- for National Parties in other countries see National Party
The Nacionalista Party is the oldest political party in the Philippines today and was responsible for leading the country throughout the majority of the 20th century since its founding in 1907. The party began as the country's vehicle for independence, through the building of a modern nation-state, and through the advocacy of efficient self rule, dominating the Philppine Assembly (1907–1916), the Philppine Legislature (1916–1935) and the pre-war years of the Commonwealth of the Philippines (1935–1941). During the Japanese Occupation political parties were replaced by the KALIBAPI. By the second half of the century the party was one of the main political contenders for leadership in the country, in competition with the Liberals and the Progressives, during the decades between the devastation of World War II and the violent suppression of partisan politics of the Marcos dictatorship. In 1978, in a throwback to the Japanese Occupation, political parties were asked to merge into the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, although the Nacionalistas preferred to go into hibernation. Eventually, the party was revived during the late 1980s and early 1990s by the Laurel family, which has dominated the Party since the 1950s. It is now being reborn by the likes of Sen. Ralph Recto, and party president Sen. Manuel Villar. Two of the other present parties, the Liberal Party and the Nationalist People's Coalition are breakaways from the Nacionalista Party.
The Nacionalista Party is also known as the NP. 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 five out of 235 seats (state of the parties, June 2005). The party was, at the 2004 elections a member of the Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan (K-4, Coalition of Truth and Experience for Tomorrow), the coalition that supported president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who won the 2004 presidential elections.
Notable Nacionalistas
Past
Throughout their careers, many of the country's greatest politicians, statesmen, and leaders were, in whole or in part, Nacionalistas. Notable names include:
- Manuel Briones (Former Senator)
- Carlos P. Garcia (Former President of the Philippines)
- Jose P. Laurel (Former Philippine President during Japanese Occupation)
- Salvador Laurel (Former Philippine Vice-President under President Corazon C. Aquino)
- Juan Ponce Enrile (Current Senator, moved to other party)
- Blas Ople (Former Senator)
- Fernando Lopez (Former Philippine Vice President under Diosdado Macapagal)
- Ramon Magsaysay (Former President of the Philippines)
- Cipriano Primicias, Sr. (Former Senator)
- Emmanuel Pelaez (Former Vice-President of the Philippines under Ferdinand E. Marcos)
- Claro M. Recto (Former Senator)
- Eulogio Rodriguez (Former Senator)
- Elpidio Quirino (Former President)
- Manuel Roxas (Former President; founder of LP and moved there)
- Manuel L. Quezon (Former President during World War II)
- Jose Palma
- Sergio Osmeña (Former President during Douglas MacArthur's landing)
- Ferdinand E. Marcos (Former President for 20 ½ years)
Most of these individuals embody solid political traditions of economic and political nationalism are pretainent today, even with the party's subsequent decline.
Current
Some members of the House of Representatives and Senate include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Manuel Villar (Senate President from Metro Manila and Nacionalista president)
- Pia Cayetano (Senator from Metro Manila)
- Richard Gordon, (senator from Zambales)
- Eduardo Gullas, (Cebu)
- Justin Marc Chipeco, (Laguna)
- Emmylou Taliño-Santos, (North Cotabato)
- Cynthia Villar, (Las Piñas City Representative)
- Alan Peter Cayetano, (Senator from Metro Manila)
- Laarni Lopez-Cayetano, (Taguig City-Pateros Representative)
- Vergel Aguilar A Mayor Of Las Pinas City
Platform
The Nationalista Party in the Philippines corresponds somewhat to the Republican Party in the United States. It belongs to the conservative wing of Philippine politics, while its main opponent, the Liberal Party and the political parties belonging to the aggrupation of the People's Power government all belong to the liberal wing of Philippine politics somewhat corresponding to the Democratic Party in the United States.
Early history
Filipino ilustrados who served in the First Philippine Republic established in Malolos, Bulacan in January 1899 had split into two factions: between those who, like Pardo de Tavera, Cayetano Arellano, Pedro Paterno and Felipe Buencamino believed in the intermediate restoration of peace and civil order under a benevolent American rule, and those who, like Apolinario Mabini, Paciano Rizal, Artemio Ricarte and Pablo Ocampo were called the "intransigents" and believed in continuing the struggle for "immediate and complete independence" even under American occupation.
The Partido Nacionalista or Nacionalista Party, was the result of the union between the two camps: the Partido Independista and the Partido Union Nacionalista. Among the leaders in the unification work were Galicano Apacible, Franciso Liongson, Teodoro Sandico and Alberto Barretto.
See Complete History