Roxas presidency: 1946–1948 1946 elections: The Rise of Manuel Roxas The Liberal Party started as the "Liberal Wing" of the
Nacionalista Party, led by
Manuel Roxas and
Elpidio Quirino. The Liberal Wing is formed due to intention of Roxas to run as president
for the presidential election which he, and his supporters called and lobbied to the
United States Congress to be early. When President
Sergio Osmeña was officially selected as Nacionalista presidential nominee, Roxas and Quirino officially founded the "Liberal Wing" into Liberal Party on January 19, 1946. Roxas and Quirino where the party's presidential and vice presidential nominee respectively, and became victorious over the administration ticket of Osmeña and
Amang Rodriguez. After their presidential election performance, they dominated the
House elections won the majority of 49 seats, and the
senate race in 1947 winning six over eight seats.
Quirino to Magsaysay's presidency: 1948–1957 1948: Quirino succeeds Roxas, but facing impeachment attempt After the death of President Roxas on April 15, 1948, at
Clark Air Base, Pampanga, due to multiple heart attacks, Elpidio Quirino assumed the presidency. Riding on the crest of the growing wave of resentment against Liberal, a move was next hatched to indict President Quirino himself. A committee of seven members of the House of Representatives, led by Congressman Agripino Escareal, drafted a five-count complaint that ranged from exorbitant spending to
nepotism. A seven-member committee led by Representative
Lorenzo Sumulong was created by Speaker
Eugenio Pérez to investigate the charges before they were submitted to the Senate, serving as an impeachment body. Felix Angelo Bautista, the
Solicitor General, arrived as the top executive's defense attorney. with violence and fraud taking place. As the news reports said that opponent's supporters are either beaten up by Quirino's supporters or the local police. In the Senate, they swept out the whole 8 member ticket, while still maintaining majority at the House.
1953 elections: Magsaysay out, Liberal stumbled For the
1953 elections, Liberal stalwart named
Ramon Magsaysay, who has been recruited by founding member Roxas to fulfill the party with fresh names, wants to snap the presidential nomination of the party. But Quirino has still plans for re-election. Another Liberal also wants to challenge Quirino as the presidential nominee, the
country's representative to the United Nations Carlos P. Romulo. Quirino officially selected by the party, with
José Yulo as his running-mate, because Lopez will join Romulo and his supporter's walk-out march out of the party. Magsaysay jumped to Nacionalista and got the party's nomination over one of its stalwarts Senate President
Camilo Osías (who also jumped to Liberal with
Jose Zulueta), on April 12, 1953. Romulo and Lopez founded the
Democratic Party on May 29, 1953, with the two founders selected as their presidential and vice presidential nominee. But later, the two cancelled their candidacy and supported Magsaysay's candidacy. Quirino's campaign was bombarded by controversies and issues, like with one of party's member named
Negros Occidental Governor Rafael Lacson, a corrupt politician who killed Moises Padilla, his challenger in 1951 elections, and friend of Magsaysay which popularized by a photograph taken with Magsaysay carrying Padilla's dead body, and also being used by the latter in his campaign. Another issues like he allegedly own a
golden arinola, corruption and nepotism, being out of touch to the mass due to his lavish lifestyle, and unresolving the Huk rebellion. Magsaysay and his running mate
Carlos Garcia won the election via landslide. In the
senate, the whole Liberal slate was kicked out in the Magic 8, thus not winning any seats, while in the
House they only won 31 seats. In
1955 Senate elections, no Liberal again won any seat in the Senate.
Garcia to Macapagal's presidency: 1957–1965 1957 elections: Rise of Diosdado Macapagal After the
death of Magsaysay, and succession of Garcia, Liberal fielded their former 1953 Vice Presidential nominee José Yulo, with Kapampangan
1st district Congressman Diosdado Macapagal as his running mate for the
1957 presidential elections. In a four-way race, Yulo lost to incumbent Garcia, but Macapagal managed to defeat former House Speaker
Pepito Laurel. For the first time in electoral history of the Philippines, the winning president did not have a vice president who came from the same party.
1961 elections: Liberal prevailed For the
1961 elections, Ilocano Senator
Ferdinand Marcos wants to gain the nomination of the party to challenge Garcia's re-election bid, but Vice President Macapagal also wants to be the nominee of the party. Later, in January 1961, Marcos and Macapagal agreed that the latter will be the presidential nominee, while Marcos will be the new party president replacing Macapagal.
Stonehill Scandal In 1962, a
bribery scandal shocked the whole country which involves some of Liberal politicians, including President Macapagal, and then-Senate President Marcos. Those bribed money are from a businessman named Harry Stonehill, a former military officer of the United States who settled in the Philippines to make business. But, after an argument with Meinhart Spielman, the general manager of his Philippine Tobacco Corporation, he made Spielman suffered physically and the latter revealed to the Senate a "blue book" that listed all of the Filipino politicians bribed. But while Justice Secretary
Jose "Pepe" Diokno investigated the scandal, Macapagal ordered the deportation of Stonehill, but the president's trust rating still plummeting.
