POLITICAL

PARTIES AND
ORGANIZATIONS
 HISTORY OF
POLITICAL
PARTIES IN THE
PHILIPPINES
The
 first Philippine political party, established in
1900, was the Federal Party, which advocated
peace and eventual statehood.
Later, the Nationalist Party (NP) and the

Democratic Party were established. They did not
produce an actual two-party system, since the
Nationalists retained exclusive control and the
Democrats functioned as a "loyal opposition."
However,
 following Japanese occupation and the
granting of independence, an effective two-party
system developed between the Liberal Party (LP)
and the NP.
The Progressive Party, formed in 1957 by

adherents of Ramon Magsaysay, polled more
than one million votes in the presidential election
of 1958.
In
 the elections of November 1965, Senator
Ferdinand Marcos, the NP candidate, received 55%
of the vote. In the 1969 election, he was elected to
an unprecedented second term.
All political activity was banned in 1972, following

the imposition of martial law, and was not allowed
to resume until a few months before the April 1978
elections for an interim National Assembly.
The
 Marcos government's New Society Movement
(Kilusang Bagong Lipunan- KBL) won that election and
the 1980 and 1982 balloting for local officials, amid
charges of electoral fraud and attempts by opposition
groups to boycott the voting.
The principal opposition party was the People's Power

Movement-Fight (Lakas Ng Bayan- Laban), led by
Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., until his assassination in 1983.
This
 party joined with 11 other opposition parties in
1982 to form a coalition known as the United
Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO).
Following Aquino's murder, some 50 opposition
groups, including the members of the UNIDO
coalition, agreed to coordinate their anti-Marcos
efforts.
This coalition of opposition parties enabled Corazon

Aquino to campaign against Marcos in 1986.
In
 September 1986 the revolutionary left formed
a legal political party to contest congressional
elections. The Partido ng Bayan (Party of the
Nation) allied with other left-leaning groups in
an Alliance for New Politics.
This unsuccessful attempt for electoral

representation resulted in a return to guerrilla
warfare on the part of the Communists.
After
 assuming the presidency, Aquino formally
organized the People's Power Movement (Lakas
Ng Bayan), the successor to her late husband's
party.
In the congressional elections of May 1987,

Aquino's popularity gave her party a sweep in the
polls, making it the major party in the country.
Marcos's KBL was reduced to a minor party.
Some
 of its members formed their own splinter groups,
such as the Grand Alliance for Democracy (GAD), a
coalition of parties seeking distance from Marcos.
Others revived the LP and the NP, seeking renewed
leadership.
The left-wing People's Party (Partido Ng Bayan), which

supports the political objectives of the NPA, was a minor
party in the elections. In May 1989 Juan Ponce Enrile
reestablished the Nacionalista Party.
A new opposition party, the Filipino Party (Partido Pilipino),
organized in 1991 as a vehicle for Aquino's estranged cousin
Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco's presidential campaign. He ran
third in the election, taking 18.1% of the vote, behind Miriam
Defensor Santiago with 19.8% of the vote.
On 30 June 1992 Fidel Ramos succeeded Corazon Aquino as
president of the Philippines with a plurality of 23.6%. In
September 1992 Ramos signed the Anti-Subversion Law
signaling a peaceful resolution to more than 20 years of
Communist insurgency, with the repeal of the anti-subversion
legislation in place since 1957.
On 26 August 1994 Ramos announced a new
political coalition that would produce the most
powerful political group in the Philippines. Ramos'
Lakas-National Union of Christian Democrats
(Lakas/NUCD) teamed with the Democratic Filipino
Struggle (Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, Laban).
Following the 1995 elections, the LDP controlled the
Senate with 14 of the 24 members.
The elections in 1998 changed the political landscape
once more. In the Senate the newly created Laban Ng
Masang Pilipino, led by presidential candidate,
Joseph Estrada, captured 12 seats to the Lakas 5, PRP
2, LP 1, independents 3. The LAMP party also
dominated the House of Representatives with 135
seats to the Lakas 37, LP 13, Aksyon Demokratiko 1,
and 35 independents.
Political parties and their leaders in 2002 included:
Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (New Society Movement), led
by Imelda Marcos; Laban Ng Demokratikong Pilipino
(Struggle of Filipino Democrats) or LDP, led by Eduardo
Angara; Lakas, led by Jose De Venecia; Liberal Party or
LP, led by Florencio Abad; Nacionalista Party, led by
Jose Oliveros; National People's Coalition or NPC, led
by Eduardo Cojuangco; PDP-Laban, led by Aquilino
Pimentel; and the People's Reform Party or PRP, led by
Miriam Defensor-Santiago.