1965 Philippine Senate election

A senatorial election was held on November 9, 1965 in the Philippines. The Nacionalista Party wrestled back control of the Senate; originally a Liberal, Senate President Ferdinand Marcos defected to the Nacionalistas, became their presidential candidate and won this year's election.

1965 Philippine Senate election

← 1963 November 9, 1965 1967 →
8 (of the 24) seats in the Senate 13 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Arturo Tolentino Ambrosio Padilla Lorenzo Tañada Party Nacionalista Liberal NCP Seats before 10 (4 up) 9 (1 up) 1 (1 up) Seats won 5 2 1 Seats after 11 10 1 Seat change 1 3 0 Popular vote 21,619,502 23,158,197 3,014,618 Percentage 43.80 46.92 6.11 Swing 6.36 2.83 6.11
Senate President before election Ferdinand Marcos Nacionalista Elected Senate President Arturo Tolentino Nacionalista

After the election, the Senate emerged with 12 Liberals on one side, and 11 Nacionalistas and 1 Nationalist Citizens' Party caucusing with them on the other.

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 last contested in 1959; each voter has eight votes and can vote up to eight names, of which the eight candidates with the most votes winning the election.

Retiring incumbents

1. Fernando Lopez (Nacionalista), ran for vice president and won
2. Ferdinand Marcos (Nacionalista), ran for president and won

Mid-term vacancies

1. Mariano Jesús Cuenco (Nacionalista), died on February 25, 1964
2. Eulogio Rodriguez (Nacionalista), died on December 9, 1964

Other incumbents running elsewhere

These ran in the middle of their Senate terms. For those losing in their respective elections, they can still return to the Senate to serve out their term, while the winners will vacate their Senate seats, then it would have been contested in a special election concurrently with the next general election.

1. Gerardo Roxas (Liberal), ran for vice president and lost

Results

The Nacionalista Party won five seats, the Liberal Party won two seats, and the Nationalist Citizens' Party (NCP) won one.

NCP's Lorenzo Tañada, and Nacionalistas Alejandro Almendras and Genaro Magsaysay all defended their seats.

Five winners are neophyte senators. These are Dominador Aytona, Eva Estrada Kalaw, and Wenceslao Lagumbay of the Nacionalistas, and Liberals Sergio Osmeña Jr. and Jovito Salonga.

Estanislao Fernandez of the Liberal Party lost his seat.

	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										LP		NCP	NP					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		Party	Votes	%
	Jovito Salonga	Liberal Party	3,629,834	47.70
	Alejandro Almendras	Nacionalista Party	3,472,689	45.63
	Genaro Magsaysay	Nacionalista Party	3,463,459	45.51
	Sergio Osmeña Jr.	Liberal Party	3,234,966	42.51
	Eva Estrada-Kalaw	Nacionalista Party	3,190,700	41.93
	Dominador Aytona	Nacionalista Party	3,037,666	39.92
	Lorenzo Tañada	Nationalist Citizens' Party	3,014,618	39.61
	Wenceslao Lagumbay	Nacionalista Party	2,972,525	39.06
	Cesar Climaco	Liberal Party	2,968,958	39.01
	Estanislao Fernandez	Liberal Party	2,846,320	37.40
	Constancio Castañeda	Nacionalista Party	2,814,032	36.98
	Ramon Bagatsing	Liberal Party	2,774,621	36.46
	Bartolome Cabangbang	Nacionalista Party	2,668,431	35.06
	Alejandro Roces	Liberal Party	2,663,852	35.00
	Ramon Diaz	Liberal Party	2,620,073	34.43
	Lucas Paredes	Liberal Party	2,419,573	31.79
	Vicente Araneta	Party for Philippine Progress	500,795	6.58
	Amelio Mutuc	Independent	413,074	5.43
	Jose Feria	Party for Philippine Progress	335,119	4.40
	Benjamin Gaston	Party for Philippine Progress	149,057	1.96
	Dionisio Ojeda	Party for Philippine Progress	143,681	1.89
	Magdaleno Estrada	New Leaf Party	8,766	0.12
	Epifanio Talania	Partido ng Bansa	3,007	0.04
	Vicente Baldovino	Partido ng Bansa	1,945	0.03
	German Carbonel	Partido ng Bansa	1,830	0.02
	Toribia S. Valino	Partido ng Bansa	1,750	0.02
	Jose Villavisa	Partido ng Bansa	1,604	0.02
	Teodoro Gosuico Sr.	Partido ng Bansa	1,153	0.02
	Genovevo Baynosa	New Leaf Party	1,101	0.01
	Leoncio Wico Pagdanganan	Partido ng Bansa	113	0.00
Total			49,355,312	100.00
Total votes			7,610,051	–
Registered voters/turnout			9,962,345	76.39

Per party

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
					Up	Before	Won	After	+/−
	Liberal Party	23,158,197	46.92	−2.83	1	9	2	10	+1
	Nacionalista Party	21,619,502	43.80	−6.36	4	10	5	11	+1
	Nationalist Citizens' Party	3,014,618	6.11	New	1	1	1	1	0
	Party for Philippine Progress	1,128,652	2.29	New	0	2	0	2	0
	Partido ng Bansa	11,402	0.02	New	0	0	0	0	0
	New Leaf Party	9,867	0.02	New	0	0	0	0	0
	Independent	413,074	0.84	+0.76	0	0	0	0	0
Vacancy					2	2	0	0	−2
Total		49,355,312	100.00	–	8	24	8	24	0
Total votes		7,610,051	–
Registered voters/turnout		9,962,345	76.39
Source: [1][2]

Vote share LP   46.92% NP   43.80% NCP   6.11% PPP   2.29% Others   0.88%

Senate seats LP   25.00% NP   62.50% NCP   12.50% PPP   0.00% Others   0.00%

Defeated incumbents

1. Estanislao Fernandez (Liberal), appointed as associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1973, ran for member of parliament from Region IV–A in 1978 and won

See also

• Commission on Elections
• 6th Congress of the Philippines