How does the party system in the Philippines work?

The Philippines has a multiparty system. Think of it as an arena in which political parties are allowed to join in and form their own parties. Most parties in the Philippines are primarily composed of politicians, it is only a rare case for parties to include grassroots membership from people who have no political ambition but simply want to participate in politics.

Here are some key features of the Philippine party system.

No clear ideology or leanings

Unlike in the US or in the UK, the party system in the Philippines doesn’t have clear ideologies or leanings. Therefore, the party arena in the Philippines cannot be conveniently grouped into left-right or progressive-conservative divisions.

It is a whole spectrum in which parties can adopt values that they consider to be core principles of their party, regardless if these values can be considered to belong to the left, right, progressive, or conservative ideologies.

This nature of political parties has made it very easy for politicians to turn their backs against certain parties and seek the membership of another, whenever convenient for them. This is usually done to get the clout and political machinery that they need to win seats in office.

Types of political parties

There are three types of political parties. The first one is the major parties, which have national membership and have comprehensive plans, platforms, and their own internal system. These are the parties that can be considered traditional political parties.

The second one are party-lists, which usually represent minority groups such as teachers, farmers, and so on. These party-lists are formed with the intention of winning seats in the lower house or the House of the Representatives. This is in order to forward and hopefully pass laws in support of these minority groups.

Finally, there are regional parties that focus on a certain region. It only accepts members from its focus region but has naturally worked in coordination with national parties.

Purpose of political parties

For the most part, political parties that believe in leftist ideologies like Akbayan have the purpose of establishing a more equal society, with equal opportunities for Filipinos. On the other hand, right-leaning parties like PDP-Laban originally started out as socialist groups but are currently focused on continuing the legacy of the Duterte administration that has a drug-focused domestic policy and China-first diplomacy.