Too many political parties in a third-world democracy
We are a small and poor country pretending to act like a superpower. We have too many congressmen with an excess of deputy speakers. And any Tomas, Dikoy, or Harry can create his own political party, as easy as organizing a birthday party.
The United States, with 50 states and a total voting population of 168.31 million, only has two political parties of note, the Democrats and the Republicans. The United Kingdom, with 1,439 electoral constituencies and 47.6 million voters, only has two political parties; the Conservative and the Labor Party. The Philippines have five political parties in the Senate and 10 in the Lower House. There are many party-lists and many national and regional political parties. There is no clear ideology, no defined principles. Just a party party.
We have the potential to be entered the Guiness Books of Records as the country with the most number of political parties. The biggest is the most beleaguered by intra-union dispute, the PDP-Laban. As of today, the faction of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi is led by President Rodrigo Duterte as National Chairman. The Pacquiao faction is led by Senator Coco Pimentel as party chairman. It has five members in the Senate out of 24, and 62 members in the House out of 304. The PDP-Laban was founded on the ideology of democratic socialism and federalism. The Nacionalista Party, founded on conservatism, is led by Manuel and Cynthia Villar and has five members in the Senate and 42 in the House. How the NP went to the Villars is another story for the books.
The NPC or Nationalist People's Coalition, led by Senate President Tito Sotto III believes in liberal conservatism. It has three senators and 33 congressmen. The Lakas-CMD led by Congressman Martin Romualdez is founded on Christian and Muslim democracy has one senator and 19 congressmen. The Liberal Party, founded on liberalism and led by Senator Kiko Pangilinan, has three senators and 17 congressmen. The LDP or Lakas Ng Demokratikong Pilipino is led by Senator Sonny Angara. Its ideology is fiscal conservatism. It has one senator and two congressmen. The Akbayan party-list, led by Senator Risa Hontiveros, only has one senator and no member in Congress. It is founded on democratic socialism and progressivism.
The UNA or United Nationalist Alliance, led by Senator Nancy Binay has only one senator and no congressman. Its ideology is rightist libertarianism. The Bagumbayan, led by Senator Richard Gordon has one senator and no congressman. It is founded on voluntarism. The NUP or National Unity Party, led by Congressman Elpidio Barzaga of Cavite has 45 congressmen and no senator. The PMP or Pwersa Ng Masang Pilipino of Joseph Estrada has no senator and one congressman. The Aksyon Demokratiko of the late senator Raul Roco is now being led by Isko Moreno. It has only one congressman. The same is true with the late senator Miriam Defensor Santiago's Peoples' Reform Party, now led by her husband Narciso.
From the time President Ferdinand Marcos abolished the two-party system, after the declaration of martial law, party politics in the Philippines has become a free-forall pintakasi, where everyone and any Tomas, Dikoy, or Harry can create any party under the mango tree. This is not even counting the regional and provincial parties like Hugpong and our own Bakud, Kusug, Barug, and One Cebu. We are becoming the laughing stock again in this part of the world, as another banana republic with an excess of political varieties, like a kare-kare.
Politicians are like viruses creating too many variants. We have deteriorated to a level next to reckless multiplication preparatory to ultimate extinction. Shame, shame, shame.