Sotto brothers' quest for women's suffrage
The Sotto brothers, the legislators of Cebu, championed the women of this country's right of suffrage. The elder brother, Filemon Yap Sotto, who was elected in the first national assembly in 1907, representing the old 3rd District of Cebu (composed of Carcar, Minglanilla, Naga, San Fernando, and Talisay, he vacated the district in 1916 to run for the first senatorial election in 1916 and won) was the first to file the bill on women's suffrage. It did not, however, pass into law.
Don Filemon Yap Sotto filed the bill in response to the advocacy of Pura Villanueva-Kalaw, the founder of the Associacion Feminista Ilongga in 1906. Pura was born in Arevalo, Iloilo, and was the daughter of Emilio Villanueva and Emilia Garcia. Pura married Teodoro Maniguiat Kalaw, a lawyer and newspaperman in 1910. Pura was the country's first festival queen.
In the 1934 Constitutional Convention, Filemon was joined by his younger brother, Vicente, after both of them were elected delegates of the Constitutional Convention. They voiced the passage of the women's right of suffrage. The majority of the delegates did not agree on the Sotto brothers' move. The sub-committee headed by Don Filemon reported that on October 19, 1934 the draft of the proposed constitution has been approved. Miraculously, on November 5, 1934, the delegates passed a compromise on women's suffrage providing that the National Assembly shall extend the right of suffrage to women if in a plebiscite no less than 300,000 women would vote for its approval.
When the National Assembly was reconvened after the passage of the 1935 Constitution, they enacted Commonwealth Act No. 34 on September 30, 1936, it was entitled "An Act to provide for the holding of a plebiscite on the question of woman's suffrage." Section 2 of the law provides that Filipino women citizens 21 years and above, shall vote for the plebiscite. It was on April 30, 1937 the women trooped to the polling precincts for the first time to cast their vote on the question: Are you in favor of granting suffrage to women? The answer was 447,725 yes out of the 492,725 who voted.
The December 14, 1937 general elections in Cebu saw the first woman candidate, Felicidad Climaco, the Tandang Sora of the Cebuano Revolt. She was the candidate for board member of the Frente Popular with Vicente Sotto as gubernational candidate. Felicidad was the first woman to speak in a public rally, the historical event happened on February 10, 1933 in Washington Park, Cebu City.
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