Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino

Template:Infobox Philippine Political party The Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (Struggle of Democratic Filipinos) is a political party in the Philippines founded in 1988.

There are no results available of the last elections for the House of Representatives, but according to the website of the House, the party holds 7 out of 235 seats (state of the parties, June 2005). The party is divided into two factions. The faction led by Edgardo Angara was at the 2004 elections member of the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (Coalition of United Filipinos).

In the 14 May 2007 election, the party won 3 seats.

History

In the mid-1980s, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP, founded 1982) and the Lakas ng Bansa parties became members of the United Nationalists Democratic Organizations (UNIDO) coalition that supported the candidacy of Corazon Aquino and Salvador Laurel as President and Vice President respectively in the 1986 Snap Elections. By 1986, the PDP had merged with the Lakas ng Bayan (LABAN, founded 1978) party of the late Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., to form PDP-LABAN

In the 1987 Legislative elections, UNIDO, under the name "Lakas ng Bayan" became the dominant party in both houses of Congress, electing Representative Ramon Mitra, Jr. of Palawan as Speaker of the House of Representatives. UNIDO would be dissolved soon after. In 1988, PDP-LABAN was split into two factions: the Pimintel Wing of Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. and the Cojuangco Wing of Jose "Peping" Cojunagco, Jr.. The Cojuangco Wing and the Lakas ng Bansa party of Speaker Mirta merged in 1988 to form the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino. In the 1991 LDP National Convention, the party nominated Speaker Mitra as its nominee as President of the Philippines, while runner-up former Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos bolted the party and forms Partido Lakas ng Tao and wins the presidency in the 1992 National Elections.

In 1994, LDP formed a major coalition with Lakas Party of President Ramos dubbed as the "Lakas-Laban Coalition" for the 1995 Legislative Midterm elections winning majority of all seats in both houses of Congress.

In 1997, the party supported the candidacy of then Vice President Joseph Estrada to the presidency merging with two other parties forming the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino (Struggle of the Patriotic Filipino Masses).

Recent events

In the 2004 elections, the party was critically divided by two factions between its party president Senator Edgardo Angara, who supported the candidacy of party outsider actor Fernando Poe Jr. and party secretary general Makati representative Agapito Aquino who supported Senator Panfilo Lacson's candidacy to the presidency.

It was planned that the LDP would form the core of the main opposition coalition, the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP). However, members of the party disagreed on which person to support for president. Panfilo Lacson, a member of the party, advanced his candidacy for president but was not considered by Edgardo Angara, the president of the party. Angara supported Fernando Poe, Jr. Together with the party's secretary-general Agapito "Butz" Aquino, Lacson gathered the support of some members of the party and went ahead with his candidacy. The LDP was subsequently polarized between those supporting Angara and Poe, and those for Lacson and Aquino.

By then, Poe and Lacson have both filed their certificates of candidacies. According to the rules of candidacy, every presidential candidate must have a political party to back him or her. With the obvious split within the ranks of the LDP, and with no signs that the two factions would come to an agreement, the COMELEC decided to informally split the party into the Aquino and the Angara wings. Lacson then ran under the LDP - Aquino Wing, and Poe under the LDP - Angara Wing, which would later become the KNP.

During the campaign period, there had been numerous unification talks between the two factions. The opposition saw the need to become united under one banner to boost their chances of winning the presidential election against the organized political machinery of Arroyo. The plans of unification did not materialize due to the stubbornness of both Poe and Lacson. Lacson wanted Poe to concede to him and run as his vice-presidential candidate while the supporters of Poe wanted Lacson to back-out from his candidacy and instead support Poe, citing his low performance in the surveys.

Notable Members

• Ramon V. Mitra, Jr. - former House Speaker and Party's Standard-bearer during the 1992 Elections.
• Fidel V. Ramos - former President, lost the party's nomination to the House Speaker Ramon Mitra and formed his own party, Lakas ng Tao, now named Lakas-Kampi-CMD.
• Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, Jr. - one of the original founders, left the party in 1997 together with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to form Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi).
• Neptali Gonzales - former Senate President.
• Edgardo Angara - present party president.
• Blas Ople - former Senator, Secretary of Foreign Affairs.
• Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo - President of the Philippines. She quit the party in early 1997 to form her own political party, Kampi.
• Vicente Sotto III - former Senator, LDP member from 1992-1997 and left together with Arroyo to form Kampi. However during the Estrada administration he returned to the party before and left again in 2007 to join the Nationalist People's Coalition.
• Teresa Aquino-Oreta - former Senator, LDP member from 1988-2007 before joining Nationalist People's Coalition.
• Rodolfo Biazon - Senator, erstwhile party stalwart before joining the Liberal Party in the 2004 Elections.
• Teofisto Guingona, Jr. - former Vice-President, used to be with LDP before he was appointed as Justice Secretary during the Ramos Administration.
• Panfilo Lacson - Senator
• Bellaflor Angara-Castillo - Governor of Aurora Province.