History of Political Parties in the Philippines

Kurt Ryan P. Jesura BA-PolSci IV

 Single-party hegemony, 1907-1946

• American Colonial Rule

• 2 Things defined the conditions for such
development
– The first was the realized need by the American
colonizers to put forward a viable avenue for political
participation by Filipinos as a counterpoint to the
armed resistance of the Filipino revolutionaries
against colonial occupation.
– The second is the need to attract a significant number
of Filipino elites into the fold of colonial governance
 Direct Electoral Participation
and
Elitist orientation

• Teodoro Agoncillo would describe as a period of

suppressed nationalism; political parties in the early
American colonial rule were actually banned from
campaigning for immediate independence and
including this as part of the party platform, as this
was considered a seditious act.
• Qualifications for those who will be allowed to file
their candidacies, as well as those who will be
allowed to vote, rested on the individual’s socio-
economic and political status.
Considered as qualified to vote and be elected were the following:

• Those who, prior to the 13th of August 1898, held the office of municipal
captain, gobernadorcillo, alcalde, lieutenant, cabeza de barangay, or
member of any ayuntamiento;
• Those who own real property to the value of 500 pesos, or who annually
pay thirty pesos or more of the established taxes
• Those who speak, read and write English or Spanish (ARWD, 1901, 135)

• Male -belonging to any of the lowland Christian groups, of legal age and
who bowed to the American colonial authority were qualified to vote.
• Women -indigenous peoples and those who were still continuing with
the resistance were disenfranchised from participating in the electoral
process.
 Two prominent political parties

• The Partido Federal

– originally advocated statehood and integration with the United States but changed
its platform to one that campaigned for “ultimate independence”.
• The Nacionalista party
– officially carried the platform of “immediate” independence.

Other>>>>
• Progresista Party
– the Partido Federal transformed itself after the lifting of the ban on the campaign for
independence.

• Partido Nacionalista
– was normally associated with the relaxation of the ban on campaigning for
independence, as stated in the Sedition Law
 Several small parties and groups were formed
in order to pursue the campaign for indepence
through electoral means;
• The Partido Independista Inmediatista
• The Partido Urgentista
• The Comite de La Union Nacional
 Philippine Assembly
• Sergio Osmena
• Manuel Quezon (senate president)
• Pablo Ocampo
• Felipe Agoncillo
• Rafael Palma
• Galicano Apacible Osmena (speaker of the
Assembly)
• August 1901
– Pascual Poblere organized the Nacionalista Party (an entirely different entity from
the Nacionalista Party founded in 1907) to campaign for self-government and later
for independence.
• Nationalista who served in the Malolos Republic; Cecilio Apostol, Aguedo
del Rosario, Santiago Alvarez, Macario Sakay and Andres Villanueva
• 1902
– Jose Maria Vina, Leona Ma. Guerrero Alberto Barreto and Justo Lukban founded the
Partido Democrata which like the first Paritdo Nacionalista, advocated independence
for the Philippines through peaceful means.
• 1914
– A small group of Nacionalista, led by Teodoro Snadiko, seceded from the Nacionalista
Party in protest against the “very personal and autocratic government” by the
Nacionalista.
 The Major Characteristics of the party
system in the Philippines
• First was the pre-eminence of the Nacionalista
Party in the electoral systems.
• Second, since the majority of the leaders and
members of the party system were limited to
the members of the elite, as required by the
electoral law, party structures and
organizartions were essentially instruments
for advancing elite interests and projects.
• The Sakdal Party
– was able to successfully challenge Nacionalista domination
in some localities by winning positions in local elections
• Socialist Party of the Philippines
– Was founded in 1929 to provide an ideologically oriented,
mass-based alternative to the Nacionalista Party
• Communist Party of the Philippines
– Established on November 7,1930 by Crisanto Evangelista
– The party tried to integrate the ideology of Marxism and
Leninism intro the conditions in the Philippines
 Section conclusions:Elitist orientation

• The development of political parties in the Philippines was

noted for its extremely elitist orientation
• The party system and the system of government that it brought
into power were dominated by the propertied and landed class
• The historical experience of mass-based, radical parties being
formed to challenge the dominant parties
• Most of the parties were active in labor and peasant unions; in
the advancement of people’s issues that were mostly neglected
by the mainstream parties and in providing an ideological
challenge to the elite dominated mainstream parties.
 The Two-Party system (1946-1972)

