# 1951 Philippine Senate election

A senatorial election was held in the Philippines on November 13, 1951. This election was known as a midterm election, and the date when elected candidates took office fells halfway through President Elpidio Quirino's four-year term.

## Electoral system

Philippine Senate elections are held via plurality block voting with staggered elections, with the country as an at-large district. The Senate has 24 seats, of which 8 seats are up every 2 years. The eight seats up were won by the 1st to 8th placed candidates in 1946; each voter has eight votes and can vote up to eight names, of which the eight candidates with the most votes winning the election.
The election of then senator Fernando Lopez as vice president in 1949 meant that his seat was vacated mid-term. A special election was then held for that seat under first-past-the-post system, for the rest of Lopez's term. This meant there were nine seats up for this election.
Block voting, established in 1941, was abolished in 1951 with Republic Act No. 599. This would later lead to more fragmented results in most national elections.

## Summary

As the Hukbalahap rebellion raged in Central Luzon, Filipinos trooped to the polling booths for the 1951 midterm elections—a referendum on President Quirino, who had won the presidency in his own right two years prior. Despite the political remarriage of the two factions of the Liberal Party, the Quirinistas and Avelinistas, the Quirino administration was still far from popular. It had gained notoriety for its inability to rein in corruption and its ineffectual attempts to police lawlessness in the countryside. The Nacionalistas took advantage of the situation and mounted an active campaign to wrest back the Senate from the LP. Led by former President Jose P. Laurel, Quirino’s chief adversary in the 1949 presidential polls, the NP swept all eight Senate seats in contention, the first total victory of the opposition in the Senate. So strong was the rejection of the Quirino administration in 1951 that even LP top honcho, Senate President Mariano Jesus Cuenco, lost his seat. Laurel received the highest number of votes, which was seen as his political rehabilitation and which made him the first and only president, thus far, to have served in the Senate after his presidency.
Felixberto Verano, also a Nacionalista, won the special elections held on the same day to fill the Senate seat vacated by Vice-President Fernando Lopez.

## Retiring incumbents

* Melecio Arranz (Liberal)
* Jose Avelino (Liberal)
* Vicente Francisco (Liberal)
* Ramon Torres (Liberal)

### Mid-term vacancies

* Fernando Lopez (Liberal), elected vice president, left office on December 30, 1949)
* Vicente Sotto (Popular Front), died July 16, 1950)
* Tomas Confesor (Nacionalista), died June 5, 1951)

## Results

The Nacionalista Party won all eight seats contested in the general election, and the seat contested in the special election.
Senate President Mariano Jesús Cuenco was the sole incumbent defeated, while Carlos P. Garcia successfully defended his seat.
Six winners are neophyte Nacionalista senators: Manuel Briones, Francisco Afan Delgado, Jose Locsin, Cipriano Primicias Sr., Gil Puyat and Jose Zulueta.
Nacionalista Jose P. Laurel returned to the Senate after serving from 1925 to 1931.
| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| Before election | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ‡ | ‡ | ‡ | ‡ | ‡ | ‡^ | ‡^ | ‡^ | ‡ | | |
| Election result | Not up | Not up | Not up | Not up | Not up | Not up | Not up | Not up | Not up | Not up | Not up | Not up | Not up | NP | NP | NP | NP | NP | NP | NP | NP | NP | Not up | Not up |
| After election | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | √ | | |
Key:
* ‡ Seats up
* + Gained by a party from another party
* √ Held by the incumbent
* * Held by the same party with a new senator
* ^ Vacancy

### Per candidate

| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| | Jose P. Laurel | Nacionalista Party | 2,143,452 | 48.81 |
| | Gil Puyat | Nacionalista Party | 1,906,402 | 43.42 |
| | Manuel Briones | Nacionalista Party | 1,774,687 | 40.42 |
| | Carlos P. Garcia | Nacionalista Party | 1,573,095 | 35.82 |
| | Francisco Afan Delgado | Nacionalista Party | 1,534,176 | 34.94 |
| | Cipriano Primicias Sr. | Nacionalista Party | 1,487,159 | 33.87 |
| | Jose Locsin | Nacionalista Party | 1,452,577 | 33.08 |
| | Jose Zulueta | Nacionalista Party | 1,395,095 | 31.77 |
| | Jose P. Bengzon | Liberal Party | 1,277,925 | 29.10 |
| | Pio Pedrosa | Liberal Party | 1,232,791 | 28.07 |
| | Teodoro Evangelista | Liberal Party | 1,210,815 | 27.57 |
| | Mariano Jesús Cuenco | Liberal Party | 1,205,897 | 27.46 |
| | Antonio Quirino | Liberal Party | 1,041,539 | 23.72 |
| | Primitivo Lovina | Liberal Party | 982,601 | 22.38 |
| | Juan V. Borra | Liberal Party | 869,160 | 19.79 |
| | Raul Leuterio | Liberal Party | 850,216 | 19.36 |
| | Josefina Phodaca | National Political Party of Women | 431,328 | 9.82 |
| | Jose T. Nueno | Independent | 93,246 | 2.12 |
| | Leonardo Tenebro | Independent | 2,132 | 0.05 |
| | Cesar Bulacan | Independent | 1,371 | 0.03 |
| Total | Total | Total | 22,465,664 | 100.00 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 4,391,109 | – |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 4,754,109 | 92.36 |

### Special election

To serve the unexpired term of Fernando Lopez until December 30, 1953.
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| | Felixberto Verano | Nacionalista Party | 873,457 | 47.69 |
| | Cornelio Villareal | Liberal Party | 609,303 | 33.27 |
| | Prospero Sanidad | Liberal Party (Independent) | 223,810 | 12.22 |
| | Carlos Tan | Liberal Party (Independent) | 124,975 | 6.82 |
| Total | Total | Total | 1,831,545 | 100.00 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,831,545 | 41.71 |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 2,559,564 | 58.29 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 4,391,109 | – |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 4,754,307 | 92.36 |

### Per party

The seat vacated by Vicente Yap Sotto (Popular Front), who died in 1950, was one of the seats up for election. This also includes the result of the concurrent special election for the seat vacated by Vice President Fernando Lopez in 1949.
Seats :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Up | Before | Won | After | +/− |
| | Nacionalista Party | 14,140,100 | 58.20 | +5.68 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 11 | +8 |
| | Liberal Party | 9,280,247 | 38.19 | +1.62 | 5 | 18 | 0 | 13 | −5 |
| | National Political Party of Women | 431,328 | 1.78 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Liberal Party (independent) | 348,785 | 1.44 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Independent | 96,749 | 0.40 | +0.38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vacancy | Vacancy | | | | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | −3 |
| Total | Total | 24,297,209 | 100.00 | – | 9 | 24 | 9 | 24 | 0 |
| Total votes | Total votes | 4,391,109 | – | | | | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 4,754,307 | 92.36 | | | | | | |
| Source: Dieter Nohlen; Florian Grotz; Christof Hartmann; Graham Hassall; Soliman M. Santos (15 November 2001). Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook: Volume II: South East Asia, East Asia, and the South Pacific. ISBN 9780199249596. & Julio Teehankee. "Electoral Politics in the Philippines" (PDF). quezon.ph. ||||||||||
Vote share
NP
58.20%
LP
38.19%
Others
3.62% :
Senate seats
NP
100.0%
LP
0.0%
Others
0.0% :

## Defeated incumbents

* Mariano Jesús Cuenco (Liberal) ran and won in 1953