1967 elections: Rise of Ninoy Aquino In
1967 elections, the only one from the Liberal slate was elected from the 8 senate seats contested is
Ninoy Aquino, a former Nacionalista who is known for being an associate of Ramon Magsaysay. Aquino managed to gather 49.52% of the votes.
1969 elections: Dirty elections faced For the
1969 elections, Liberal will field
Serging Osmeña, son of the Nacionalista founder
Sergio Osmeña as their presidential nominee. Osmeña ran for vice presidency in 1961 as an independent and placed second. The party also recruited Magsaysay's brother
Genaro to be his running-mate. Both of them lost to the incumbents, but the election year was considered as one of the dirtiest elections in history, like 1949.
1971: The Plaza Miranda bombing After what happened to
Plaza Miranda bombing, Liberal won five seats. In Manila mayoral election, the party chose Congressman
Ramon Bagatsing instead of incumbent
Antonio Villegas. Villegas left the party, and Bagatsing won the mayoral election.
Martial law and Fourth Republic era Being threat to Marcos During the
days leading to his declaration of martial law, Marcos would find his old party as a potent roadblock to his quest for
one-man rule. Led by
Ninoy Aquino,
Gerry Roxas and
Jovito Salonga, Liberal would hound President Marcos on issues like
human rights and the curtailment of
freedoms. Even after Marcos'
declaration of martial law silenced the Liberal, the party continued to oppose the regime, and many of its leaders and members would be prosecuted and even killed during this time.
1978 elections For the incoming
1978 parliamentary elections, some Liberal members joined the
Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, a regime-controlled coalition, while others joined Ninoy Aquino's
Lakas ng Bayan (LABAN). With many preferring not to be involved, the
Liberal went to hibernation, but the party became more liberal during this era.
1981 boycott After Marcos lifted Martial Law with
Proclamation 2045, on January 17, 1981, Liberal joined
United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO), the main coalition of the opposition. But UNIDO and LABAN declared a boycott due to Marcos did not accept the demand of UNIDO like to clean the voters' list, revamping of the
Commission on Elections (COMELEC), and accreditation of UNIDO as the minority. This caused for Marcos to be reportedly dismayed as he could not legitimize the election without a viable opposition candidate.
1986 snap elections Liberal stalwarts joined UNIDO with Nacionalista, and PDP–Laban members, they supported the candidacy of
Cory Aquino and
Doy Laurel for the
1986 election. In the said election, violence was rampant and cheating scandals and controversies arose, with COMELEC officers walked out of the PICC, the place where COMELEC transmission of data happens. The election victory of Marcos prompted
People Power Revolution in February 25 of the same year.
First Aquino to Estrada's presidency: 1986–1992 Under Aquino Administration After democracy was restored after the
People Power Revolution, some of the Liberal stalwarts was instrumental in ending more than half a century of US military presence in the Philippines with its campaign in the 1991 senate to reject a new RP-US Bases Treaty which mainly led by their veteran
Jovito Salonga. This ironically cost the party dearly, losing for it the
elections of 1992.
1995 elections Liberal won 5 seats in the
House elections, but the party did not have any senatorial candidate.
1998 elections: Alfredo Lim In
1998, Liberal fielded Manila Mayor
Alfredo Lim as their presidential candidate, with
Serge Osmeña as his running mate. Serge Osmeña is the son of the party's former presidential nominee. The two is supported by former president Corazon Aquino. But the tandem lost to Vice President Joseph Estrada and Senator Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, daughter of their 1961 presidential nominee respectively.
EDSA Dos In 2000, it was in opposition to the
Estrada administration, actively supporting the Resign-Impeach-Oust initiatives that led to
People Power II. while Biazon placed 12th. Biazon's victory was protested by 13th placer Senator
Robert Barbers (who is also a K-4 member), but the case filed by Barbers later dismissed.
2007 elections: GO and Noynoy After the
revelation that Arroyo cheated in the presidential elections, many Liberal members who are part of the cabinet of Arroyo
resigned in 2005, thus joining the opposition, including party stalwart
Butch Abad. For the
2007 elections, Liberal fielded a candidate, the son of Ninoy and Cory, Tarlac Congressman
Noynoy Aquino. Kiko Pangilinan also ran for re-election in senate, but as an independent and still under Liberal, after being kicked out by
Genuine Opposition (GO), which Aquino is a member. Aquino managed to win the senate elections, placing 6th and Pangilinan placed 5th.
