Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM)

A new political party was launched last Nov. 12, 2008 at UP Diliman; the Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM). PLM is more than a partylist, which was for sectoral organizations to have a voice in congress. But it too can be fielded as a partylist. More than that, it can field its own slate of candidates in the 2010 elections, and the succeeding elections thereafter. PLM will field its candidates from the local barangay to the mayoralty level, up to congress and the presidency. It is a party not just for elections but as a movement for mass struggle. It is a party for change, which contradicts the programs and platforms of the existing major political parties like the administrations's Lakas-Kampi-CMD, LDP, LP, NP, and even the United Opposition, who advocates the existing free market economy. They (trapos) do not plan to overhaul it to give way to an economy for the upliftment of lives of all Filipinos, not just the elite. It is a party for socialism. It abhors capitalism as an ideology of the neo-liberals. It is presenting itself and its programs as an alternative to the capitalist crisis haunting the world. Trapos are not welcome in PLM. Patronage politics has no room here. Models of this political party are those of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez' "Movimiento Quinta Republica," and other Latin American countries like Bolivia and Ecuador.