Marcos, Villars form biggest PH political bloc

POLITICAL PARTNERSHIP President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Partido Federal ng Pilipinas chair, and Nacionalista Party president Manny Villar preside over the signing of an agreement forging an alliance between their parties for the 2025 midterm elections. — CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

As his political party continued forging alliances ahead of the 2025 midterm elections, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged politicians on Thursday to set aside their differences and personal interests and work together toward improving Filipinos’ lives.

At the signing of a pact between his Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) and Nacionalista Party (NP), the oldest political party in the Philippines, Mr. Marcos said he was very happy that the “natural alliance” between them has been formalized.

Mr. Marcos chairs the PFP while former Senate President and businessman Manny Villar is the NP president. Its members include his wife, Sen. Cynthia Villar, and children Sen. Mark Villar and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar.

“That alliance has now formed the largest political bloc in the Philippines … We are here today to formalize this relationship and to prepare ourselves to make sure that the leaders who win in the midterm election next year are leaders who understand that we must put our partisan and personal differences aside, whatever they may be,” the President said in his remarks at Brittany Hotel in Taguig City.

“There are big and small differences between us. But what is most important is that we agree on the best way to help our countrymen. That is what we should do,” he said.

The NP president agreed that different political parties can still find common ground “despite our differences” in terms of diverse cultural, religious and economic backgrounds and different political ideologies.

“We need to prove to the Filipino people that we are a nation capable of rising above our differences in order to build a bright future for the country,” Villar said.

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The PFP’s pact with NP is its fourth alliance forged this year as part of preparations for next year’s elections. Mr. Marcos’ political party earlier signed similar agreements with the Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats, Nationalist People’s Coalition and National Unity Party. INQ