Pascual B. Racuyal (Tinago,

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Sugbo; fil, Lungsod ng Cebu; hil, Dakbanwa sang Sugbo), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines and capital of the Cebu Province. Acc ...

, 1911 – Bulacan, 2004) was a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

eccentric and aspirant for the Philippine presidency, whose persistent attempts at the presidency earned him folk status. Racuyal sought the presidency in every Philippine presidential election beginning in 1935 against

Manuel L. Quezon Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, (; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his de ...

and Emilio Aguinaldo until 1986 (against Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino).

Life and attempted political career

He grew up in Barangay Tinago in Cebu City and eventually, became a mechanic at an early age. An unknown fanaticism and will urged him to run for presidency, eventually leading to his flight to Manila, wherein he argued and debated with prominent political figures and became a constant mock-up comedian of sort every presidential election. Racuyal, a

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning an ...

or garbage collector by profession, was never a credible political figure at any point in his life. His final attempt at the presidency in 1986 was thwarted after the

Commission on Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

disqualified him as a “ nuisance candidate”. There were questions as to Racuyal's mental stability. Among his promises should he be elected to the presidency was to construct roads out of plastic to prevent their further deterioration. When he invited

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Mayor

Arsenio Lacson Arsenio Hilario Sison Lacson Sr. (December 26, 1912 – April 15, 1962) was a Filipino journalist and politician who gained widespread attention as mayor of Manila from 1952 to 1962. An active executive likened by '' Time'' and '' The New Yor ...

to be his running mate in the 1953 presidential elections, the latter called Racuyal “strictly fiction, utterly fantastic and incredible”. Nonetheless, as time passed, his repeated candidacy provided for an amusing mild diversion to a frequently heated election atmosphere. Racuyal made it to the ballot twice. In 1935, he got 158 votes or less than 0.01% of the vote. In

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, he got 778 votes, or just over 0.01% of the vote. Racuyal died in 2004 in Bulacan and was buried at an undisclosed location.

References

External links