1992 in the Philippines

1992 in the Philippines details events of note that happened in the Philippines in the year 1992.

Decades:

Incumbents

Fidel V.
Ramos

Joseph E.
Estrada

Neptali A.
Gonzales Sr.

Jose C.
de Venecia Jr.

Andres D.
Narvasa

President

- Corazon Aquino (PDP–Laban) (until June 30)
- Fidel V. Ramos (Lakas) (starting June 30)
Vice President
- Salvador Laurel (Nacionalista) (until June 30)
- Joseph Estrada (NPC) (starting June 30)
Senate President
- Jovito Salonga (until January 1)
- Neptali Gonzales, Sr. (starting January 1)
House Speaker
- Ramon Mitra, Jr. (until June 30)
- Jose de Venecia, Jr. (starting July 27)
Chief Justice: Andres Narvasa
Philippine Congress
- 8th Congress of the Philippines (until June 17)
- 9th Congress of the Philippines (starting July 27)

Events

January

January 2 – The tailings dam breaks at Number Two tailings storage facility of Philex Mining Corporation's Padcal mine in Benguet Province, releasing 80 million cubic metres of effluent, probably the largest tailings spill in history.^[1]
January 7 – Former First Lady Imelda Marcos is arrested and later released on charges regarding her accounts in Switzerland.
January 15 – Pag-asa is hatched in Davao City becoming the first Philippine eagle to be successfully bred and hatched in captivity.

February

February 15 – At least 41 are killed and 24 are wounded when New People's Army guerrillas ambush a large company of army troops in Marihatag, Surigao del Sur.^[2]

March

Early March – The country begins to experience one of the worst post-war power crises, where blackouts, caused by power shortages, affects Metro Manila and southern Luzon and worsens by end of May; with the capital experiencing almost 60 blackouts since March 1.^[3]
March 5 – A massive power outage throughout Metro Manila begins at mid-afternoon, with more than half of the region having electricity restored by early evening. It is caused by the overloaded Dolores-Marikina line, as well as the tripping of two major supply lines in southern Luzon a day earlier.^[4]
March 10 – Five students of PUP are found floating in the Pasig River after an altercation during a basketball game involving INC members.^[5]
March 18 – Pre-dawn police raids on five suspected hide-outs of the Red Scorpion Group, a kidnapping group consisting of suspected communist guerrillas, across Metro Manila reportedly leaves 10–14 people killed, while at least two women are arrested and three police officers are injured. In Las Piñas, Michael Barnes of California is rescued during a shootout. Barnes, vice president and general manager of Philippine Geothermal, Inc., a Unocal Corporation subsidiary, has been kidnaped on January 17.^[6]

May

May 10 – Guerrillas of the New People's Army ambush a police patrol in Cagayan, killing fifteen policemen and injuring five others.^[7]
May 11 – Synchronized national and local elections are held.^[7]
May 25 – In PepsiCo's promotion Number Fever, the winning number "349" is announced with a million-peso prize; however, an error causes more than 600,000 winners; several violent incidents followed. By following year, about 22,000 people filed more than five thousand lawsuits against Pepsi, outnumbering those against former Pres. Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos. In 2006, a court would rule in favor of Pepsi.^[8]^[9]

June

June 30 – Former defense secretary Fidel Ramos and former senator Joseph Estrada swear in as the 12th President and 11th Vice President of the Philippines, succeeding Corazon Aquino and Salvador Laurel.

July

July 3 – The Supreme Court upholds a ruling by the Court of Appeals which has favored the civil suits filed by residents of Norzagaray, Bulacan, against the National Power Corporation, in connection with the flooding of the municipality during Typhoon Kading in 1978, which was purportedly caused by the latter's release of water from Angat Dam.^[10]

September

September 22 – Pres. Ramos signs Republic Act 7636, which repeals the Anti-Subversion Act of 1957.^[11]^[12]
September 30 – US forces leave Subic Bay Naval Base upon its turn over to the Philippines.^[13]

October

October 1 – Nationwide power outages begin, continuing even in the first months of 1993.^[14]

November

November 24:
- Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority is formed by virtue of Republic Act 7227, known as the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992.
- Subic Bay Naval Base closes as it is turned over to the local government, with a last batch of American soldiers finally leaving Naval Air Station Cubi Point and returning to the US, ending its military presence in the country.^[15]

Holidays

As per Executive Order No. 292, chapter 7 section 26, the following are regular holidays and special days, approved last July 25, 1987.^[16] Note that in the list, holidays in bold are "regular holidays" and those in italics are "nationwide special days".

