Ortiz vs Osmeña, the last electoral battle of Serging

The November 8, 1971 general election was the last democratic electoral exercise of the Philippines before President Marcos declared Martial Law on September 21, 1972. Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was elected under the 1935 Constitution that mandates that presidents will have four years as a term and qualify for reelection only once, meaning the most that a president could occupy the palace was eight years.

President Marcos, by declaring Martial Law and promoting the 1973 Constitution, made inutile the long tradition of the years of service of the presidency which was patterned after the American constitution drafted on September 17, 1787. Marcos occupied Malacañang for 21 years until he was overthrown by the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution that ended on February 25.

On the local scene of the 1971 election, Senator Serging Osmeña who lost to Marcos reelection in 1969 ran for Cebu City mayor, this time his challenger was lawyer Mario D. Ortiz (the last of the legends), ironically a former ally of Osmeña. It was on September 18, 1963 that Ortiz became mayor of Cebu when lawyer Carlos J. Cuizon ran as vice mayor of Osmeña. In the 1971 election, Ortiz (who became a lawyer on March 31, 1948) was supported by President Marcos of the Nacionalista Party.

Ortiz was born on April 9, 1922 and died on July 31, 2015. He was a guerrilla fighter under the Bohol Area Command who bravely escaped from his Japanese captors while detained at the old Cebu Provincial Jail now converted as the Museo Sugbo. Ortiz was the son of Santos Ortiz Sr. and Bernarda Diez, he married Julita Villacorta.

Serging Chiong Veloso Osmeña Jr. who was injured in the Plaza Miranda bombing of August 21, 1971 was not able to actively campaign but his entire slate won. The candidates of Serging were Vice Mayor Engr. Eulogio “Yoyong” Enriquez Borres and councilors Atty. Ronald R. Duterte, Raymundo A. Crystal, Bienvenido B. Tudtud, Atty. Florencio S. Urot, Jose V. Cuenco (who became OIC Cebu City mayor from March 19, 1987 to November 27, 1987, he would later run as mayor but be defeated by Tomas dela Rama Osmeña, son of Serging and Lourdes dela Rama in the first post-EDSA local election held on January 18, 1988), George M. Baladjay, Arturo L. Abellana and Atty. Jesus S. Gabuya (who became a lawyer on January 18, 1954).

Serging got 59,934 votes as against the 27,512 votes of Ortiz. The following year Serging left for the U.S. on September 17, 1972 (five days before Martial Law was declared) with Borres assuming the mayorship of Cebu City.

Serging was born on December 4, 1916 and died on March 25, 1984. Serging holds the title as the only Cebuano who became governor, mayor, congressman, and senator.