There are no results available for the 2004 election for the House of Representatives, but according to the website of the House, the party held 7 out of 235 seats. The party is divided into two factions. The faction led by Edgardo Angara contested in the 2004 elections as a member party of the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (Coalition of United Filipinos).
In the May 14, 2007 national elections, the party won 3 seats in the House of Representatives.[2]
In the 1987 legislative elections, UNIDO, under the name "Lakas ng Bayan", became the dominant party in both houses of Congress, electing Representative Ramon V. Mitra, Jr. of Palawan as Speaker of the House of Representatives. UNIDO would be dissolved soon after.
In 1997, the party supported the candidacy of then-Vice President Joseph Estrada for the presidency, coalesced with two other parties to form the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino (lit.'Fight of the Patriotic Filipino Masses').
Recent events
In the 2004 elections, the party was critically divided by two factions between its party president Senator Edgardo Angara, who supported the candidacy of party outsider actor Fernando Poe Jr., and party secretary general Makati representative Agapito Aquino, who supported Senator Panfilo Lacson's candidacy for president.
It was planned that the LDP would form the core of the main opposition coalition, the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP). However, members of the party disagreed on which person to support for president. Panfilo Lacson, a member of the party, advanced his candidacy for president but was not considered by Edgardo Angara, the president of the party. Angara supported Fernando Poe, Jr. Together with the party's secretary-general Agapito "Butz" Aquino, Lacson gathered the support of some members of the party and went ahead with his candidacy. The LDP was subsequently polarized between those supporting Angara and Poe, and those for Lacson and Aquino.
By then, Poe and Lacson have both filed their certificates of candidacies. According to the rules of candidacy, every presidential candidate must have a political party to back him or her. With the obvious split within the ranks of the LDP, and with no signs that the two factions would come to an agreement, the COMELEC decided to informally split the party into the Aquino and the Angara wings. Lacson then ran under the LDP – Aquino Wing, and Poe under the LDP – Angara Wing, which would later become the KNP.
During the campaign period, there had been numerous unification talks between the two factions. The opposition saw the need to become united under one banner to boost their chances of winning the presidential election against the organized political machinery of Arroyo. The plans of unification did not materialize due to the stubbornness of both Poe and Lacson. Lacson wanted Poe to concede to him and run as his vice-presidential candidate while the supporters of Poe wanted Lacson to back-out from his candidacy and instead support Poe, citing his low performance in the surveys.
Ret. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos – former president, lost the party's nomination to the House Speaker Ramon Mitra and formed his own party, Lakas ng Tao, now named Lakas-CMD.
Edgardo Angara – present party president, former Senate President and four-term senator; the longest-serving senator in the post-EDSA Congress
Jamby Madrigal – former senator, LDP member from 2001 to 2007 before joining PDP–Laban
Blas Ople – former senator, Secretary of Foreign Affairs.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo – former President of the Philippines. She quit the party in early 1997 to form her own political party, Kampi.
Vicente "Tito" Sotto III – former senator, LDP member from 1992 to 1997 and left together with Arroyo to form Kampi. However, during the Estrada administration he returned to the party before and left again in 2007 to join the Nationalist People's Coalition.
Ramon Revilla Sr. – former senator, LDP member from 1992 to 1997 before joining Lakas for the 1998 elections.
Raul Roco – Congressman, former senator, left the party in 1997 and formed his own party Aksyon Demokratiko (Aksyon) for the 1998 and 2004 elections.
Teresa Aquino-Oreta – former senator, LDP member from 1988 to 2007 before joining Nationalist People's Coalition.
Jose E. Calingasan – Congressman, 4th District of Batangas, most outstanding Congressmen in the History of Batangas, also a former Philippine ambassador
^The pre-merger Lakas ng Bansa participated. LDP had not yet formed. Contested in an electoral alliance with PDP–Laban. Seat total consists of 24 Lakas ng Bansa representatives and 21 dual representatives of Lakas ng Bansa and PDP–Laban.
^The pre-merger Bansang Nagkakaisa sa Diwa at Layunin (BANDILA) participated. LDP had not yet formed.
^Contested in an electoral alliance with the Lakas–CMD. Seat total consists of 17 LDP representatives and 25 dual representatives of Lakas–CMD and LDP.
^Contested in an electoral alliance with NPC and PMP as LAMMP. Seat total consists of 55 LAMMP representatives. LDP did not stand any candidates outside the LAMMP alliance.
References
^Derbyshire, ed. (2016). Encyclopedia of World Political Systems. Routledge. p. 751. ISBN9781317471561. ... was formed in 1997 through the merger of the center-right Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP: Democratic Filipino Struggle Party), the rightwing Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) and the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP). ...