Founded more than 75 years ago, the Liberal Party (LP) of the Philippines is one of the oldest surviving political parties in Asia. Even during Martial Law when the legislature was unceremoniously dissolved by the dictator, LP continued the democratic struggle with many of its stalwarts in exile or in prison.
The party has produced four presidents from Manuel A. Roxas (1946 to 1948) to Noynoy Aquino (2010 to 2016). It was also in the forefront of sea changing national events like People Power and the abrogation of the US bases in the Philippines. At the same time, it was at the receiving end of repression and brutality—political assassinations, arbitrary arrests and detention, censorship and forced dissolution, among others. Martial Law, the bombing of Plaza Miranda, the systematic vilification of the party and its key figures through widescale and well-funded disinformation, and the continued detention of former Senator Leila De Lima on trumped up charges are the major hurdles that the party had and has to endure; and more importantly, must address and overcome.
CLD and other LP institutional partners met with the new LP leadership—Rep. Edcel Lagman (president), former representative and governor Teddy Baguilat (secretary general), and board member Jason Gonzales (director general). CLD was represented by its chair, Gerry Bulatao; Atty. Karry Sison, managing trustee; and the undersigned in his capacity as CLD president. Though CLD is an independent non-stock, non-profit foundation, it serves as the think tank of the Liberal Party.
Also present were the representatives from the Council of Asian Liberals & Democrats (CALD) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation-Manila. I can claim with confidence that no other major political party in this country has invested more time and resources in a functioning think tank, and in international relations and alliances.
We at CLD has decided that for the present until the immediate future, we will be devoting much focus on local government units as our principal target beneficiary where reforms can have immediate and lasting impacts. We will also be doing a series of projects on Smart Cities. LGUs and Smart Cities are logically connected and interrelated.
In this issue, we feature the newly elected officers of the Liberal Party and the acceptance speech of its president; tributes to the late Chairman of the Commission of Human Rights, Chito Gascon, who once served as LP Director General, in observance of his first death anniversary; a feature on Smart Cities; and artworks on mental health and climate justice.
Two of our recent projects include a three-day workshop on “Building Cities Smarter, Fairer, Greener”; and, a roundtable discussion on “Sustainable Tomorrow: Transitioning to Renewable Energy Resources”.
One of the key take-aways in these discussions is this: plans, policies, technologies, and the allocation of resources are not enough—a responsive, responsible, creative, competent, and dynamic leadership is needed. In other words, for us to have Smart Cities, we must vote wisely.
