By Iza Iglesias The Manila Times
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| Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) Secretary General Gen. Thompson ‘Tom’ Lantion (Ret.), General Counsel Atty. George Briones with President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. at the latter's residence the day he decided to join the young national political party in August 2021. |
While many national political parties have been around for decades, one young but notable party the country came to know about is the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas or the PFP. Formed by supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte after his 2016 presidential campaign, the party was formally accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on October 5, 2018, and was approved as a national political party on November 5 of that year. Four years later, PFP became the ruling party and leader of the administrative coalition after nominating party chairman Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. as the presidential candidate, who eventually won the May 2022 elections.
According to the day's leading party, PFP is the "common man's party." It represents the worker, the student, the farmer and the fisher folk. It was established to help rebuild the nation decisively by creating a society that is free of illegal drugs, corruption, crime, insurgency and poverty.
The party's strengths come from a total of 1.5 million members nationwide, from whom the following organizations are formed. These are solid youth groups collaborating for the party's platform and 350 candidates who the 2019 elections. Moreover, the PFP takes pride in having officers without any record of graft and corruption.
Looking back at PFP's small beginnings, the party's Secretary General Gen. Thompson "Tom" Lantion (Ret.) and General Counsel lawyer George Briones spoke with The Sunday Times Magazine in the very room of a Cubao, Quezon City residential office where they started planning all this.
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| PPF Secretary General Thompson Lantion (Ret.) and General Council lawyer George Briones |
"It started when professionals and businessmen wanted to change and participate in governance through the private sector. So, they met and thought about establishing a national political party. The goal was a better society, and of course, we believe in Federalism, so it does not stop with electing a president. The end is a form of government that will cause betterment in the Philippine economy," shared Briones.
"It is better if you have ordinary people in your political party. That will be better for you, and it will be better for the country. Confusion is caused by politics and politicians. In that respect, PFP is different. If you want a better Philippines, you will join us, but if you just want to win elections, there's no point trying.
"We do not offer the people anything but want to give them hope. The goal was a better society, and of course, we believe in Federalism, so it does not stop with electing a president. The end is a form of government that will cause betterment in the Philippine economy," he added.
Going into more detail, Gen. Lantion said only five people founded the PFP. "The first initial discussions were done in General Santos back in 2016. Then 2018, we came to register as a national political party. There were five of us – a businessman from General Santos City named Ryan Rivera, may he rest in peace; Eddie Dangcal from Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon, may he also rest in peace; and the only survivors, Atty. George, myself and Manuel Andal, my general manager at the Philippine National Railways when I was the Undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications."
Bringing the story back to the room, Lantion said, "This is the place where we founded PFP and wrote our mission, vision, and core principles. First, of course, we believe in God Almighty. Second is participatory democracy, then humanism, then job generation. In other words, in its totality, it's the power of the people. This is not the party of the elite. This is the party of our ordinary people – you and I, the farmers, fishermen, the OFWs. This is the PFP."
To be sure, starting a new national political party is not a walk in the park. The group has to attract more members and organize headquarters throughout the country.
Briones explained, "If you want to make a change, you will do what is difficult. Ordinarily, people organize a regional party because that will take lesser effort and expense. For example, in Region 3, there will be only five or six provinces where you will organize a headquarters and only 30 municipalities in a province where you will organize a headquarters. But here, we went through the whole country and in only one year, 2018, we have 81 provinces and 30 municipalities in each province. You have to establish a headquarters with a telephone, an office, and a secretary, which will be inspected by the Comelec to show that you are not fake."
Briones continued, "When we filed our petition before the Comelec on April 30, 2018, we wrote in the petition that we have 1.5 million members. But after the 2019 elections, of course, they will join the administration party and leave the PFP, so our numbers will lessen. More so in 2020, when we had Covid-19, our numbers were decimated. I do not know how many left us, but we told him the truth when we met then-Senator Marcos. We have no activity because of the lockdown, but now that he has won, people are going to Gen. Lantion, and I say the common people, not the politicians, for it is they that pinned their hopes on the President for the economic recovery of the country from the pandemic. We thank President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., a political genius, for making the PFP what it is today, working humbly, quietly and efficiently," he added.
Marcos as standard-bearer
Asked why they think President Marcos chose to join the PFP, they said in unison, "Because it is a humble party and being new, without any political baggage to carry. It believes in the principles of social justice and economic prosperity for all, especially for the poor."
"We wanted to be real and speak the truth. When then-Senator Marcos asked Gen. Lantion and I about the PFP, we told him the truth. And that is why he chose the PFP. He left the oldest party he was a member of, the Nacionalista. He did not choose his father's party, the KBL [Kilusang Bagong Lipunan]. He chose the PFP wisely because it is a young party with no political baggage to carry. It is important in politics that you are clean," Briones said in a nutshell.
Lantion revealed that he did not present himself to the former Senator Marcos on behalf of the PFP, but it was he who was called to the latter's residence in Forbes Park.
