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All 80 seats in thePhilippine Assembly 41 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Coalitions that won a plurality of votes in each province. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The first Philippine Assembly elections were held across thePhilippines on July 30, 1907. ThePhilippine Organic Act of 1902, enacted by theUnited States Congress, established a bicameralPhilippine Legislature composed of the appointedPhilippine Commission as theupper house and the electedPhilippine Assembly as thelower house.
The first national election for a legislative body in the Philippines, and considered to be a de factoindependence referendum, the newly formedNacionalista Party, advocating independence, defeated the more establishedProgresista Party, which were conservative.
With the conclusion of thePhilippine–American War (then known as the "Philippine Insurrection") and the establishment of the American colonialInsular Government under thePhilippine Organic Act of 1902, elections were held in various parts of the Philippines. Divisions developed between theFederalistas who advocated for statehood within the United States, and theIndependistas those who advocated for independence. Opponents to American rule were unable to mount a united front for the1906 local elections, with only theComitė de Intereses Filipinos who were a united, yet limited, organization. By mid-1906, those opposed to American rule began organizing themselves into political parties.[1]
The Comitė de la Union Nacional and the Partido Popular Independista merged to create the Partido de la Union Nacionalista. The Union Nacionalistas rejected a hardline path and instead chose an evolutionary position. Meanwhile, the Independistas urged immediate independence from the U.S. After failing to broker a deal with the Independistas, the Union Nacionalista proposed a merger with the Federalistas.Juan Sumulong, who led the Federalistas, advocated a radical policy, more in line with the "conservative" wing of the Union Nacionalistas led byRafael Palma. The Federalistas consulted Governor-GeneralJames Francis Smith, who then sought to advise Taft on the matter. Both Smith and Taft opposed the union, with Smith saying to Sumulong that a fusion will "result in the complete obliteration of the conservative element as a political actor in the community." The refusal of Federalistas reopened talks between the Union Nacionalista and the Independistas.[2]
The Independistas organized themselves in January 1907 with a leadership election. To prevent further split,Alberto Barretto andJusto Lukban were elected co-leaders of the party. The election ofFernando Guerrero,Sergio Osmeña,Teodoro Sandiko andIsauro Gabaldon as counselors marked the first time that a Manila-based political group established links with provincial leaders.[3]
In late January, the Federalistas organized themselves under a new name, Partido Nacional Progresista and launched a campaign to win seats in provinces around Manila. The nationalist-leaning groups launched negotiations to present a unified slate in the elections; Meanwhile, Palma insisted on having the word "Immediata" (immediate) to the party name of the proposed merger of the Union Nacionalistas and the Independistas. On March 12, 1907, the Union Nacionalista and the Independistas merged to form thePartido Nacionalista.[4]
While the Nacionalistas had a rotating leadership, the manner of selection of the candidates was a source of major dispute and the party convention at theManila Grand Opera House ended in disarray.[5] The Progresistas, on the other hand, dropped Federal from the party name seeing that the word had outlived its usefulness and had changed their name to Partido Nacional Progresista (National Progressive Party).[6]
While the Nacionalistas were in disarray, the Progresistas orchestrated a well-organized "popular assembly". The Progresistas established networks of local strongmen already associated with the Nacionalistas; however, they were only able to field candidates in half of the districts in Central and southwestern Luzon. The Progresistas were unable to recruit supporters even in places where a Progresista was already in office, apart fromTarlac. In Manila, the Progresistas resorted to encouraging Americans to register and vote for them. However, the Federalistas were able to field candidates in rural areas in Visayas and Mindanao.[7]
While the Progresistas were struggling to increase their ranks, they instead relied on a strategy to ensure the defeat of Nacionalistas candidates who opposed Progresista policies.[8]
The Nacionalistas split their ranks when Guerrero and Lukban, members of the old Independista group were dropped from the ticket in favor ofDominador Gomez andFelipe del Pan. Quezon, brokered a deal that set a party convention to settle candidacies but it was never convened; Gomez and del Pan remained the official candidates for the "regular" Nacionalistas. Guerrero and Lukban ultimately set up the Liga Nacional Independecia whose sole purpose was to contest the 1907 elections.[9]
