The People's Reform Party (PRP) is a political party in the Philippines. Founded on April 12, 1991, as the political party of former Agrarian Reform Secretary Miriam Defensor Santiago for her bid as president in the 1992 Presidential Elections. During the 1992 Elections, the party nominated Santiago as president and Ramon "Jun" Magsaysay, Jr. as vice president, however both Santiago and Magsaysay lost the elections to former Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos and then-Senator Joseph Estrada, respectively. The Force of Reform Philippines (FORPH) serves as the official youth-wing of the People's Reform Party. While under the same Miriam Defensor Santiago wing, the Youth Reform Movement is not related to the PRP.
Our task is to reform the culture of corruption. In this archipelago, the land of our birth, the cradle of our hopes and dreams, we find it intolerable and immoral that of 62 million Filipinos, 2/3 are living at the poverty line. We find it unacceptable that despite our great wealth in natural resources, despite our gifts in human resources, our country today bears the onus of a negative reputation as one of the most corrupt governments in Southeast Asia.
Her campaign was known for gathering the vote of the youth, with campaigning and speaking in the universities, with presenting herself as the reformist one.[5] At first, she gathered at least 40% to 50% survey ratings,[6] but in those times where the election day is near, she have a tight race with Lakas nominee and former Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos,[7] who have been endorsed by then-incumbent President Corazon Aquino.[8]
In the first days of counting votes, Santiago leading the race, with being the topnotcher in all cities and municipalities in Metro Manila. But after incident of power outages, Ramos lead the counting, and eventually won the elections.[9] Santiago used that incident as an evidence for filing an electoral protest. Various media personnel became witnesses to the fraud made in the election, where the phrase, 'Miriam won in the election, but lost in the counting' became popular.[10][11] However, her protest was eventually dismissed by the Supreme Court.[9] But in local elections, Lim and Atienza secured their victory in Manila.[4]
For the 2001 Senate election, Santiago and PRP joined the opposition and Pro-Estrada Pwersa ng Masa. After the arrest of Estrada in April, she challenged critics that she would jump off from a plane without a parachute if Estrada is arrested for plunder. People Power Coalition's (PPC) left-wing partners such as Akbayan and KOMPIL II, blasted the statement, and challenged her to fulfill the challenge, and the other one like being gunned down if 13-0 is achieved,[17] and berated PPC's acronym as Puro Palpak Coalition.[18] Even though got the endorsement of a religious sect, she lost the election 15th.[19]
2004 elections: Joining K-4
In 2004 elections, Santiago and the PRP joined President Arroyo's K-4 coalition,[20] and successfully got a senate seat placing 7th.
On October 13, 2015, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago announced her intention to run for president in the 2016 elections. She also announced she picked her Senate colleague Bongbong Marcos as her running mate for vice president.[23][24] Some people criticized the move, as when Santiago is still a RTC judge, she berated her running-mate's father before about human rights abuses and bailed some activists like movie director Lino Brocka.[3] Both Defensor and Marcos lost the election.[2]
Miriam Defensor Santiago's death and 2019 elections
Santiago died September 29, 2016, at St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig from lung cancer. Though the party exists for the political career of Santiago, it agreed through Santiago's widow, Narciso Jr. to nominate Harry Roque as candidate for the Philippine Senate. Roque's nomination was arranged through the auspices of Davao City mayor Sara Duterte, daughter of then-PresidentRodrigo Duterte.[25] The nomination of Roque sparked wide criticism, garnering massive backlash notably from stern supporters of the late senator and PRP founder Santiago. Various organizations called Roque a 'user' and was 'destroying the image' of PRP and the late Santiago.[26] Additionally, Roque's already low public appeal degraded further from 8.7% in March 2018 into 8% in October 2018.[27]
2022 elections
The PRP, now under Narciso Jr., announced support for Sara Duterte's potential presidential run and renewed their ties with the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) for the 2022 elections.[28] Former Lakas presidential nominee Gilbert Teodoro[29] and Roque are tapped in to be their senatorial candidates.[30]
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