"It was on August 14, 2021, when he called me. We didn't approach him. He said, 'General, matikas ka pa. All these years.' Not many know I was his security officer when he was studying in Greenhills. And then, when I was a captain, I was the close-in security of his father, President Marcos Sr. We started talking about our days in Malacañang Palace. It was almost one hour. I didn't know why he called for me," recalled Briones.
He still wanted to understand so asked anyway, 'Why did you call for me?' Sabi niya 'I read the constitution and bylaws of PFP and the core principles, and I liked it. I answered, 'But the PFP is only three years old. It's a very young party, Senator.' 'Then I will join you,' sabi Niya. 'Your political party is not known in the Philippines. It's a new one. But when I join you, it will not be known only in the Philippines but worldwide."
"I said, 'how will you join us? you are a member of the Nacionalista Party.' Sabi niya, 'No, I will ask permission to Senator Manny Villar and tell them my intention to join PFP. I said, 'when you do that, you have to submit to us your irrevocable letter of resignation for Nacionalista Party.' He submitted before we gave him the form. He went here to our headquarters and took his oath. That was on October 5, the anniversary of PFP."
Asked whether they received funds for president Marcos during the campaign or whether president Marcos funds them, Lantion confidently answered, "None. As far as we are concerned. We get from our private members, and they contribute. We filed our statements of contributions and expenditures (SOCEs) on June 6, 2022, and the total contributions received by the PFP is P273,666,000. I was supposed to sign it, but our national treasurer, Anton Lagdameo, signed it. The funds the party received during the campaign are all there."
Briones, on the other hand, noted, "Remember, PFP is only four years old. It is small, unknown and without funds. But we will not leave it behind. We will stay to help our party mates and our people. We have one President of the Philippines, three governors, three vice governors, five congressmen and three city mayors.
"We feel that the work of the PFP is to help the President with governance from the private sector. His priority now is the national economy – not politics, and the PFP will do its best to help him, particularly as Secretary of Agriculture. That is our plan, and that is what we are doing," he added.
Federalism
With the party's name itself, does PFP hope Federalism will now be pushed under the Marcos administration?
Lantion said, "In the campaign, the only one who expounded and explained the concept of Federalism was Senator Robin Padilla. Now he is the Chairman of Constitutional Amendments in the Senate. So, I hope that he will continue to do that and for the information of others, the governor of Camarines Norte Dong Padilla, his elder brother, has joined PFP. Hopefully, we can reintegrate all of this and convince our people to join us – our well-meaning, efficient, quiet organization for this country's development, progress, peace, and security. That's why we are making all these efforts."
"However, we cannot talk about Federalism yet and change the constitution because we have an economic problem. We're in the pandemic. If you tell that to the people, they will throw stones at you," he added.
Briones has this to say for the moment, "We thank former President Rodrigo Duterte for making PDP Laban strong to help the President politically one hundred percent. We also welcome the PDP Laban resolution calling for the constitution amendment championed by their Senator, Robin Padilla. In the meantime, the PFP will remain to work quietly and do the President's bidding while remaining in the background."
Future plans and hopes for the country
While big political parties have held successive conventions, the PFP remains quiet. But it is working silently to help two of its most valuable members – the 85 PFP OFW Chapters worldwide, which gave them the victory last election.
When the President led abroad by 95 percent last April 2022, that broke the resolve of the opposition to win and second, the 81 PFP provincial chapters around the country helped them counter the command votes; instead, it was the politicians who courted and who went with the masses to support President Marcos.
"So what is the PFP doing to help them? OFWs complain about so many requirements in our country's embassies abroad. So we asked for help from the DFA and Department of Migrant Workers. In the provinces, especially in Nueva Ecija and Aurora, where there are many members of the party.
"We also help them recover from Typhoon Karding by coordinating with the DSWD, DILG and the LGUs," Briones mentioned.
While the party is relatively new, members of PFP indeed have decades of experience in government service. This is also reason why they happily reported that there is a steady increase in their membership from the ranks of the common people."
In the future, PFP aims to be the dominant political party in the country.
"The marching order given to us when we had our meeting with the party president, South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., was for us was to organize and improve. Our chairman, President Marcos, wants this to be a dominant political party in the next six years," Lantion said.
"We have a new governor of Albay who will take his oath as a member of the PFP and he wanted to be the chairman of the regional development council of the Bicol Region. We have to improve it because in the last presidential elections, we lost in two regions only, Regions 5 and 6. So that's in the future, in the next election, we hope those people will support us," he continued.
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| Then former senator Marcos took oath on October 5, 2021 as member and chairman of PFP. |
Lion finally remarked, "We would like President Marcos, the national chairman of PFP, to succeed and finish his six-year term. Whatever we can do to help achieve that, we'll do our very best because we started this party and we are honored as the founder of this party to have him as our 17th President."
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