The Philippines has a multiparty system, with different political parties coming from a wide spectrum of ideologies – from Christian rights, centrists, to Filipino communists. The system is designed to discourage monopoly of power by a single strong party, by ensuring that political parties are given equal opportunities to contest in elections. Parties then form coalitions in order to expedite passing laws and other convenience. In the 2016 Elections, there are ten (10) major political parties that participated. Parties can be described as; major parties (parties with nationwide reach), party lists (sectoral parties elected in the Congress through party list proportional representation), and regional/local parties (parties limited to regional or smaller reach). During the 2016 Elections, there are ten (10) major parties that contested nationwide. Section 26 of Republic Act 9369 provides that the Commission on Election should determine and classify parties as the dominant majority party, dominant minority party and major party. These parties are entitled to deploy one (1) official watcher in every polling center, as well as a copy of the election returns each to the dominant minority party and dominant minority party. The Liberal Party was identified as the dominant majority; United Nationalist Alliance as the dominant minority party. The ten parties were ranked through a point system with the following criteria: (a) The established record of the said parties, coalition or groups, that now comprise them, taking into account among other things, their showing in past elections; (b) The number of incumbent elective officials belonging to them ninety (90) days before the elections; (c) Their identifiable political organizations and strengths as evidenced by their organized chapters; (d) The ability to field a complete slate of candidacies from the municipal level to national positions; and (e) Other analogous circumstances that may determine their relative organizations and strengths. The ten major parties in the country are: 1. National Unity Party (NUP) 2. Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) 3. United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) 4. Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) 5. Liberal Party (LP) 6. Nacionalista Party (NP) 7. Lakas – Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) 8. Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) 9. Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) 10. Aksyon Demokratiko (Aksyon)
PDF: On Political Party Reform: “Building the Philippine Political Party System: A Primer on the Political Party Development Act.” IPER, 2011
Link: https://www.scribd.com/document/337896027/Political-Parties-COMELEC-Resolution-No-10094