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OUR HISTORY
HOW A STRONG FORCE WAS ESTABLISHED
Our beginnings
PDP Laban’s history is one of the most significant in Philippine politics. It was the party that carried Rodrigo Roa Duterte (then Davao City mayor) to victory in the 2016 national elections, marking the first time a politician from Mindanao getting elected as President of the Republic of the Philippines.
This is also the second time that the party got a candidate elected to the country’s highest office. Through his “TAPANG AT MALASAKIT” brand of leadership, PRRD and PDP Laban became a powerful force for reforms.
The current party traces its roots to the founding of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) of the late Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. on February 6, 1982, in Cebu City along with Antonio Cuenco and leaders from the South. On the other hand, the Laban party was founded by the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. in 1978.
In February 1983, the PDP and Laban merged, making it a national political party with members from all over the country. Consequently, in the 1986 Snap elections, the PDP Laban, together with UNIDO, was a pillar of the coalition that led to the victory of Corazon C. Aquino as the 11th President of the Philippines. In 2010, the party produced its first Vice President, Jejomar Binay, the 13th Vice President of the country.
Although PDP Laban was rocked by internal conflict months before the May 2022 national elections, the Commission on Elections ruled with finality in March 2023 that the group headed by Rodrigo Roa Duterte, now the party chairman, is the legitimate one.