Marcos Jr’s political party, Villar’s Nacionalista forge alliance

MANILA, Philippines —  The Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), which carried President Marcos in his 2022 campaign, and the Villar-led Nacionalista Party yesterday signed an alliance for next year’s midterm polls, a development that the President said has created the “largest political bloc” in the country.

Speaking during the signing ceremony in Taguig, Marcos said the forging of the alliance between PFP and Nacionalista, the oldest party in the country, would broaden the grand coalition working under the banner of Bagong Pilipinas.

“We declare officially its (PFP) collaboration with the Nacionalista Party through the signing of our alliance. With this, we form a strong united front that would help us fulfill our shared goal for the Filipino people,” Marcos, also the chairman of PFP, said.

“I am very, very happy... that we are today formalizing that alliance and that alliance now has formed the largest political bloc in the Philippines,” he added.

The PFP earlier also signed alliances with Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, the Nationalist People’s Coalition and National Unity Party.

Nacionalista chairman and former Senate president Manuel Villar said his party has always supported Marcos. Villar noted that Marcos was part of his senatorial lineup when he ran for president in 2010.

The Nacionalista Party also supported Marcos’ bid for the presidency in 2022. Villar also noted that Marcos’ late father and namesake was a Nacionalista.

“President Marcos has proven that by the impressive accomplishments of his administration in the short time that it has been in power. You may disagree with him and his policies but you cannot question his patriotism,” Villar said.

“That is why we welcomed the President’s announcement that the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas will seek alliances with the country’s national political parties in order to forge a common vision for the country,” he said.

“We need to prove to the Filipino people that we are a nation capable of rising above our differences in order to build a bright future for the country,” he added.

Marcos reiterated the need for unity, saying it is necessary to achieve the nation’s aspirations.

“If we are spending our time, our resources and our energy opposing one another, for political means, then we have very little time, resources, and energy left for transforming our country into a better place, to transforming the lives of our people,” the President said.

“We came into office and when we leave office, that we leave the Philippines a better country and we leave the Filipinos in a better condition than we found them... That is the aspiration. That is the dream,” Marcos pointed out.

“And it can only be achieved through a unified effort by everyone and there is nothing more that we can do but to continue to work for that dream.”

Marcos urged the PFP and Nacionalista to work together to ensure that only those who place the interests of the country above all get elected.

In a chance interview, Nacionalista spokesman and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said House Deputy Speaker Camille Villar, Sen. Pia Cayetano and Sen. Imee Marcos would be included in the party’s senatorial slate.