Woman suffrage in the Philippines

Title

Language

English

Source

Volume XIX (Issue No. 2) February 1967

Year

1967

Subject

Filipino women's suffrage

Women voters

Women's rights

Socialist feminism

Legal status of women

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

The development of the legal status and political position of the Filipino woman shows a marked contrast to that of many other countries in Asia

Fulltext

■ The development of the legal status and political position of the Filipino woman shows a marked contrast to that of many other countries in Asia. WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN THE PHILIPPINES The women of the United States have been enfranchised as early as 1920. Portugal, on the other hand, extended limited voting rights to its women in 1945; Belgium granted this right to its wo men in 1950. China and Japan gave their women the right of suf frage in 1946; India and Burma followed suit in 1947; and Korea in 1948, but the Filipino women hold the dis tinction of being the first in the Far East to be enfran chised and this was in 1937. The political emancipa tion of the Filipino women may be attributed primarily and particularly to the edu cational policy introduced by the Americans in the Phil ippines. If at all, however, our keen historians have not allowed to go unrecorded such other events that consti tuted the preliminary at tempts of our countrymen toward the early emancipa tion of the Filipino women. Even prior to the arrival of the Americans the Filipino leaders, particularly Rizal, took steps that would in ef fect lift the status of Filipino womanhood to its rightful position. Apolinario Mabini, the Sublime Paralytic, among others, distinguished himself for being the first to espouse the cause of feminism in the Philippines. He was way ahead in proposing the en franchisement of our women. The First Philippine Repub lic explicitly provides: “Female taxpayers who have attained the age of twenty-one years, who are not subject to parental or marital authority, shall have the right to vote for public office, unless they have been disqualified for leading a li centious life or by having been convicted of some mis demeanor.” In June 1905, Miss Con February 1967 31 cepcion Felix who later be came Mrs. Felipe Calderon formed and organized the Feminista Filipina, the first women’s club in the Philip pines. This organization did not agitate particularly for woman suffrage, but engaged in the promotion of social welfare work. In 1912 the Manila women closed ranks and formed the Society for the Advancement of Women with Mrs. Charles Lobingier as its first Pres ident. The initial principal aim was to work for the en franchisement of women but gradually relaxed its stand by concentrating more on the social welfare phase of activity. It later became the Manila Women’s Club, the mother club of all women’s clubs throughout the archi pelago, and today more po pularly known as the Fede ration of Women’s Clubs. On October 16, 1918 Gov ernor General Francis Bur ton Harrison recommended to the Philippine Legislature the extension of suffrage to the Filipino women. In res ponse to the recommenda tion, Representative Ricardo Lloret of Bulacan, Feliciano Gomez of Laguna, and To mas Luna of Albay intro duced a woman suffrage bill. The move failed to find its marks when the Legislature failed to pass the bill. In 1919 Senator Pedro Ma. Sison introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Although the bill was approved in the Senate, it was disregarded in the lower chamber of the Philippine Legislature. On October 15, 1921, Governor General Leonard Wood who like his predecessor was a believer in the feminist cause, advocated the extension of suffrage to the Filipino wo men in his inaugural address to the sixth Philippine Legis lature. The National Fede ration of Women’s Clubs to this point also stressed their pro-suffrage activity through out the country but it con sistently met defeat in the hands of the anti-suffragists in the Legislative body. In 1928 at the initiative of Dr. Paz Mendoza the Women Citizens League was duly organized at the Philippine Columbian Club. It was their primary aim to work for the enfranchisement of the Filipino women. They presented a petition to the Philippine Legislature, which though formally acknowledg ed, was nonetheless uncere 32 Panorama moniously ignored. In 1931 the Philippine As sociation of University Wo men, which had earlier been organized by the college graduate-members of the Women Citizens League, in an effort to get attention and support invited to a con ference members of the Com mittee on the Revision of Laws. To this Committee was referred the various wo man suffrage bills authored by Francisco Varona, Eugenio Perez, and Arsenio Bonifacio. Sensing the impossibility and futility of meeting the women’s enthusiasm with in attention and disinterested ness, Representative Marcelo T. Boncan, the committee chairman, conducted in Sept ember of the same year a public hearing to determine once and for all the merits of what seemed to be a most interesting and intriguing is sue of the times. Among the prominent leaders who figur ed in the feminist cause and religiously attended the hear ings were Drs. Encarnacion Alzona, Paz Mendoza Guazon, the former Miss Maria Kalaw, now Senator Maria K. Katigbak, Mrs. Pilar Hi dalgo Lim, Mrs. Concepcion F. Rodriguez, Mrs. Pura V. Kalaw, Atty. Pacita de los Reyes, and Atty. Rosario Ocampo of the Catholic Wo men’s League. Their con certed efforts in the fight for equal rights visibly swayed the committee to favorably endorse the bill to the House. The House of Representa tives then headed by Speaker Manuel Roxas overwhelm ingly gave its assent when the bill was formally presented by the suffragists’ new cham pion, Miguel Cuenco. For greater national problems, however, which the Senate alleged as demanding more the attention of its members, the bill suffered another dis couraging fate. In November 1933, how ever the Senate finally ap proved the suffrage bill as ap proved by the Lower House in 1931. Governor Frank Murphy signed the Woman Suffrage Bill on December 7, 1933, thus making it a law, but which was to take effect only on January 1, 1935, to give new women voters' am ple time to register. Subsequent political events in Philippine history in the year 1934 however, proved to be the bane that render ed the victory of the women suffragists a shortlived one. February 1967 33 By the Philippine Legisla ture’s acceptance of the Tydings-McDuffie law as pass ed by the United States Congress in May 1934, a chain of related events inevitably followed. The law in effect provided for the es tablishment of a Philippine Commonwealth whose Cons titution was to be framed by an elective Constitutional Assembly. The Constitutional Con vention presented another obstacle for the women suf fragists. The Convention agreed that the National As sembly should extend the right of suffrage to women, but predicated its exercise on the outcome of a plebis cite which would be held foi that purpose within two years after the adoption of the ' Constitution, and only if not less than three hun dred thousand women pos sessing the necessary qualifi cations should affirmatively vote on the question. This turn of events offered no alternative for the women suffragists. Casting aside their prejudices; they proved equal to the demands of their political aspirations aware as they were that the rejection of the Constitution could only mean one thing — the indefinite postpone ment of Philippine Indepen dence. The General Council for Women firmly resolved to work and campaign for the acceptance of the Consti tution. Soon after the inaugura tion of the Philippine Com monwealth, President Que zon signed the Plebiscite Bill on September 30, 1936. On Plebiscite Day, April 30, 1937, the women electorate of the Philippines registered 447,725 “yes” votes against 44,307 “no” votes. In a spe cial session held from August to September 1937, the Na tional Assembly ratified the plebiscite’s returns. Marking a milestone in the stride taken by the Fili pino women towards their political emancipation, and anxious to exercise a right so nobly won, the Filipino suffragettes gleefully marched to the polls for the first time on December 14, 1937. The succeeding events proved heartening to the whole Fili pino womanhood as several hundred Filipinas aspired for positions which have hitherto remained exclusively for the exploitation of their male counterparts. 34 Panorama

pages

31-34

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