Democratic Party (Philippines)

Not to be confused with Democratic Party of the Philippines or Democrata Party.

The Democratic Party was a political party in the Philippines in 1953 to 1957. The party was not related to the Democratic Party of the United States, Democrata Party, and Democratic Party of the Philippines.

Democratic Party
Founders	Carlos P. Romulo Fernando Lopez
Founded	May 29, 1953
Dissolved	1957
Split from	Liberal
Merged into	Nacionalista
Politics of the Philippines Political parties Elections

History

Liberal Party members, led by Carlos P. Romulo quit the party after the failure of getting the nomination against the incumbent President Elpidio Quirino for the 1953 elections.^[1] Romulo and his men founded the Democratic Party,^[2] on May 29, 1953.^[3] Romulo was nominated by the party,^[4] with selection of incumbent Vice President Fernando Lopez as his running mate.^[5]

The party fielded candidates for the 1953 general election, however, its presidential candidate Romulo withdrew. After he withdrew, his running mate Lopez also withdrew to run in the Senate election instead. The two withdrew to support Ramon Magsaysay's candidacy.^[6][7] Lopez and Ruperto Kangleon both won in the senatorial election, with Lopez topping the race, placing second.

The Democrats would later merge into the Nacionalista Party.

Electoral performance

The party participated in the 1953 and 1955 elections.^[8]

Presidential and vice presidential elections

Year	Presidential election			Vice presidential election
	Candidate	Vote share	Result	Candidate	Vote share	Result
1953	None[n 1]		Ramon Magsaysay (Nacionalista)	None[n 2]		Carlos P. Garcia (Nacionalista)

1. Carlos P. Romulo withdrew. Supported Ramon Magsaysay of Nacionalista Party.
2. Fernando Lopez withdrew

Congress

Senate election	Votes	%	Senate seats	+/–	Senate Result	House election	Votes	%	House Seats	+/–	House Result
1953	3,793,654	15.4%	2 / 24	2	Won	1953[n 1]	342,889	8.4	11 / 102	11	Won; Joined the Majority Bloc
1955	Did not contest
1957	Did not contest					1957	42,890	0.9	0 / 102	11	Lost

Notes

1. Two of the seats were from a common Nacionalista Party-Democratic Party ticket.

Notable Members

Cabinet Level

• Carlos P. Romulo, a presidential prospect in 1953, general, and a statesman

Senate

• Fernando Lopez, topnotcher of the 1953 senatorial elections, former Vice President
• Ruperto Kangleon, last in the ranking of winners of the 1953 senatorial elections, a World War II hero

House of Representatives

Full Democratic members

• Pedro G. Trono (Iloilo 1st)
• Ricardo Yap Ladrido (Iloilo 4th)
• Jose M. Aldeguer (Iloilo 5th)
• Ramon P. Mitra, Jr. (Mountain Province 2nd)
• Jose Puey (Negros Occidental 2nd)
• Carlos Hilado (Negros Occidental 3rd)
• Conrado M. Morente (Oriental Mindoro At-large)
• Serafin Salvador (Rizal 2nd)
• Jose Roy (Tarlac 1st)

Partnered with Nacionalista

• Ramon M. Durano (Cebu 1st)
• Domingo Veloso (Leyte 2nd)