Aldrin H.

Calo Subject: Philippine Political Parties

3RD Year AB-POLSCI Professor: Hazel Jagmis

Prelim Project (5 Page Paper)

1. Research on the earliest political parties we have in the Philippines (during

Aguinaldo to Marcos Regime)

1. Nacionalista Party

2. Liberal Party

3. Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan

4. New Society Movement (Kilusang Bagong Lipunan)

2. Describe the nature of Political Parties

1. Nacionalista Party

In the context of the Philippines this political party is considered as the oldest but
at the same time the most prominent political parties do we have in the Philippines. This
political party is founded on year 1907, this political party played a significant role in the
battle and struggle of the Philippines for fighting for our Philippines independence. The
platform of this party had been always focus with the nationalism which means that they
advocate and create policies that will promote the interest of the Filipino. However like
other political parties, their ideology and priorities may change as time goes by
depending on the issues or problems arising. In fact, the Nacionalista party during the
passage of Jones Law in 1916 were able to get high number of votes when it comes on
elections. The reason is because people believes that they are in control of the
government as former Governor General Harrison always listen to the advice of this
party in representing the interest of the Filipino’s. Therefore this party also played a
major role in the politics of the Philippines. Most of its members are holding positions in
the government in different levels, which is from the President, Senate as well as the
Local Government Units. This Political party is advocating full independence of the
Philippines from United States.

2. Liberal Party

This party is founded on year 1946, this political party is considered as an

institution wherein the history is always full of sacrifice. In fact the members of this
political party were ready and committed to sacrifice themselves just only to see the
liberty and freedom reign in our country. Its an idea of cooperation for them since they
are willing to put their lives at risk just only to give the people freedom and the liberty
they want which means that, they are free from interference in living their own lives.
This party is always known as one of the human rights protector, in fact they challenged
the death penalty because they believed that those people who committed any
unappropriate acts must be sent in prison and not to death as they argued that it will
violate the right to life of the people. They argued that violence is not the only way to
resolve problems created by the people, there must be restrictions in their liberty but not
at the extent of death penalty. There are many ways to force the people to abide the law
but it doesn’t need to result to intimidation through death penalty. To cut it short, they
want the government to end murder as a means of making the society organized. This
party is also known as the defender of democracy and our rule of law. They also
promote and advocate the electorate process since they don’t want anyone to
consolidate the power without the consent of the governed. Liberals believe that
politicians must acquire their power through the consent of the governed, meaning to
say by electing them on the positions they are running for. The liberal party is also
known as the political party who’s fighting the corruption happening in the government.
They are also the political party who acquires the opinion and the perspective of the
mass people in policy making, because people knows people knows what’s best for
them and what solution that their problems requires.

3. Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan

The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) was known to be

founded in 1982 as being merged by two parties; the Partidio Demokratiko Pilipino and
Lakas ng Bayan. The purpose of the establishment of this party is to oppose the
authoritarian rule of the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr. This party became popular during the
term of the late Corazon Aquino who was elected as president of the Republic of the
Philippines right after Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was impeached and remove from the office
during the 1986 People Power Revolution. The reason of their popularity is that this
political party became the vehicle or bridge in order to rebuild or bring back the
democratic spirit in the Philippines during the People Power Revolution. Moving
forward, the ideology of PDP-Laban if focused on advocating for democracy, human
rights, and social justice. In the recents years the PDP-Laban during the term of Former
President Rodrigo Duterte has been associated with federalism and decentralization
which means that some of the powers will be given or granted to the local governments
to address the problems arising within the localities. The purpose is that, the powers is
not centralized to the national government; the localities doesn’t need to wait for the
response of the national government towards addressing the problems arising within the
localities during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, PDP-Laban is considered being a
dominant political force and the reason for that is its members are holding the major
positions in the government.

