The Philippine Online Chronicles

Like the North Star, principles guide and provide directions to those who look upon it. Inflexible, principles do not bend for exigencies, the practical, and the here and now.  Principles govern the future.  Ang Kapatiran Party may be strapped for cash, but it is not short on principles that guide their group.

Formed sometime in 2004 by Chairman Emeritus and founder Reynaldo D. Pacheco, Ang Kapatiran Party (AKP) or The Alliance for the Common Good is a Comelec-registered national political party associated with the Roman Catholic Church.  The group, however, is open and has members coming from other denominations willing to adhere to their advocacies. The group made its political debut, so to speak, during the 2007 elections, fielding three candidates in the persons of former executive director of the Presidential Commission on the VFA Zosimo Jesus Paredes II, gastroenterologist Dr. Martin Bautista, and family law and taxation lawyer Adrian Sison (a fourth candidate, lawyer Mario Ongkiko, dropped out because of diabetes and hypertension, on doctor’s orders). Despite the positive remarks from famous columnists about the personal merit and integrity of these candidates, their staunch adherence to a clear platform of government, and a favourable endorsement from no less than the influential CBCP (no doubt because AKP’s platform of governance hews closely to Church teachings), none of AKP’s senatorial candidates won. JC De los Reyes is perhaps the group’s only local candidate who won an elective local post—as councillor in Subic.  And even that victory was not the sole work of AKP, but shared with the Gordon clan to which De Los Reyes happens to belong.

Compared to the millions of pesos spent by other candidates and political parties, AKP only had a little more than P1 million to spend in 2007.  They had no fancy TV commercials, no big celebrity endorsements, no national exposure (except Paredes), and all those things we have come to associate with traditional election machineries. It looks to me that things will stay this way for the group in the coming 2010 if it were to live by its vision, mission, and platform of governance.

AKP’s platform of governance is interesting and is a good subject of discussion. Perhaps from a political analyst or lawyer’s point of view, AKP’s platform of governance may be found wanting in many areas.  Still, I would like to focus on some key principles I find commendable, albeit controversial, present mindsets and pragmatic concerns considered.

AKP is the only party I know that includes a spiritual dimension in its platform of governance. Before everything else, the group seeks the “Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.”  It actually makes sense for the group to include this in their platform.  After all, if we aspired for this goal as Christians, Muslims, or Hindus, whichever name we call our Maker, chances are we also become good citizens. It also makes a lot of sense to gradually become a gunless society. “You can’t talk peace and have a gun,” the Master Rapper (bless his soul) once said. The group advocates the abolition of the pork barrel system. I am all for this.  Misuse and corruption of the pork barrel funds is pervasive.  The group also wants to limit future foreign borrowings and review our present debts, also a good point because a huge chunk of our national budget goes to foreign debt servicing instead of projects here at home. Another controversial position they take is their insistence on natural family planning. Oh well, this has to be discussed at length a bit.

A lot of people will disagree with AKP’s position on natural contraceptives. If I understood their position correctly, they have a point in insisting on responsible parenting and use of natural family planning methods over artificial methods, though. From a pragmatic standpoint, a big population is a strain on scarce resources—hence the seeming need to curb population growth via artificial methods short of abortion which is prohibited by our constitution.  But this idea smacks of a kind of a mentality that views people not as assets of our nation but as liabilities, additional mouths to feed, and objectified demographics.  If we examine our national situation closely, at the root of our national plight is corruption, abuse of our natural and human resources, and underdevelopment of human potential, not overpopulation per se. We have been laggard in combating corruption and human and resources development.

In closing, I rhetorically ask—how hard is it to champion alternative politics in the Philippines? A perusal of AKP’s official blogsite revealed the answer.  It can be likened to the battle of Thermopylae (aka King Leonidas and his 300 brave Spartans). It is a worthwhile but initially losing battle. And I say initially, because Leonidas and his men may have died but their stand paved the way for eventual victory for the Greeks. AKP is up against the whole rotten system, and more than that, the mindsets of most of us. Their chances of winning local and national elections are slim and they know it, but they keep going. They can only hope and take comfort in the fact that they are sowing the seeds of change.

