1973 in the Philippines explained

1973 in the Philippines details events of note that happened in the Philippines in the year 1973.

Incumbents

President: Ferdinand Marcos (Independent)
Chief Justice:
- Roberto Concepcion (until April 18)
- Querube Makalintal (starting April 18)

Events

January

January 10–15 – A national plebiscite referendum is held among the citizens' assemblies to ratify the new Constitution.^[1]
January 15 – Chinese Lim Seng (Guan Suo So), upon order from Pres. Marcos on January 3, is publicly executed by firing squad in a firing range in Fort Bonifacio, Rizal for drug trafficking; the country's first execution by that method after 27 years, and only drug convict executed in the martial law era. He was charged in connection to a case wherein illegal drugs were seized in an operation in parts of Metro Manila in 1972.^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5]
January 17 – The 1973 Constitution is declared ratified, which provides the incumbent President the right to continue exercising his powers under the 1935 Constitution and the powers vested in the President and the Prime Minister under the new Constitution.^[6]
January 31 – Supreme Court decides in a case filed against Commission of Elections, that the "incumbent president of the Philippines" is Pres. Marcos, as stated in the Transitory Provisions of the 1973 Constitution.
April 24 – National Democratic Front is founded as the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
May – Masagana 99 program is launched by Pres. Marcos.

July

July 27–28 – National referendum is held wherein 90.77% of the Citizen Assemblies voted for the ratification of the 1973 Constitution and the continuation of Martial Law, as well as continuation of Pres. Marcos' term beyond 1973.^[7]

August

August 27 – Benigno Aquino Jr. refuses to recognize the military court that will try him on various charges.

September

September 27 – Eight municipalities of Sulu are removed from its jurisdiction to create the new province of Tawi-Tawi (Presidential Decree No. 302), with Bato-Bato, Balimbing as its capital.^[8]

November

November 22 – Old Cotabato province is divided into three new provinces: North Cotabato (with Kidapawan as its capital), Maguindanao (capital, Maganoy) and Sultan Kudarat (capital, Isulan). (PD No. 302)

December

December 27 – Part of Zamboanga del Sur is removed from its jurisdiction to create the new province of Basilan (PD No. 356), with Isabela as its capital.

Holidays

See main article: Public holidays in the Philippines. As per Act No. 2711 section 29,^[9] issued on March 10, 1917, any legal holiday of fixed date falls on Sunday, the next succeeding day shall be observed as legal holiday. Sundays are also considered legal religious holidays. Bonifacio Day was added through Philippine Legislature Act No. 2946. It was signed by then-Governor General Francis Burton Harrison in 1921.^[10] On October 28, 1931, the Act No. 3827 was approved declaring the last Sunday of August as National Heroes Day.^[11] As per Republic Act No. 3022,^[12] April 9 was proclaimed as Bataan Day. Independence Day was changed from July 4 (Philippine Republic Day) to June 12 (Philippine Independence Day) last August 4, 1964.^[13]

January 1 – New Year's Day
February 22 – Legal Holiday
April 9 – Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor)
April 19 – Maundy Thursday
April 20 – Good Friday
May 1 – Labor Day
- June 12 – Independence Day July 4 – Philippine Republic Day
August 13 – Legal Holiday
August 26 – National Heroes Day
September 21 – Thanksgiving Day
November 30 – Bonifacio Day
December 25 – Christmas Day
December 30 – Rizal Day

Entertainment and culture

July 21 – Miss Philippines Margarita Moran is the second Filipino to be crowned as Miss Universe 1973 which was held in Athens, Greece.
November 4 – Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation began radio-television operations.^[14]

Sports

November 18–23 – The inaugural Asian Athletics Championships is held in Marikina, Rizal.
December 1–15 – The 1973 Asian Basketball Confederation Championship were held in Manila.