January 1 – New Year's Day
April 9 – Araw ng Kagitingan (Bataan and Corregidor Day)
April 16 – Maundy Thursday
April 17 – Good Friday
May 1 – Labor Day
June 12 – Independence Day
August 30 – National Heroes Day
November 1 – All Saints Day
November 30 – Bonifacio Day
December 25 – Christmas Day
December 30 – Rizal Day
December 31 – Last Day of the Year

In addition, several other places observe local holidays, such as the foundation of their town. These are also "special days."

Television

February 21 – Associated Broadcasting Company (ABC 5) resumes its radio-television operations with their slogans for station ID Come Home to ABC until the last day of July and Catch Up with Today TV in the first day of August.
May 30 – Southern Broadcasting Network, a local UHF TV station in Metro Manila is launched. It was then known as World TV 21 (now Solar Television Network as ETC).

Films

18th Metro Manila Film Festival
Boy Recto
Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal
Engkanto
Takbo Talon Tili!
Shake, Rattle & Roll IV
Manila Boy
Okey Ka Fairy Ko!

Sports

March 20 – 28 – Pasig and Manila host the 1992 ISF Men's World Championship in which 18 nations participated.
July 25 – August 9 – The Philippines compete at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. At least 26 competitors, 24 men and 2 women, took part in 29 events in 9 sports.^[17] Stephen Fernandez and Beatriz Lucero, both win a bronze medal in taekwondo, but their medals are not included in the official medal tally as taekwondo was only a demonstration event.
August 24 – 29 – The team representing the Zamboanga City Little League wins the International Championship of the 1992 Little League World Series held in Pennsylvania. Later discovered that the team violated age and residency requirements and Little League stripped them of their title.^[18]

Births

January 2 – Alden Richards, actor and singer
January 8 – Pamu Pamorada, actress
January 20:
- Mark Hartmann, football player
- Troy Rosario, basketball player
January 21 – Denden Lazaro, volleyball player
February 4 – Francis Alcantara, tennis player
February 7 – Kylie Verzosa, Miss International 2016
February 12 – Joseph Eriobu, basketball player
March 1 – Reden Celda, basketball player
March 8 – Mervin Guarte, middle-distance runner (d. 2025)
March 9 – Samboy de Leon, basketball player
March 11 – KZ Tandingan, singer and recording artist
March 16 – Terrence Romeo, basketball player
March 23 – Ria Atayde, actress
March 28 – Lucho Ayala, actor
March 30 – Enrique Gil, actor and singer
April 10 – Marion Aunor, singer and recording artist
April 11 – Nesthy Petecio, boxer
April 16 – Brian Poe Llamanzares, journalist and politician
April 17 – Mutya Johanna Datul, Miss Supranational 2013
April 19 – Ashley Rivera, actress
April 28 – Dennis Villanueva, football player
May 6 – Manuel Ott, football player
May 8 – Vickie Rushton, actress, beauty pageant contestant and model
May 9:
- Chris Gutierrez, actor
- Jiro Manio, actor
May 10:
- Jake Zyrus, singer and actor
- Zia Marquez, actress
May 20 – AJ Muhlach, singer and actor
June 4 – Kiko Estrada, actor
June 7 – Jordan Clarkson, basketball player
June 16 – Roger Pogoy, basketball player
June 30 – Alfred Labatos, actor
July 4 – Carl Cari, politician
July 9 – Jake Vargas, actor and singer
July 27 – Mark L. Cruz, basketball player
August 2 – Jio Jalalon, basketball player
August 3 – Aljon Mariano, basketball player
August 4 – Neil Coleta, actor
August 6 – Victor Silayan, actor and model
August 7 – Jeric Gonzales, actor
August 9 – KaladKaren, actress and TV host
August 28 – Max Collins, actress
September 1 – Louise delos Reyes, actress
September 2 – Michele Gumabao, beach and indoor volleyball player and beauty queen
September 9 – Frencheska Farr, singer, model and actress
September 24 – Coleen Garcia, actress
September 29 – Baser Amer, basketball player
October 17 – Sam Concepcion, singer, dancer, actor, host and model
October 29 – Mon Abundo, basketball player
November 10 – Samantha Bernardo, actress, beauty queen and model
November 14 – Jaclyn Sawicki, football player
November 20 – Yen Santos, actress
November 25 – Martin del Rosario, actor

Deaths

February 3 – Jay Ilagan, actor (b. 1953)
February 9 – Apeng Daldal, actor, comedian, vaudevillian, singer and writer (b. 1928)
February 14 – Helen Vela, actress, broadcaster (b. 1946)
March 9 – Isidro Rodriguez, 18th Governor of Rizal and softball sports official (b. 1915)
March 22 – Joe Cantada, TV host, anchor and commentator (b. 1942)
May 28 – Lorenzo Tañada, senator (b. 1898)
August 17 – Tecla San Andres Ziga, senator (b. 1906)
September 3 – César Bengzon, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (b. 1896)
December 2 – Jaime de la Rosa, pre-war and postwar actor (b. 1921)