Vice Presidents of The Philippines

Vice Presidents Of The Philippines

This is a complete list of Vice Presidents of the Philippines. The list includes Vice Presidents who were inaugurated by as Vice President of the Philippines following the ratification of a constitution that explicitly declared the existence of the Philippines. The inclusion of Mariano Trias in the list is disputed, for Trias was chosen as Vice President at the Tejeros Convention, and again as Vice-President for the short-lived Biak na Bato Republic, which was dissolved after the signing of the Pact of Biak na Bato and Aguinaldo's exile. Neither the reassumption of power by Emilio Aguinaldo when the revolution was resumed in May 1898 or his formal proclamation and inauguration as President under the First Philippine Republic in 1899 were regimes that provided for a vice presidency. The vice presidency within the context of the Philippine government was formally created by the constitution in 1935.

Note that the Vice-Presidents under the Commonwealth of the Philippines were under American sovereignty, and that there was no office of the vice president during the Second Republic, considered to be a puppet government of Imperial Japan during World War II.

When Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, the sitting vice president, Fernando Lopez, was removed from the office. Marcos ruled without a vice-president until 1986. The 1973 constitution initially did not provide for a vice-president, but subsequent amendments restored the office. A Vice-President was able to sit after the 1986 election when the Marcos-Arturo Tolentino ticket were proclaimed winners by the Batasang Pambansa.

Three vice presidents succeeded to the presidency due to the death of the president - Sergio Osmeña (1944), Elpidio Quirino (1948) and Carlos P. Garcia (1957). They did not nominate a new vice-president, since the 1935 constitution was silent on the matter, a new vice-president would sit after the results of following elections were known. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo became president after the Supreme Court ruled that President Joseph Estrada resigned. Arroyo appointed Teofisto Guingona days after she ascended into power. The 1987 constitution mandated the President to nominate a vice president from a member of the Congress of the Philippines, in which both houses will vote separately for confirmation via a majority vote.

Fernando Lopez is the longest-serving vice president, who stayed in office for 2,884 nonconsecutive days. Arturo Tolentino served 6 days before being deposed in the 1986 People Power Revolution. Noli de Castro was the first vice president who was never a member of any political party but affiated with the political coalition led by Lakas-CMD.