Nacionalista Party

The Nacionalista Party (Filipino and Spanish: Partido Nacionalista; ) is the oldest political party in both the Philippines and in Southeast Asia in general. It is responsible for leading the country throughout the majority of the 20th century since its founding in 1907; it was the ruling party from 1935 to 1946 (under Presidents Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmeña), 1953–1961 (under Presidents Ramon Magsaysay and Carlos P. Garcia) and 1965–1972 (under President Ferdinand Marcos). Ideology The Nacionalista Party was initially created as a Filipino nationalist party that supported Philippine independence until 1946 when the United States granted independence to the country. Since then, many scholarly articles that dealt with the history of political parties during the Third Republic agreed that the party has been increasingly populist, although some argued they had conservative tendencies because of their opposition to the Liberal Party and the Progressive Party. The populist ideology of the party remained to present day as described on their website. History American Insular to Commonwealth era The party was organized as a vehicle for Philippine independence, advocating self-rule; and espousing this advocacy through representation in the Philippine Assembly of 1907–1916, and in the succeeding Philippine Legislature of 1916–1935. The ranks of Nationalist politicians rose to prominence through the Commonwealth of the Philippines spanning 1935–1941, ending when political parties were replaced by a singular and monolithic KALIBAPI Party during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.