Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino

This article is about the party in the Philippines. For the organization in the United States, see Union of Democratic Filipinos.
Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino
PresidentCarlos Enrique G. Valdes III
Secretary-GeneralMaria Catherine Suba
FounderAntonio 'Butch' A. S. Valdes
FoundedAugust 31, 2018
HeadquartersSan Juan City
IdeologyNeo-nationalism
Realism[1]
Federalism
Filipino nationalism
Ultranationalism
Economic nationalism
Anti-Communism
Political positionFar-right[2]
SloganAng Partido para sa Kinabukasan.
(A Party for the Future)
Seats in the Senate
0 / 24
Seats in the House of Representatives
0 / 316

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 [ceb], 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]

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

KDP 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

KDP'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

Senatorial slate

Local officials

Electoral performance

Presidential and vice presidential elections

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

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
  1. ^ Parlade Jr. was disqualified from the presidential race.
  2. ^ 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

  1. ^ a b Gía Samonte, Mauro (November 29, 2021). "Parladé, the Chosen One". Manila Times.
  2. ^ Teehankee, Julio (January 2022). "The Legacy of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan: Authoritarian Contamination in Philippine Party Politics" (PDF). Squarespace.
  3. ^ "Pro-Du30 group forms political party". Manila Standard. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  4. ^ "Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino political party launched". CNN Philippines. August 31, 2018. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  5. ^ "Ex-NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Antonio Parlade Jr runs for president". Rappler. November 15, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  6. ^ Pimentel, Boying. "Small band of Fil-Ams and immigrants who defied a dictator". Inquirer.net. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  7. ^ "Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP) records, 1966–1988".
  8. ^ Teehankee, Julio (January 2022). "The Legacy of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan: Authoritarian Contamination in Philippine Party Politics" (PDF). Squarespace.
  9. ^ "Katipunan Ng Demokratikong Pilipino". www.gavagives.com. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  10. ^ a b c "Partido para sa kinabukasan". Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino. November 11, 2021.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ "VERA FILES FACT CHECK YEARENDER: Marcos Jr.'s presidential bid props up pro-Marcos propaganda". Vera Files. December 18, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2022.