The Progresistas led byTrinidad Pardo de Tavera, on the other hand, opposed "immediate" independence. The reception at Progresista political rallies ranged from lukewarm to hostile, with people heckling "Hang them, kill them".[10]
On election day, the Partido Nacionalista, with its national organization in disarray, was able to field a candidate in 68 of the 80 districts.[11]
|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nacionalista Party | 34,277 | 35.71 | 32 | |
| Progresista Party | 24,234 | 25.25 | 16 | |
| Immediatista | 7,126 | 7.42 | 7 | |
| Independista | 6,179 | 6.44 | 4 | |
| Catholic Party | 1,192 | 1.24 | 1 | |
| Philippine Independent Church | 91 | 0.09 | 0 | |
| Independent | 22,878 | 23.84 | 20 | |
| Total | 95,977 | 100.00 | 80 | |
| Valid votes | 95,977 | 97.69 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 2,274 | 2.31 | ||
| Total votes | 98,251 | – | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 104,966 | 93.60 | ||
| Source:[12] | ||||
| NP | 35.71% | |||
| PP | 25.25% | |||
| Others | 39.03% | |||
| NP | 40.00% | |||
| PP | 20.00% | |||
| Others | 40.00% | |||
| Province/City | Nacionalista | Progresista | Immediatista | Independista | Catholic | Philippine Independent Church | Independent | Rejected | Scattered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albay | – | 2,196 | – | – | – | – | 1,415 | – | 55 |
| Ambos Camarines | 1,577 | 334 | – | – | – | – | 244 | – | 58 |
| Antique | – | 604 | – | – | – | – | 352 | – | 47 |
| Bataan | – | – | – | 379 | – | – | 359 | – | 11 |
| Batangas | 2,113 | 85 | – | – | – | – | 1,455 | – | 55 |
| Bohol | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,594 | – | 76 |
| Bulacan | 1,950 | – | – | – | – | – | 948 | – | – |
| Cagayan | – | 1,434 | – | – | – | – | 725 | – | 58 |
| Capiz | 889 | 1,177 | – | – | – | – | 2,600 | 137 | 39 |
| Cavite | 2,686 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 61 |
| Cebu | 3,088 | – | – | – | 445 | – | – | – | 159 |
| Ilocos Norte | 747 | 1,421 | – | – | – | 91 | 85 | – | 106 |
| Ilocos Sur | 1,619 | 2,005 | – | – | – | – | 95 | – | 54 |
| Iloilo | – | 1,773 | 2,275 | – | – | – | 1,779 | – | 75 |
| Isabela | – | 549 | – | 529 | – | – | 199 | – | 34 |
| La Laguna | 2,635 | 795 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 132 |
| La Union | 1,297 | 1,284 | – | – | – | – | 585 | – | – |
| Leyte | 3,025 | 510 | 125 | – | – | – | 98 | – | 69 |
| Manila | 5,671 | 1,361 | – | – | 59 | – | 98 | 14 | 3 |
| Mindoro | 437 | – | – | – | – | – | 153 | – | 32 |
| Misamis | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,038 | – | 112 |
| Negros Occidental | – | 1,005 | 1,405 | – | – | – | – | 100 | 179 |
| Negros Oriental | – | 912 | 614 | – | – | – | – | – | 31 |
| Nueva Ecija | 1,385 | 697 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13 |
| Palawan | 48 | – | – | – | – | – | 217 | – | 23 |
| Pampanga | – | 874 | – | 1,448 | – | – | 456 | – | 13 |
| Pangasinan | 615 | 570 | 2,637 | – | 600 | – | 1,909 | – | 69 |
| Rizal | 1,957 | 1,477 | – | – | 88 | – | – | – | 45 |
| Samar | 137 | 193 | 70 | – | – | – | 2,565 | – | 184 |
| Sorsogon | 665 | 430 | – | – | – | – | 1,510 | – | 53 |
| Surigao | – | 745 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 44 |
| Tarlac | 1,234 | 946 | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 18 |
| Tayabas | – | 857 | – | 3,823 | – | – | 2,237 | – | 24 |
| Zambales | 502 | – | – | – | – | – | 162 | – | 73 |
| Total | 34,277 | 24,234 | 7,126 | 6,179 | 1,192 | 91 | 22,878 | 269 | 2,005 |
| Source: Government Printing Office[12] | |||||||||
While the candidates representing the Nacionalistas won the majority of the seats in the assembly, the maneuvering around the election for theSpeaker of the Assembly began, as the Speaker would be the most powerful Filipino in government. Quezon and Osmeña focused on aggregating the delegates around Osmeña's leadership, a task that was easier than anticipated. With less than two dozen delegates, the Progresistas were not be able to elect a Speaker from their ranks and were marginalized from talks amongst the Nacionalistas. Osmeña found two opponents for the Speakership: Gomez, who defeated Lukban by 31 votes, andPedro Paterno. However, Gomez's citizenship was questioned, and Paterno found himself to be Osmeña's leading opponent.[13]
Gomez was found to be a Spanish citizen and a new election for his seat was called. Gomez still ran in thespecial election in 1908 and beat Lukban by a larger margin, about 400 votes. Gomez was permitted to take his seat, but not after seven months had passed, and after Osmeña was elected Speaker[14] on October 16, 1907, with Quezon as the majority floor leader.[15]
The defeat of the Progresistas in the elections hastened their downfall; the Nacionalista Party would continue to dominate the elections for the legislature, while the Progresistas, and later their successor the Democratas, would remain in opposition.[16]
| General elections | |
|---|---|
| Presidential elections | |
| Senate elections | |
| House elections | |
| Constitutional conventions | |
| Local elections | |
| Barangay elections | |
| Referendums | |
