistics Division Philippine House of Representatives Congressional Library Pobre Cesar P 2000 Philippine Legislature 100 Years ISBN 971 92245 0 9 Machado Kit G February 1979 The Philippines 1978 Authoritarian Consolidation Continues Asian Survey 19 2 131 140 doi 10 2307 2643779 JSTOR 2643779 The first election Martial Law Museum Retrieved June 3 2021 External links EditOfficial website of the Commission on Elections Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1978 Philippine parliamentary election amp oldid 1149132864, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
