Marcos’ Partido Federal seals alliance with National Unity Party

MANILA, Philippines – The National Unity Party (NUP) became the latest political party to seal a “unity alliance” with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) on Saturday, June 29.

The NUP, the second biggest political party in the country, is chaired by former interior secretary Ronaldo Puno who described the alliance as a “historic moment in our national political landscape.”

Marcos, who keynoted the alliance signing ceremony held at the Manila Golf Club, sought to preempt “commentators” from labeling the alliance as a mere “marriage of convenience” in preparation for the 2025 midterm elections.

While he agreed that political alliances are part of election preparations, in the case of the PFP and its allies, it is their common “ideology” of unity that brought them together, he said.

“When you once again hear that phrase ‘marriage of convenience’ let us answer them, ‘No, unity is in fact our ideology, that is what has brought us together,’” Marcos said.

Marcos mentioned the phrase several times during his speech, differentiating the political alliances that PFP had entered into over the past weeks from a temporary alliance with an immediate goal, as what a “marriage of convenience” implies.

The dissolved UniTeam alliance that brought the tandem of Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte to victory in the 2022 elections had been described as a “marriage of convenience” which ultimately ended with the resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte as education secretary on June 19.

In May, the PFP signed similar agreements with Lakas-CMD and the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

Political parties are forging alliances and consolidating their ranks as the country nears the midterm elections in May 2025. – Rappler.com