Progressive Party (Philippines)

The Progressive Party of the Philippines (PPP), also known as the Party for Philippine Progress, was a reformist political party that existed in the late 1950s and the 1960s. It is considered to be the earliest Filipino form of a genuine alternative party to the then-dominant political pair of the Nacionalista Party and the Liberal Party. The party ceased to exist by 1969.

History

1950s

The party was founded in 1957 by Manuel Manahan and Raul Manglapus, both of whom had served as key members of the administration of President Ramon Magsaysay before his untimely death earlier that year. The formation came as a result of the dissatisfaction of members of the Nacionalista Party over the "cold treatment" given to them by allies of newly installed President Carlos P. Garcia.<ref name="manahan">Template:Cite news</ref>

In the 1957 general election held later that year, Manahan ran as the standard-bearer of the new party while Vicente Araneta served as his running mate. The party also fielded a complete slate of eight senatorial candidates, among them being Manglapus.

Manahan launched a campaign similar to that of the deceased but still popular Magsaysay, thus allowing him to become popular with the masses and pose a credible threat to President Garcia and Jose Yulo of the Liberal Party.<ref name="manahan" /> In the end, Manahan only ranked third behind President Garcia, managing to acquire 20.90 percent of the vote. Araneta, on the other hand, lost to Diosdado Macapagal of the Liberal Party, garnering 7.97 percent of the vote.<ref name="election">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> None of the senatorial candidates in the party won seats in the Senate.

In the 1959 midterm election, the party allied itself with defectors of the Liberal Party and the Nacionalista Party to form the Grand Alliance.<ref name="grolier">Tubangui, Helen R., Bauzon, Leslie E., Foronda, Marcelino Jr. A., Ausejo, Luz U. The Filipino Nation: A Concise History of the Philippines. Grolier International, 1982.</ref> During the campaign, the Grand Alliance highlighted the graft and corruption taking place under the Garcia administration. Eventually, the Alliance was successful in diminishing the Senate majority of the Nacionalista Party.<ref name="agoncillo">Agoncillo, Teodoro A. History of the Filipino People, 8th ed.. Garotech Publishing, 1990.</ref>

1960s

In 1961, the Progressive party, under the Grand Alliance, joined forces with the Liberal Party in order to prevent the re-election of President Garcia.<ref name="grolier" /> Together, the united parties supported Vice-President Macapagal of the Liberal Party as its candidate for the 1961 presidential election and Emmanuel Pelaez of the Progressive Party as his running mate.<ref name="wurfel">Wurfel, David. The Philippine Elections: Support for Democracy Asian Survey, 2(3), 25-37. May 1962.</ref> Progressives Manglapus and Manahan also ran as guest senatorial candidates of the Liberal Party, with both of them managing to win seats in the Senate.

By 1965, members of the Grand Alliance separated themselves from the Liberal Party due to their dissatisfaction with the Macapagal administration for not fulfilling their expectations.<ref name="grolier" /> Soon, the Progressive Party was renamed as the Party for Philippine Progress. It fielded Manglapus as its presidential candidate for the general election held later that year, and Manahan ran as its vice-presidential candidate. The rejuvenated party also fielded its own senatorial slate, though it was incomplete.

Widely known as the Third Force, the Party for Philippine Progress was seen as a genuine alternative to President Macapagal and Senator Ferdinand Marcos of the Nacionalista Party. Manglapus, in particular, showed surprising strength in the larger cities and the young voters.<ref name="manglapus1">Template:Cite news</ref> But unlike the 1957 election in which Manahan was seen as a viable contender, Manglapus was not seen as having a good chance of winning the election.<ref name="manglapus2">Template:Cite news</ref> In the end, Manglapus lost to Marcos with 5.17 percent of the vote, while Manahan lost to Fernando Lopez, the running mate of Marcos, with 3.40 percent of the vote.<ref name="election" />

The party continued to exist until it quietly disbanded in 1969.<ref name="nohlen">Nohlen, Dieter, Grotz, Florian, Hartmann, Christof. Elections in Asia and the Pacific: South East Asia, East Asia, and the South Pacific. Oxford University Press, 2001.</ref>

Members

Candidates

The following were members of the Progressive Party who ran as candidates in the national elections. Those highlighted in bold signify those who were able to win the position they were running for.

Year	President	Vice President	Senators
1957	Manuel Manahan	Vicente Araneta	Eleuterio Adevoso Jaime Ferrer Josefa Gonzales-Estrada Jose M. Hernandez Raul Manglapus Fulvio Pelaez Rodrigo Perez Jr. Norberto Romualdez Jr.
1959<ref group="note">As the Grand Alliance</ref>	None<ref group="note">No presidential election was held this year.</ref>	None<ref group="note">No vice-presidential election was held this year.</ref>	Manuel Manahan Raul Manglapus
1961<ref group="note">As the Grand Alliance and as guest members of the Liberal Party</ref>	None<ref group="note">The Progressives endorsed Diosdado Macapagal of the Liberal Party.</ref>	Emmanuel Pelaez	Manuel Manahan Raul Manglapus
1965<ref group="note">As the Party for Philippine Progress</ref>	Raul Manglapus	Manuel Manahan	Vicente Araneta Jose Feria Benjamin Gaston Dionisio Ojeda

Notes

<references group="note" />

Others

• Richard Gordon<ref name="gordon">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Blas Ople<ref name="ople">Template:Cite news</ref>

Electoral performance

President and Vice President

Year	Presidential election				Vice presidential election
	Candidate	Votes	Vote share	Result	Candidate	Votes	Vote share	Result
1957	Manuel Manahan	1,049,420	Template:Percentage bar	Carlos P. Garcia (Nacionalista)	Vicente Araneta	1,375,090	Template:Percentage bar	Diosdado Macapagal (Liberal)
1961	None<ref group="n">Endorsed the candidacy of Diosdado Macapagal of Liberal Party.</ref>			Diosdado Macapagal (Liberal)	None<ref group="n">Endorsed the candidacy of Emmanuel Pelaez of Liberal Party.</ref>			Emmanuel Pelaez (Liberal)
1965	Raul Manglapus	384,564	Template:Percentage bar	Ferdinand E. Marcos (Nacionalista)	Manuel Manahan	247,426	Template:Percentage bar	Fernando Lopez (Nacionalista)

Congress

Senate election	Votes	%	Senate seats	+/–	Senate Result	House election	Votes	%	House Seats	+/–	House Result
1957	3,393,935	12.1%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Lost	1957	62,968	1.3	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Lost
1959	3,163,609	9.5%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Lost
1961	6,577,698	16.6%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 2	Template:Won	1961	Did not participate
1963			Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 2	Seats only retained
1965	1,128,675	2.3%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 2	Seats only retained	1965	41,983	0.6	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Lost
1967	Did not participate
1969	Did not participate					1969	5,031	0.0	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Lost

Notes

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Legacy

Despite the decline of the party, it had considerable influence in current Philippine politics. For instance, the Lakas–CMD, an active center-right political party in the country, considers the Progressive Party as its predecessor, largely because Manglapus was one of the earliest members of Lakas in the 1990s.<ref name="lakas">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Elements of progressive political philosophy are also believed to have been passed on to later politicians no matter what part of the political spectrum they may belong to, such as former senator Raul Roco,<ref name="roco">Template:Cite journal</ref> and the philosophy was one of the main ideology of Roco's founded party Aksyon.