• January 4, 1946
– The Philippine Congress decide to have special session and set the election on April 23
• Philippine Politics had been dominated by the 2 parties
Nacionalista Party
– Ramon Magsasay (1951)
– Carlos Garcia (1957)
– Ferdinand Marcos (1965)
Liberal Party
– Manuel Roxas (1947)
– Elpidio Quirino (1949)
– Diosdado Macapagal (1961)
• Threats and Political Violence
• Political turncoatism
– With no significant differences in ideology, platforms and programs that
can be discerned in the two parties, and with the political parties both
dominated by elite interests, politicians would conveniently dump one’s
party and shift allegiance to the rival party for political expediency and
convenience
• 1953
– A faction of the Liberal Party formed the Democratic Party that initially
endorsed the candidacy of Carlos P. Romulo for President but switched
support to Magsaysay who was running under the formed the Progressive
Party of the Philippines, later renamed Grand Alliance and nominated
candidates for the Presidency and the Senate in 1957, and for the Senate
in the off-year elections of 1959.
 Several alternative and minor parties also emerge during the
period

• The Citizen’s Party established in 1949 led by

Lorenzo Tanada and later joined by Claro
Recto
• 1957
– Recto and Tanada formed the Nationalist Citizen’s
Party (NCP) and ran for President and Vice-
President, respectively
Back to Single-Party hegemony (1972-1986)

• The declaration of Martial Law in the

Philippines on Sept. 21,1972 by Ferdinand E.
Marcos
• Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL or Movement for
a New Society)
• KBL dominated national, local and
congressional elections, in electoral contest
held in 1981 presidential elections as well as
the 1984 Regular Assembly elections
Several opposition parties were organized to
challenge the Marcosian electoral machinery
• Interim Batasang Pambansa (IBP)
– Regional based election in 1978
• Pusyon Bisaya
– For Central Visayas Region
• Bicol Saro
– For Bicol Region
• Mindanao Alliance
– For Northern Mindanao
• Lakas ng Bayan (Laban)
– For Metro Manila
 Opposition Political Parties
• United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO)
– This was composed primarily of the Nacionalistas who were identified
with the Laurel family; some members of the Liberal Party; members
of the Mindanao Alliance; and exiled leaders Raul Manglapus abd
Benigno Aquino,Jr. but not including Lorenzo Tanada and Jose Diokno.
• PDP-Laban
– Was formed initially as a coalition of the Mindanao-based PDP and the
Manila-base Lakas ng Bayan
– Political leaders like Aquilino Pimentel became the major personality
to emerge from coalition
– The opposition parties won only 60 of the 183 contested seat in the
1984 elections.
• 1984 election
– It was also one of the most violent elections in Philippine
history, surpassing the record of the 1971 election-related
deaths,348 as opposed to 223
– The armed struggle waged by the New People’s Army (NPA)
under the reestablished Communist Party of the Philippines
(CCP) went into new heights and the National Democratic Front
of the Philippines (NDFP) was formed in 1973.
• 1978 election
– The participation of some activist, particullary in Manila-Rizal, in
the electoral exercise. The general line of the underground
revolutionary movement was to call for a boycot
 1984 and 1986 elections
• Vigorous campaign for electoral boycott on
the other part of the radical left parties, while
other anti-Marcos group and personalities
opted for critical participation
 Section Conclusion: Marcos’s monopoly of
power
• The declaration of martial law destroyed all illusions that a
democratic electoral system ever existed as a Philippine political
tradition
• The organization of the Partido ng Bayan (PnB) in the post-
Marcos years will mark this transition of the participation of the
left in electoral party politics
• Campaigning under the Alliance for New Politics (ANP), the Left
fielded seven candidates for the Senate and nominated or backed
71 candidates for the House of Representatives.
• The ANP, however, will fail in its electoral contest, with no ANP
candidates for the Senate and only 2 out of the 71 House
candidates winning in the elections.
• Moreover, some party members and campaign workers
will be kidnapped and murdered both before and after the
elections.
• The lessons of the PnB/ANP campaigns will also signal the
maturity of the left in handling electoral exercise.
• Year later the party list groups Bayan Muna, Gabriela,
Anakpawis, Suara, Anak ng Bayan (renamed KABATAAN)
and Migrante will be major party list group that will
participate in the electoral contest and will be proven to
be turning points in the participation of the left in electoral
exercise.