The Philippines regained her independence
on July 4, 1946, when, at a fitting ceremony at the Luneta, the America
Star-Spangled Banner was hauled down by U.S. Resident Commissioner Paul V.
McNutt, while at the same time Commonwealth President Manuel A. Roxas hoisted
the Philippine Flag. It is gratuitous
to say that the United States government granted independence couldn’t be
granted independence to the Philippines.
Under the modern theory of political science, independence, like respect
or honor, is won, gained, or conserved worthy of it or is incapable of
sustaining and depending it.
In the case of the Philippines, General
Emilio Aguinaldo, 29, proclaimed our Independence in Kawit, Cavite, after a
successful revolution against Spain.
Ours, to repeat for the sake of emphasis, was the first successful
revolution in Asia, and the fruit of this revolution was the First Philippine
Republic, also the first republic in this part of the world.
The Philippine became a nation – a free,
independent, and sovereign state – upon the proclamation of our independence on
June 12, 1898. Evidently, it was this
independence won through the arbitratement of arms by Aguinaldo and his
revolutionary forces that was restored or recognized by the United States
government on July 4, 1946.
The restoration of Philippine
independence on July 4, 1946 was a great moral victory for the Filipino
people. To Caviteños, in particular, it
was a great source of pride because Aguinaldo, in the words of President
Marcos, who “mounded with his hands and watered with his blood the first
Republic established by a brown people.”
Dominador M. Camerino of Imus was the
governor of Cavite when the Third republic started on July 4, 1946. He was appointed by President Roxas upon the
latter’s inauguration on May 28 as last president of the Commonwealth. In the first postwar presidential election
of April 23, Roxas defeated Sergio Osmeña, and under Article XVI, Sec. 2, of
the Constitution of 1935, he, as a constitutional officer elected for four
years, continued to serve his full terms of office under the newly proclaimed
independent government of the Philippines.
The Third republic under Roxas literally
rose from the ruins of World War II.
The Philippine was one of the most devastated countries in the world. Cities and towns had been burned farms and
factories ruined roads and bridges blasted, the national economy was shattered,
and tens of thousands of Filipino had been massacred.
In addition to the tremendous material
destruction, which amounted to $8,079,624,000 (equivalent to P16, 159,248,000
at the tradition exchange rate of P2.00 to $1.00) including 1,111,938 lives
lost, appraising each human life as worth only $2.00. The war had adversely
affected the moral and spiritual fiber of the Filipino people. The keen
struggle for survival during the enemy occupation, says a prominent educator,
coupled with the feeling of insecurity in the face of constant threat of
starvation, “distorted their moral standard and warped their social attitude …
Honesty, courtesy, and other sterling qualities of the race became rare
virtues… Briberies and thieveries increased.
Even the top-level officers of the government were corroded with
dishonesty, bribery and corruption.”
On April 15, 1948, Roxas, after less than
two years in office, had a fatal stroke while delivering a stirring
pro-American speech in the American air force base, Clark Field, Pampanga. Two days later Vice-President Elpidio
Quirino succeeded Roxas. He retained
Camerino as governor of Cavite.
One of Qurino’s twin objectives when he
ascended the presidency was the “restoration of the faith and confidence of the
people in the government. “Quirino knew
that the administrators of his predecessor (Roxas) has been married by the
" failure to curb graft and corruption in the government” assisting from
the massive scandals involving the disposition of surplus war property, Chinese
immigration quota, and purchase of school supplies.”
But in the presidential election of
November 9, 1949, which was a tri-cornered fight among Quirino of the Liberal
party, Jose Avelino of a splinter faction of the Liberal party, and Jose P.
Laurel of the opposition Nacionalista Party, the Philippines made political
history when “in certain areas the dead arose from their graves to cast their
votes and in faraway Lanao province even birds, tress, monkeys, and rocks
voted” for the ruling Liberal party candidates.
In Cavite province, a Tagalog bailiwick,
Laurel, an eminent Tagalog leader, was defeated by Quirino, an Ilocano, by
about 30,000 votes. Governor Camerino,
a veteran in rough-and-tumble politics, had earlier assured Quirino’s
victory. Evidently the presidential
election of 1949 was the “dirtiest and bloodiest election” in the annals of
Philippine politics, and Laurel, lawyer and educator, refused to concede
Quirino’s questionable victory.