Ang Kapatiran Party-List Fact Sheet

Name: Ang Kapatiran Partylist (AKP)/The Alliance for the Common Good

Comelec accreditation as a political party: May 8, 2004

Founder and current Chairman Emeritus: Mr. Reynaldo D. Pacheco

Vision

• A full life for Filipinos and offering oneself to God and to other people

Mission

Current Officers

Founder/Chairman Emeritus: Reynaldo D. Pacheco

President & Concurrent Chairman: Eric B. Manalang

Vice Chairman: David Lim

Vice President: Mr. Rafael Q. Enriquez

Secretary General: Mr. Norman V. Cabrera

Previous Officers

Former Presidents: Renato H. Peronilla; Mario E. Ongkiko

Former Chair: Manolo K. Dayrit

Former Vice Chairman: David S. Lim

Former Vice President: Benjamin P. de Guzman

Former Secretary General: Eric B. Manalang

Former Deputy Secretary Generals: Amador F. Astudillo and Rafael Q. Enriquez

Former Treasurer: Ricardo G. Librea

Candidates for the 2007 Senatorial Elections

Zosimo Jesus Paredes II - Former executive director of the Presidential Commission on the VFA; resigned from the post due to public perception that the Philippine government was protecting the controversial US Corporal Daniel Smith, accused of raping a Filipina; brother of Ducky and Jim Paredes.

Martin Bautista - Gastroenterologist formerly based in the US, returned to the Philippines with his family for good and ran under the Ang Kapatiran.

Adrian Sison - Lawyer; family law and taxation

Mario Ongkiko - lawyer;  dropped his senatorial bid due to diabetes and hypertension.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) officers expressed support for the 2007 AKP Senatorial candidates primarily because AKP’s political platform is consistent with church teachings.

Election Spending for 2007 Elections: P1.05 million from December 19, 2006 to March 8, according to then treasurer Rene H. Peronilla in a 2007 interview with the Inquirer

Candidates for the 2010 National and Local Elections

National Candidates

President: John Carlos "JC" de los Reyes
Vice President: Dominador "Jun" Chipeco

Senators:

1. Adrian Sison
2. Jess Paredes
3. Jo Imbong
4. Reggie Tamayo
5. Grace Plazo
6. Manny Valdehesa
7. Hector Tarrazona
8. Lito David

Local Candidates

Bacolod
Councilors:
1. Siegfredo H. Magalona
2. Marcos T. Templado
3. Joel I. Bonifacio
4. Rita L. Jimenez
5. Vicente N. Gico Jr.

San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan
Councilors:
1. Reynaldo D. Cardona
2. Benjamin Sierra

Quezon City 2 District
Congressman: Dante Liban

Kalookan 2nd District
Congressman: Carling Cabochan
Councilor : Alvin Abelardo

Antipolo City
Councilor: Irvin Bautista

Davao City
Councilors:
1. Pilar Braga
2. Tony H. Vergara

ZAMBALES
Governor: Hilary Pangan

Botolan, Zambales
Councilor: Lito T. Jugatan

Subic, Zambales

Vice Mayor: Jessie M. Cruz
Councilor: Mr. Salvador Minardo

First District, Olongapo, Zambales
Councilors:
1. Jonathan de Castro
2. Glen Mar S. Roque
3. Roland B. Pangantihan
4. Samuel Llanos Matias

Gubat, Sorsogon
Mayor: Rene B. Hermo
Vice Mayor: Ramon Encinares

Councilors:
1. Elenita Pura
2. Edgar Antivola
3. Emiliano Peralta Sr.
4. Felisa Yu
5. Marlon Ermocilla
6. Sancho Encela
7. Liberty Espinocilla
8. Henri Deri

Siay, Zamboanga Sibugay
Mayor: Jose Cambel Policarpio, Jr.