Births

January 8 – Keempee de Leon, actor, comedian, singer, songwriter and TV host
January 22 – John Apacible, actor (d. 2011)
January 23 – Epy Quizon, actor
January 30 - Michael Locsin, former actor
January 31 – Jay Manalo, actor and model
February 7 – Angel Aquino, film and television actress
March 2 – Asi Taulava, Filipino-Tongan basketball player
March 8 – Mickey Ferriols, Filipino actress
March 13 – Bojo Molina, actor
March 17 - Rico Blanco, musician, singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, endorser
May 5 – Maey Bautista, actress and comedian
May 11 – Cesar Apolinario, broadcast journalist (d. 2019)
May 12 – Nancy Binay, politician
May 25 – Gelli de Belen, actress
June 13 - John Estrada, actor
June 14 – Pekto, actor and comedian
July 3 – Mimi Miyagi, Filipino model, pornographic actress, film director and actress^[15]
July 7 – John Lapus, actor, host, and comedian
July 19 – Diether Ocampo, actor, singer, model, and military officer
July 20 – Raymart Santiago, TV host, actor, and comedian.
September 6 – Oliver Agapito, basketball player
September 12 – Kara David, broadcast journalist
September 26 – Rovilson Fernandez, television host
December 8 – Richard Poon, singer
December 13 – Adeline Dumapong, Paralympic weightlifter.

Deaths

January 30 – Quintín Paredes, lawyer and politician (b. 1884)

Notes and References

News: Supervised Citizens' Units Are Polled in Philippine 'Referendum'. Durdin. Tillman. Jan 11, 1973. The New York Times. July 31, 2019.
http://rizal.lib.admu.edu.ph/reserve/12012/Kasaysayan%20Vol10%20%20A%20Timeline%20of%20Phil%20History.pdf "Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People, Volume 10: Timeline of Philippine History"
Web site: Lim Seng remembered. Ocampo. Ambeth. July 13, 2016. Inquirer.net. July 29, 2019.
Originally from the news article by Teddy Africa and Max Buan, Jr., published in The Journal on 01-16-1973. Republished by Bagong Lipunan website (Link) on 02-09-2017. Retrieved 07-29-2019.
Web site: How we kill: Notes on the death penalty in the Philippines (Part 1 of 2). Ariate. Joel Jr. . July 14, 2019. ABS-CBN News. July 29, 2019.
Web site: Presidential Decree No. 1229. October 30, 1977. Chan Robles Virtual Law Library. July 31, 2019.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Sp3U1oCNKlgC&dq=1973+philippines+referendum&pg=PA57 Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines: The Political Economy of Authoritarianism
Web site: Presidential Decrees - 1973. The Lawphil Project. July 31, 2019.
Web site: AN ACT AMENDING THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE. live. February 22, 2022. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://web.archive.org/web/20171025043316/http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph:80/1917/03/10/act-no-2711/ . October 25, 2017 .
Web site: Bonifacio Day in Philippines in 2022. live. February 22, 2022. Official Holidays. https://web.archive.org/web/20200705124615/https://www.officeholidays.com/holidays/philippines/bonifacio-day . July 5, 2020 .
Web site: Act No. 3827. live. February 22, 2022. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://web.archive.org/web/20170828111303/http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph:80/1931/10/28/act-no-3827/ . August 28, 2017 .
Web site: April 6, 1961. AN ACT PROCLAIMING THE NINTH DAY OF APRIL AS BATAAN DAY AND DECLARING IT AS A LEGAL HOLIDAY.. live. February 22, 2022. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://web.archive.org/web/20210217093423/https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1961/04/06/republic-act-no-3022/ . February 17, 2021 .
Web site: August 4, 1964. AN ACT CHANGING THE DATE OF PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM JULY FOUR TO JUNE TWELVE, AND DECLARING JULY FOUR AS PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC DAY, FURTHER AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION TWENTY-NINE OF THE REVISED ADMINISTRATIVE CODE. February 22, 2022. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines.
News: Aragon . Ian Carlo . Blatant distortion of history . Inquirer . June 26, 2020.
Web site: mimi miyagi . iafd.com . 2015-12-20 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160112222123/http://www.iafd.com/person.rme/perfid%3DMMiyagi/gender%3Dfemale . 2016-01-12 .