OF THE country’s 15 presidents so far, six had made an impact on the current composition of political parties. They either formed their own or switched parties to facilitate their ascent to the presidency. They include former presidents Manuel Roxas, Ramon Magsaysay, Ferdinand Marcos, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The Liberal Party (LP) was founded by Manuel Roxas after the last war as a breakaway group from the Nacionalista Party (NP). Contesting Sergio Osmena’s leadership and candidacy in the 1946 presidential elections, Roxas led the so-called “Liberal-wing” of the NP and formed the LP. He ran against Osmena in the elections and won as the first president of the third republic.
Two would-be presidents would later abandon the Liberal Party in favor of the Nacionalista Party. In 1953, Ramon Magsaysay failed to bag LP support for his candidacy so he left and joined the opposing party NP. The same happened over a decade later in 1965 with Ferdinand Marcos defecting to the NP.
Marcos, however, went on to form his own party in 1978, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL). Initially, KBL was formed as an umbrella coalition, which included the NP. But Marcos had a falling out with some members of the NP, which resulted in the formation of another political party: an alliance against Marcos and the KBL, the United Nationalist Democratic Organization or UNIDO. UNIDO was formed by Salvador Laurel who became Corazon Aquino’s running mate in 1986.
After the 1987 EDSA Revolution, the country saw a further rise in the number of political parties. Among these was Jose Cojuangco Jr.’s Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino or LDP where Fidel V. Ramos was a member.
In 1992, LDP endorsed Ramon Mitra as its presidential candidate, leaving Ramos without a political party to support him. This led to the creation of yet another party, Lakas, which later merged with the National Union of Christian Democrats. It came to be known as Lakas-NUCD and became the ruling party in the House after its founder, Ramos, won in the 1992 presidential elections and defeated Mitra. The party later changed its name to Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats or what is now called Lakas-CMD.
Another president who formed his own political party is Joseph Estrada. He was part of the Nacionalista Party and the now-defunct Grand Alliance for Democracy, which was among the opposition parties during Corazon Aquino’s administration. After being elected as senator in 1987, Estrada defected to the Liberal Party and in 1991, left the LP and formed the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP). A year later, he ran as the vice presidential candidate of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC). In 1998, he co-founded the Laban ng Malayang Masang Pilipino, a coalition of PMP, NPC, and LDP for his presidential bid.
Estrada’s successor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, also formed her own party, the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino or Kampi. Originally a member of LDP, Arroyo left the LDP and formed Kampi in 1997 for the 1998 presidential elections. She, however, ran as candidate for vice president under Lakas-NUCD, with Jose de Venecia as her running mate. Lakas afterward supported her candidacy as president in the 2004 elections and then merged with Kampi in 2009, forming the Lakas-Kampi-CMD.
To know more about the country’s presidents, view our Public Profiles section of PCIJ’s MoneyPolitics Online. — Charmaine Lirio, PCIJ