Friday, January 11, 2019

June 15, 1935, before the scheduled U.S. controlled Philippine Commonwealth Presidential election candidates:


























# ...Manuel Quezon of Nacionalista Party - for president, his vice president was Sergio Osmeña (then a senate president). Obviously supported by his friend General Douglas MacArthur and the U.S. Colonial Government.
# ...Emilio Aguinaldo of National Socialist Party - for president, his vice president Raymundo Melliza (former governor of Iloilo). His candidacy was supported by the organization he created “Veteranos de la Revolucion.”
# ...Bishop Gregorio Aglipay of Republican Party - for president, his vice president Norberto Nabong. Aglipay was supported by his co founder of Philippine Independent Church (Aglipayan Church) Isabelo de los Reyes (the Father of Philippine Socialism) and the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP), a left-wing party organized by Crisanto Evangelista. 


This political enmity resulted in a bitter feud that characterized the 1935 presidential race for the then newly established Philippine Commonwealth. Before the 1935 presidential election, in 1899 Manuel Quezon was a major in Aguinaldo’s army in its fight against the Americans. He was accused of murdering an American POW and was imprisoned for six months, but was cleared of the crime for lack of evidence. When Aguinaldo was captured at Palanan on 1901, Aguinaldo took an oath of allegiance to the United States, was granted a pension from the U.S. government but was forced to retired to private life. The conflict between the two during the election was so intense that Aguinaldo discharged Quezon from his Veteranos de la Revolucion and sarcastically said Quezon never belonged to the group in the first place. Quezon retaliated with his treacherous political campaign against Aguinaldo, came out with leaflets about Bonifacio’s and Luna’s deaths under the bloody hands of Aguinaldo, he also cut off his government pension. The two rivals was a regular ugly staple of newspapers and social gossips. 

Quezon won the race by a landslide and Bishop Gregorio Aglipay quickly accepted the results but Aguinaldo did not want to accept his defeat, released a statement that if he were defeated at the polls, he and his followers would resort to force. Aguinaldo protested the 1935 presidential election results which he believed was rigged in Quezon’s favor; his supporters even planned to disrupt the inauguration and assassinate the winners though was not carried out. On December 8, 1941, the day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces invaded the Philippines. Because of the sure capture by the enemy, President Quezon and other top government officials had to escape to Corregidor along with General MacArthur. Quezon gave his responsibilities to his cabinet and political colleagues: Jorge Vargas, Jose Laurel, Manuel Roxas, Benigno Aquino Sr., Jose Yulo, Quintin Paredes, Antonio de las Alas and Teofilo Sison, expected them to collaborate with the enemy to save Filipino civilian’s lives. MacArthur left his responsibility as the Allied commander in the Philippines was handed down to General Jonathan Wainwright whom he promoted as “temporary” Lieutenant General. Quezon and MacArthur left the island of Corregidor in a PT Boat, moving on to Mindanao, then Australia, Quezon went to the United States and set up a government in exile in Washington D.C. Emilio Aguinaldo once again fell into disgrace and again collaborated with the new colonialists.
- ka tony
19th of October ‘18

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