Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP) is a Philippine far-right neo-nationalist political party founded on August 31, 2018. It was formed by supporters of 16th President Rodrigo Duterte,[3] including some officers affiliated with the Citizen National Guard, a nationalist, anti-communist and anti-islamic political advocacy group, including party chairman and former Department of Education undersecretary Butch Valdes, President Ramon Pedrosa, Executive Vice President Nur-Ana Sahidulla, and Dr. Ricardo Fulgencio IV.[4] The party had fielded former Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr. in the 2022 presidential election, which he was disallowed to run by COMELEC.[5]
Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino | |
|---|---|
| President | Carlos Enrique G. Valdes III |
| Secretary-General | Maria Catherine Suba |
| Founder | Antonio 'Butch' A. S. Valdes |
| Founded | August 31, 2018 |
| Headquarters | San Juan City |
| Ideology | Neo-nationalism Realism[1] Federalism Filipino nationalism Ultranationalism Economic nationalism Anti-Communism |
| Political position | Far-right[2] |
| Slogan | Ang Partido para sa Kinabukasan. (A Party for the Future) |
| Seats in the Senate | 0 / 24
|
| Seats in the House of Representatives | 0 / 316
|
Since the passing of the KDP Founding Chairman Antonio 'Butch' Valdes in 2022, he was replaced by the KDP Vice-President Carlos Enrique Gomez Valdes III as the new head of the national political party KDP.
The KDP is unrelated to the similarly named Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (Union of Democratic Filipinos), a United States–based Marxist–Leninist–Maoist group which had opposed the Ferdinand Marcos regime during the 1970s and 1980s.[6][7]
Political positions
editKDP has been described as "ultra-right".[8] KDP's electoral agenda for the 2019 elections were to "stop electoral fraud" by cancelling Smartmatic's contract with the Commission on Elections and reforming the electoral system, to prosecute those involved in the Dengvaxia controversy, and to reduce electrical bills by repealing the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001.[9] Economic nationalism figures significantly in the party platform and covers shifting from a service economy to an agro-industrialized producer economy, food self-sufficiency and the integration of the Philippines into the Belt and Road Initiative.[10] In addition, the party advocates a nonaligned,[10] realist approach to foreign-policymaking,[1] as well as federalism.[10]
False claims on the Marcoses' stolen wealth
editKDP's Facebook page posted false information regarding the Marcos family's stolen wealth. The group posted a video that made multiple false claims about Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos's Swiss bank accounts. The video also made misleading claims about the source of the Marcos's wealth.[11] A fact check of the video's false claims said that, in fact, the Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that the assets in question were ill-gotten wealth or stolen money.[11] The video received 28,000 interactions on KDP's Facebook page. Excerpts of KDP's incorrect video were shared by a Tiktok user in 2021 and generated 95,000 interactions and almost 876,000 views.[11]
Researchers noted that after Bongbong Marcos announced his candidacy for the presidency, claims praising his father, President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and his authoritarian regime increased significantly.[12]
Candidates for the 2019 general election
editSenatorial slate
- Toti Casiño
- Glenn Chong
- Larry Gadon (guest candidate from Kilusang Bagong Lipunan and Lakas–CMD)
- R. J. Javellana
- Nur-Ana Sahidulla
- Butch Valdes
Local officials
edit- Ariel Magcalas - former mayor of Santa Cruz, Laguna (2007–2010)
- Laarni Malibiran - vice mayor of Santa Cruz, Laguna (2019–present)
Electoral performance
editPresidential and vice presidential elections
edit| Year | Presidential election | Vice presidential election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote share | Result | Candidate | Vote share | Result | |
| 2022 | Antonio Parlade Jr.[n 1] | N/A | Bongbong Marcos (PFP) |
None | Sara Duterte (Lakas–CMD) | |
Legislative elections
edit| Congress of the Philippines | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| House of Representatives | Senate | |||||
| Year | Seats won | Result | Year | Seats won | Ticket | Result |
| 2019 | 0 / 304
|
PDP–Laban plurality | 2019 | 0 / 12
|
Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino | Hugpong ng Pagbabago win 9/12 seats |
| 2022 | Did not participate | PDP–Laban plurality | 2022 | Did not participate[n 2] | UniTeam win 6/12 seats | |
- ^ Parlade Jr. was disqualified from the presidential race.
- ^ Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino supported Larry Gadon, RJ Javellana, Rey Valeros and Nur-Ana Sahidulla's senatorial bid who all ran under other political parties or as independent candidates.
References
edit- ^ a b Gía Samonte, Mauro (November 29, 2021). "Parladé, the Chosen One". Manila Times.
- ^ Teehankee, Julio (January 2022). "The Legacy of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan: Authoritarian Contamination in Philippine Party Politics" (PDF). Squarespace.
- ^ "Pro-Du30 group forms political party". Manila Standard. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
- ^ "Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino political party launched". CNN Philippines. August 31, 2018. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
- ^ "Ex-NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Antonio Parlade Jr runs for president". Rappler. November 15, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
- ^ Pimentel, Boying. "Small band of Fil-Ams and immigrants who defied a dictator". Inquirer.net. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
- ^ "Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP) records, 1966–1988".
- ^ Teehankee, Julio (January 2022). "The Legacy of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan: Authoritarian Contamination in Philippine Party Politics" (PDF). Squarespace.
- ^ "Katipunan Ng Demokratikong Pilipino". www.gavagives.com. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
- ^ a b c "Partido para sa kinabukasan". Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino. November 11, 2021.
- ^ a b c "VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Video with multiple FALSE claims on Marcos' Swiss bank accounts back online". Vera Files. November 4, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
- ^ "VERA FILES FACT CHECK YEARENDER: Marcos Jr.'s presidential bid props up pro-Marcos propaganda". Vera Files. December 18, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2022.