Drilon-Roxas wing vs Atienza wing Some Liberal members installed
Manila Mayor Lito Atienza as the party president wayback March 2, 1998, even though that time former Congressman and then-Senate candidate
Raul Daza is officially serving as the party president. What pro-Atienza wing did triggered leadership struggle and party schism lasted after Daza's leadership. Liberal met on November 27, 2007, to decide who would succeed
Franklin Drilon as the party president and to hold an election for his replacement. Both Noynoy Aquino and his Senate colleague Mar Roxas received nominations, but Aquino emerged victorious as the party's president, while Roxas is set to be the presidential nominee. The former chairman and head of the "Atienza faction" or "Pro-Arroyo faction," DENR secretary Lito Atienza, congratulated him, but he later condemned the election and referred to Drilon and his supporters as a "merry cabal of destabilizers". He added that the other group had disregarded the Supreme Court's injunction to maintain the status quo. Even though the party had earlier nominated Mar Roxas to be its presidential candidate for the
2010 Philippine general election, Roxas gave way to Aquino and instead ran for vice president. The party was able to field new members breaking away from the then-ruling party
Lakas–Kampi–CMD, becoming the largest minority party in Congress. Aquino would later win by plurality, and Liberal would become the majority party in Congress. But, some incidents like the appointment of party president
Jun Abaya and mismanagement of the
Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) cost the party's next presidential elections.
'Twerk na daan' controversy On October 1, 2015, during an oath-taking event and birthday celebration of Liberal Congressman
Benjamin Agarao of
Laguna's 4th district,
MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino hired all-girl dance group
Playgirls to perform at the said event. One of the dancers was seen on the top of an unidentified male who was lying on his back simulating a sexual act or
twerking, and the said event has minors in the audience. Liberal leader Mar Roxas, who is absent at the said event, started an investigation about the incident, while labor groups and some women's rights advocates filed charges against Tolentino. The said controversy was coined by columnist and critics as
Twerk na Daan (which was combination of the word "twerk" and "Tuwid na daan" campaign of Aquino).
2016 elections: Oras Na, Roxas Na! In the
2016 presidential elections, the Liberal nominated Mar Roxas, former
Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) and
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary, and
Leni Robredo, a representative from Naga City and widow of
Jesse Robredo, the DILG secretary who preceded Roxas, as the party's presidential and vice presidential candidates. Roxas defeated by former member
Rodrigo Duterte of PDP–Laban, but Robredo managed to win. Most of the party's members either switched allegiance to
PDP–Laban, joined a supermajority alliance but retained their Liberal membership (with some defecting later), joined the "recognized minority", or created an opposition bloc called "Magnificent 7".
Liberal being purged under Duterte's presidency: 2016–2022 Post-2016 elections After its loss in the 2016 elections, as early as February 2017, the leaders of the Liberal chose to focus on rebuilding the party by inviting sectoral representation of non-politicians in its membership numbers. Since then the party had been inducting new members who were non-politicians, some of whom applied online through the party's website. Also, Senator
Leila de Lima, who was pushing probe into alleged extrajudicial deaths in the early months of
Duterte's war on drugs, was arrested in 2017 based on charges linked to the
drug trafficking scandal in
New Bilibid Prison, which the party claimed as only a product of harassment and trumped-up charges against opposing the president. None of the eight senatorial candidates under Otso Diretso won a seat, however; it was the first time in the history of the current
bicameral composition of the
Philippine Congress under the
1987 Constitution that the opposition failed to win a seat in one of the chambers, and the second time that a Liberal-led coalition suffered a great loss since
1955.
2022: Leni Robredo's presidential campaign For the
2022 Philippine presidential election, the Liberal nominated Leni Robredo and
Francis Pangilinan for the presidential and vice presidential posts, respectively. The party led the
Team Robredo–Pangilinan (TRoPa) alliance, which included incumbent senator De Lima, other members of the Liberal, and several guest candidates from other parties such as Akbayan, as well as independents. Robredo ran as an independent candidate whilst remaining affiliated with Liberal. Both candidates lost the election to
Bongbong Marcos and
Sara Duterte, respectively, finishing second. While some candidates from the Liberal-led alliance were elected, no candidate from the party won a seat in the senatorial elections, for the first time since the 1995 elections.
Second Marcos presidency: 2022–present 2025: KiBam and Mamamayang Liberal In May 2024,
Bam Aquino left Liberal to pursue the Senate race as an independent candidate, but later joined the
Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) and became its party chair. Also of the same year, several Liberals led by De Lima formed a sectoral wing called
Mamamayang Liberal (ML) for the 2025 House of Representatives elections for party-list seats. De Lima, who was released from detainment in November 2023, was selected as ML's first nominee. Former senator and vice presidential candidate
Kiko Pangilinan was the Liberal's sole candidate for the senatorial elections. Pangilinan and the Liberals formed a coalition with KNP to form a
coalition duo with Bam Aquino for the
2025 senate election. The duo won the senate race and entered in the magic 12 as Aquino ranked 2nd and Pangilinan ranked 5th, resulting that they will returning in the upper house. Also the Mamamayang Liberal won the party-list race garnering with 500,000+ votes thus guaranteeing one seat in the House of Representatives. Even though de Lima joined minority in the House, Aquino and Pangilinan joined majority in the Senate. == Ideology ==