But the tables turned in 1953. In the presidential election of that year,
Ramon Magsaysay, a political neophyte who had been made popular by American
propaganda and personally handpicked by laurel, defeated Quirino. It was a bad turn of events for Camerino
because his political enemies raked up a detention case against him, and he was
subsequently convicted. Camerino was
the first incumbent provincial governor to be sent to prison. Cavite’s prestige hit rock bottom.
Incidentally, Cavite had only three
regularly elected governors and five acting governors under the Third republic,
1946-1980. The elective governors were
(1) Camerico, 1947 – 1955; (Delfin N. Montano, 1956 – 1971; and (3) Lino D.
Bocalan, 1972.
Three had been acting governors during
Camerino’s term of office; namely, (1) Mariano B. Villanueva, 1949 and 1952;
(2) Horacio H. Rodriguez, 1953 – 1954; and (3) Dominador Mangubat, 1954– i955.
Delfin N. Montano served the longest
provincial governor for four consecutive terms, 1956 – 1971. Never had be an acting governor to relieve
him temporarily as chief executive of the province.
Camerino himself has served as acting
governor when he took over from Bocalan in October 1972 shortly after the
proclamation of martial law. Camerino
was Bocalan’s vice-governor. He died in
office as acting governor on July 24, 1979.
Juanito R. Remulla, also of Imus, began
as acting governor of Cavite on September 25, 1979. Succeeding the late
Camerino. He was elected governor on
January 30, 1980, hence he was the last governor of Cavite under the Third
Republic. However, he continued in
office as governor when President Marcos proclaimed the Fourth Republic on June
30, 1981. Thus Remulla has the
distinction of being the first governor of Cavite under the Fourth republic.
The 1971 – 1973 Constitutional
Conventions occurred under the Third republic.
Outside of the proclamation of martial law, which remained in force from
September 21, 1972 to January 17, 1981 (8 years and 9 months), this convention
was easily the biggest political event in recent years.
Cavite sent four of its brightest minds
to the convention; namely, Juanito R. Remulla, now provincial governor, Abraham
F. Sarmiento, Alberto M.K. Jamir, and Jose P. Santillan. Of the four delegates only Santillan did not
sign the constitution. He died on
September 12, 1981. Sarmiento, on the
other hand, is identified with the dyed-in-the-wool opposition Liberal party.
Cavite had four duly elected representatives
under the Third republic; namely, (1) Justiniano S. Montano, 1946-1949; (2)
Manuel S. Rojas, 1949 –1953; (3) Jose T. Cajulis, 1954 – 1957); and (4)
Justiniano S. Montano, 1958 – 1972.
Under the Fourth Republic and the
Constitution of 1973, Cavite had two regular members in the Batasang Pambansa,
namely, Jorge Nuñez and Helen Z. Benitez.
A third Caviteño assemblyman, Rogelio Peyuan, represented the youth
sector in the Batasang Pambansa.
The latest political happening under the
Fourth republic was the election on May 14, 1984, of the 183 members of the
regular Batasang Pambansa, three of whom came from Cavite. The three elected Caviteño assemblymen were
(1) Prime Minister Cesar E.A. Virata of the ruling KBL (Kilusang Bagong
Lipunan), who polled 225,236 votes; (2) Helen Z. Benitez (Independent KBL),
175,924; and (3) Renato P. Dragon (KBL), 170,604.
This is the second term for Virata in the
Batasang Pambansa, although, technically speaking, he may not be considered a
re-electionist because he was only appointed in his first term in the lawmaking
body. Benitez, however, is a
re-electionist, while Dragon is a first-termer.
One of the outstanding Caviteños today,
Virata is the grandson of General Valdomero.
Aguinaldo, President of the Magdalo Council during the Philippine
Revolution and first cousin of General Emilio Aguinaldo. He was born in Binakayan, Kawit.
A native of Gen. Trias, Dragon was formerly president
of the Royal Savings Bank and vice-president of the Manila Banking
Corporation. He was the recipient of
the 1984 award as “Outstanding Leader in Trade, Industry and Tourism,” given by
the Association of National Agencies in Cavite (ANAC).