Sanlakas is a
party-list
An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...
organization in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. It is a progressive coalition of different marginalized sectors in the Philippines founded on October 29, 1993.
After topping the party-list tally in the
National Capital Region,
Sanlakas won a seat in the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
in 1998, the first party-list elections in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. Sanlakas won a seat in the lower house for the second time in 2001.
Some of the notable affiliates of Sanlakas are
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino,
(KPML), Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA),
(ZOTO),
,
(MMVA),
Alliance of Transport Operators Member Intra-Cebu (ATOMIC),
(TDC),
Pagkakaisa ng mga Manggagawa sa Transportasyon (PMT), and Piglas-Kabataan.
Track record
Known as an
activist
Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...
political party, Sanlakas constantly figures in protest actions against certain policies of the government like the Electric Power Industry Reform Act,
the Cybercrime Prevention Act,
the Mining Act of 1995,
among others.
Sanlakas was also a petitioner in several cases in the
Supreme Court of the Philippines
The Supreme Court (; colloquially referred to as the ' (also used in formal writing), is the highest court in the Philippines. It was established by the Taft Commission on June 11, 1901, through the enactment of Act No. 136, which abolished th ...
against Philippine laws and policies they deem detrimental to the welfare of the Filipino people like the Oil Deregulation Law,
and the declaration of a State of Rebellion during the time of President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal-Arroyo (; born April 5, 1947), often referred to as PGMA or GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician who served as the 14th president of the Philippines from Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 2001 to 2010 ...
.
Among the victims of the serial killings of political activists in the Philippines, during the Arroyo administration, are Sanlakas members like trade unionist Andrew Inoza,
peasant leader
Frank Labial,
and revolutionary socialist
Filemon Lagman. Lagman, one of the founders
of Sanlakas, is considered as the first prominent victim of political assassination under the presidency of Gloria Arroyo.
Representatives to Congress
*
11th Congress (1998–2001) - Rene Magtubo, Mario Cruz
*
12th Congress (2001–2004) - Jose Virgilio Bautista
2013 elections
The Philippine Commission on Elections (
COMELEC) accredited Sanlakas for the 2013 party-list elections after being delisted earlier due to their failure to participate in the 2010 elections.
Congressional nominees
#Manjette Lopez - Sanlakas National President and Freedom from Debt Coalition Vice President
#Tita Flor Santos - Sanlakas National Treasurer, a veteran urban poor organizer and adviser to the MMVA
#Aaron Pedrosa - Sanlakas Secretary-General and a former student leader
#Rasti Delizo - Sanlakas Auditor and an expert on foreign policy and geo-politics
#Erwin Puhawan - Migrant workers advocate
and labor leader
Electoral performance
Veterans Federation Party vs. COMELEC
References
See also
*
Partido Lakas ng Masa Partido, partidista and partidario may refer to:
* Spanish for a political party, people who share political ideology or who are brought together by common issues
Territorial subdivision
* Partidos of Buenos Aires, the second-level administrative ...
{{Philippine political parties
Party-lists represented in the House of Representatives of the Philippines
Political parties established in 1993
Socialist parties in the Philippines
1993 establishments in the Philippines