Excessive election expenses

Title

Language

English

Source

Panorama XIX (5) May 1967

Year

1967

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

■ The Electoral Tribunal of the Senate of the Phil ippines unseated three Senators for overspending in their election campaign. It was the result of a humble lawyer’s work. EXCESSIVE ELECTION EXPENSES With the probable excep tion of lawyers, law students and its employees, millions of Filipinos never knew until recently there is such a cons titutional agency as the Sen ate Electoral Tribunal. In the same manner, a great majority of the electo rate did not know there is a law limiting the campaign expenses of candidates for public office within the oneyear salary and other emolu ments provided for the posi tion. For all its laudable intent to curb expenses and bring elective offices within the grasp of every qualified can didate, the statute against excessive poll spending was a “dead” law until last May 22 when the tribunal unseat ed Senators Raul Manglapus, Gaudencio Antonino and Maria Kalaw Katigbak for overspending in the 1961 elections. It was the first time in its history that the tribunal came out with such a deci sion — based on the election protest of Ernesto C. Hidal go. The protestant garnered 1,878 votes in the 1961 elec tions and landed in the 20th place. Who is Hidalgo, respon sible for this precedent-set ting decision? This mild-mannered prac tising lawyer, war veteran and sometime newspaper cor respondent was commended by the electoral tribunal of . . . "his tireless, resolution and praiseworthy efforts in prosecuting this litigation practically alone, in the face of every discouragement and obstruction that he has had to face in order that the law on election expenses should ultimately triumph.” Hidalgo, 49, is a native of San Pablo City. His father, Juan Hidalgo, a textile mer chant, is a first cousin of the late Mrs. Paciencia HidalgoLaurel wife of the illustrious 30 Panorama Batangas statesman Jose P. Laurel Sr. Why was he now asking the tribunal to declare him as an elected senator when he had said he was simply motivated by the desire to uphold the law on election expenses? This question was asked of Hidalgo by Justice Jose P. Bengzon, a member of the tribunal, during the oral hearing last week on the three senators’ motion for re opening. Without any hesitation, the protestant stated: “would it be selfish self-interest if I could be accorded greater op portunity to serve our coun try and people by being de clared elected as a Senator of this republic?” It was an uphill struggle for Hidalgo during the sixyear pendency of the protest. He had to forego personal and family convenience to finance the protest to the ex tent of mortgaging a small lot in Dagupan City to post a Pl,000 bond. He also encountered all sorts of criticism and was heckled as a crackpot and a Don Quixote battling against the impossible. Hidalgo’s difficulties were aggravated by the weekly hearing of the case in Manila. He had to give up his law practice in Dagupan and re sided at an accesoria on Ade lina St. in Sampaloc. “I just want to prove that the law on election expenses is not dead letter law that it was interpreted to be by po liticians,” said Hidalgo. Aside from the financial problems that dogged Hidal go all the way, there were also the tempting offers of positions for him to abandon the protest after it became apparent to Nacionalistas and Liberals ‘that the case was air-tight, he said. These juicy offers were dangled before Hidalgo as early as 1963 and as recent as only several days before the tribunal promulgated its decision on May 22, he said. Hidalgo was a member of the Hunters ROTC guerilla under Col. Vic Estacio which operated in Quezon province during the Japanese occupa tion. He volunteered with the Philippine National Red Cross after liberation and was so engaged in helping war orphans and widows file thfeir May 1967 31 claims that he forgot his own backpay claim. Hidalgo found time to pur sue his studies and finished law at the Far Eastern Uni versity and passed the bar examinations in 1948. For a time he was employ ed with a sub-committee of the Senate blue ribbon com mittee which probed consta bulary officers and men in volved in the infamous Panampunan massacre in Tarlac. He became correspondent of a metropolitan daily in 1948 and edited the “Pioneer Herald” in Dagupan, the first liberation newspaper founded in that city. It was founded by Ermin Garcia, murdered-editor of the “Sun day Punch.” Hidalgo was so obssessed with' the sanctity of the elec tion that he initiated the or ganization of the United Crusade for Clean Elections in 1960. This organization was later headed by Hilarion Henares Jr., former chair man of the National Econo mic Council. A sensible and reasonable individual, Hidalgo did not claim all the credit for his protest victory. He expressed gratitude to "my sympa thizers” in government and private offices who assisted him in getting the evidence to prove the election expen ditures. He also singled out the moral support extended by Dr. Gaudencio Garcia, Pres ident Marcos’ super investi gator, who helped him secure important documents for the case. Dr. Garcia is a god father of Hidalgo. Hidalgo is married to Dr. Herminigilda Rozal-Hidalgo, chief of the social hygiene division in Dagupan. She has been elected president twice of the Pangasinan Wo men Medical Association. The couple has a 17-year old son, a pre-medic student at the Far Eastern University. Hidalgo is a member of the Pangasinan Bar Associa tion and Batangas Lawyers Association. — By David Bidan in Philippines Herald, May 29, 1967. 32 Panorama

pages

30-32

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