Lanao Del Norte
Vice-Mayor: Fahmie Manamparan Macalnas

Lagonglong. Misamis Oreiental
Councilors:
1. Virgilio Parpan
2. Antonio Omahoy
3. Edgardo Cainglet
4. Jolito Abonitalla
5. Elmer Miso
6. Franklin Saburnido

Las Pinas, 2nd District
Councilor: Emmanuel Luis C. Casimiro

Pulilan, Bulacan

Mayor: Felix Santos Navarro
Vice-Mayor: Encarnacion Marasigan Castillo

Councilors:
1. Bernardino Leonardo Santos
2. Antonio Magat San Pedro

San Juan, Metro Manila
Mayor: Mr. Glenn Angeles

Spiritual Dimension

1. Seeking God’s Kingdom

Moral Dimension

2. Nation-building; holistic development of Filipinos through values formation and political education

3. Encouraging responsibility, achievement, virtue, and peace as an alternative to a culture glorifying sex, violence, and material excess

4. 5. 6. Abolishing gambling, death penalty, and use of torture

7. Ending fraternity-related violence; regulation of combat sports

8. Actively promoting natural planning methods and responsible parenthood

9. Involving the media in positive value formation

Social Dimension

10. Promoting progressive disarmament and active nonviolence

11. Making the glorification of violence in media contrary to law

12. Criminalizing the carrying of firearms and weapons for all except law enforcement officials and duly licensed and uniformed private security guards

13. Increasing the penalty for violation of firearms laws and illegal possession of firearms

14. Disallowing tinted windows on motor vehicles

15. Banning the sale or exhibition of firearms in public places

16. Banning air guns, toy guns, or gun replicas

17. 18. Banning firearms exportation except for law enforcement

19. Imposing strict government regulation on the local production, sale, and use of firearms

20. Requiring firearm permit applicants to own a gun safety deposit box

21. Periodically confiscating and decommissioning guns and melting them down to be recycled for other purposes

22. Giving financial rewards to those who avail of general amnesty for unlicensed firearms

23. Enforcing stricter penalties on “planting evidence”  in firearms-related cases

24. Cracking down on illegal drug traffic

Good Governance

25. Abolishing the pork barrel

26. Prioritizing programs for veterans, indigenous peoples, the underprivileged, the elderly, the disabled, prisoners, and the youth, and supporting NGO’s

27. Facilitating speedy justice administration

28. Enforcing public accountability and transparency; simple living for  public officials

29. Enforcing within three months administrative/criminal actions against public officials who fail to timely liquidate their cash advances

30. Reviewing procurement in government institutions to prevent graft and corruption.

31. Applying the stewardship principle in caring for the environment

Economic Development

32. Attaining sustainable economic growth by:

a) reviewing outstanding public debts and limiting future

b) increasing  public and private savings rates

c) developing human resources

d) streamlining the gov’t bureaucracy

e) improving revenue collection and tax administration efforts

f) abolishing laws giving government personnel discretion to allow or disallow certain deductions or exemptions,

g) developing the agricultural sector

h) creating micro-financing and credit facilities for small enterprises by harnessing OFW remittances and more exports for economic development

i) encouraging cooperatives

j) aggressively implementing Agrarian Reform

k) industrializing

l) developing new and existing export products

Political Culture

33. Asserting civilian supremacy over the military

34. Fixing the AFP Chief of Staff’s tenure at three years, regardless of the statutory retirement age

35. Disallowing assignment of active police and military personnel as security officers and aides

36. Forbidding elective and appointive public officials to become media practitioners while in office

37. Forbidding the use of billboards and like media to show the pictures of public officials responsible for government projects

38. Strictly applying the constitutional prohibition on nepotism

39. Promoting morally upright local and national candidates

40. Requiring Presidential, Vice Presidential, Senatorial, and Lower House candidates to possess a college degree

Foreign Policy

41. Promoting a gunless society

42. Advocating progressive disarmament and active nonviolence

43. Becoming a friend of all nations

WEBSITES:

www.angkapatiranparty.com/

kpkcommongood.blogspot.com/

The AKP also has a Facebook Account.

CONTACT DETAILS

#42nd Flr. General Capinpin St.,
San Antonio Village,
Brgy. San Antonio,
Pasig City 1600

Telefax: (02) 910-1171

Mobile: (0917) 330-2240; (0921) 257-6055

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Photos by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado. Some Rights Reserved.

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