4. New Society Movement

The New Society Movement or otherwise known as Kilusang Bagong Lipunan or

KBL political party was known to be found in 1978. This political party serves as vehicle
of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and supported him on his plan of having authoritarian
government during his term as it serves as his vision of a new society. This political
party was closely associated with the implementation of martial law that the late
Ferdinand Marcos Sr. did during his administration as the President of the Republic of
the Philippines during that time. The movement of this party of societal transformation is
based on Marcos Sr. ideals to have centralized authority which means that there are
only selected persons who can decide on the problems affecting the country during that
time. This also means that the person in authority can make decisions without any
approval by the other branches of government during that time which violates the
principle of separation of powers since the power is centralized to a one person only
and all of the policies and the crucial decisions needs to be executed may be executed
even without the objection and approval of other branch of government. To cut it short,
this political party played a major role in the political structure of the Philippines during
Marcos dictatorship. They become the vehicle of the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in
manipulating the electoral processes which get criticized by many of the people as the
late Marcos Sr. serves as a president for a long time.

3. Discuss the Implication of the existing political party system in the Philippines
on the governance of the country

Towards the Liberal Party as the existing political party in the Philippines since
the leaders of this party is willing to sacrifice their lives just only to see the liberty or
freedom reign within the people, I think the implication of this in the governance of our
country is that we were able to use our voice on expressing what’s on our mind. In a
democratic country, it is important because were the one who’s giving political powers
to our politicians by electing them through suffrage to do their official functions and
duties. If we are being heard by the politicians who’s governing us, its more likely the
social contract theory is being exercised because the people are being governed in the
way they want to be govern. In a democratic country, the people must be governed the
way they want to be governed because sovereignty emanates from them which means
that they are true holder of the power until they transmit it with their politicians through
electing it. This freedom and liberty that Liberal party is advocating will give the people
hope that they can live in the society without having the fear of being abducted by the
persons in authority when they say something contrary to the government. I believed
that there is nothing wrong if we use our voice on making an opinion about the mistakes
committed by the government unintentionally or intended since doing this kind of
activities doesn’t always means criticizing but were just demanding something sufficient
services from the government. Moving forward the advocacy of the Liberal Party to
promote electoral process will also give our country and implication of no person will
have an authority to govern without the consent of the governed.

About the PDP-Laban as political party, their being closed to federalism and
decentralization during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte will have an implication in
the governance of the country in terms of having fast and immediate response on the
problems faced by the localities. In short, the complication is that it will take no longer
time to resolve problems in the localities because they don’t need to wait for the
approval of the national government to finally execute their plan/s on resolving the
problem.

4. Propose different advocacies and how to address them through the methods
utilized by political parties

Using an Iron Fist – If ever I will be given the chance to govern or at least suggest an
advocacies that can be used for governing our country, of course, it would be all about
Iron Fist. When we hear the word iron fist, we always associate it with violence but
that’s not what it actually means on this advocacy of mine. What I only mean about this
once is I want to make rules that will force the people to abide the law and become an
organized and disciplined the citizen even without hurting them or penalizing them
through physical attacks to the extent that it will cause a physical injuries to them. I will
execute this through the idea of Liberal Party to give the people the freedom to voice
out their viewpoints in the government so that the governed and the one who’s
governing will not have a conflict with each other. Meaning to say the people and the
government will meet with each other regarding the restrictions that must be imposed or
executed to the people once they do unappropriate acts that harms and destroy the
peace and being organized of the society. We must remember that violence will not
make people abide the law, they will just only rebel against it because the punishment is
cruel, it must not all end in violence even we believe sometimes that people will not
abide the law if there’s no iron fist.

Social Justice – I will proposed this advocacy because I want to have an equality when
it comes on giving social justice. Meaning to say, regardless of our social status in life,
the process of giving justice should be fair and equal. No one should be prioritized
based on their social status in life. Just like for example, regarding the farmers case if
their lands is being taken by the wealthy people unjustly it takes a lot of time on
resolving their case since they are not privileged once. I want to execute this advocacy
of mine through advocating for social justice like that PDP-Laban political party is
fighting for.