Conservative Party of Philippines (Britain Thrives)

The Conservative Party of the Philippines (Spanish: Partido Conservador de Filipinas, Filipino: Konserbatibo Party ng Pilipinas) also known as the Royalists or Principalía is a political party in the Philippines. It is positioned on the far-right of the Philippine political spectrum. The party is led by Hernan Sanchez y Rodrigo and its main center is located in the city of Cristo el Salvador also with an active presence in Zamboanga City, Pampanga and General Santos City.

The Conservative Party is considered the successor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines, and other factions that were loyal to Spain during the Philippine independence movement. They also have high affiliations and ties with royalist parties in Mexico, such as the Mexican Royalists.

Before 1969, the party existed as multiple factions of loyalists to the Spanish Crown. In the 1960s, it existed as the Restoration Movement and The New Principalía, two political oppositions to Ferdinand Marcos which sought to restore the Spanish hierarchy in the Philippines whilst maintaining a sovereign state. Most of its members are mestizos with Spanish descent.

They were eventually united in 1969 to officially form the party, with Villa Ortiz as its head. They successfully helped topple Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. However, Corazon Aquino was installed as president. Afterward, the party weakened but in 2005, the party began to grow and poses a serious growing challenge for Benigno Aquino III's presidency. However, the likelihood of a party member ever becoming president is near impossible, since the Royalists' goals have been ruled unconstitutional, and contradicts Philippine constitutional law. The Philippines does not have a prime minister and the party's goal is to establish a prime minister in place of the president. Royalties are also prohibited since the Philippines is a republic.

The Conservative Party of the Philippines is often considered the Philippines' own counterpart to British conservatives and Westminster politics. Like British conservatives, the Philippine Conservatives favor orderly and established ways of doing things and maintaining high ties with a monarch, the Spanish monarchy in this case, and with the Roman Catholic Church. They also wish to install a Prime Minister in place of a President, favoring a parliamentary and constitutional monarchy over a federal republic.

Philippine Conservatives also support the officiating of Spanish as the national language in the Philippines and were opposed to the Philippine government's proposal to officiate Malay as an official language. They also oppose same-sex marriage, and want to establish a strong presence of the Catholicism in all islands and provinces in the Philippines, funding the building of churches and crusader movements in predominantly-Muslim areas such as southern Mindanao and Sabah and the Hindu and Buddhist-population region of northern Mindanao. They also oppose Protestant movements in the Philippines, seeing all non-Catholic movements as dangerous and rebellious theologies. They hold mixed views on other issues such as gun control, where some politicians such as Villa Ortiz, the founder, opposed gun control and some such as Juan Díaz de Quirós and Sancho Abelló y Terrazas supported gun control to discourage rebellion.

Political opponents of the party include the Communist Party of the Philippines, Lakas-CMD, Islamic Party of the Philippines and the Nationalist Party of Mindanao, despite the Lakas-CMD and the Nationalist Party of Mindanao being right-wing parties. Political allies include the Cavite United Party, and the Partido de Zamboanga.

History
The origins of the party lie during the Filipino struggle for independence against Spain, particularly members of the elite class known as the Principalía. Though no official name, they were often members of the Captaincy-General of the Philippines, and counteracted the Filipino revolution. They also fought alongside Spain against the American occupation of the Philippines.

During the First Philippine Republic-era, the remaining loyalists to the Spanish Crown retreated to the city of Cristo el Salvador in southern Luzon, to find a party that would rival the Katipunan. In 1899 thus, the Restoration Movement (Spanish: Movimiento de Restauración, Filipino: Pagpapanumbalik Alitan) was found, composed of former soldiers for the Spanish Crown in the Philippines, and their families. In 1901 similarly in the city of Cavite, the The New Principalía (Spanish: El Principalía Nuevo, Filipino: Bagong Prinsipaliya) was found also composed of Mestizos.

For decades, these two factions resisted foreign attempts to influence Philippine culture, and worked to preserve Spanish culture and tradition in the Philippines. They resisted English-language education movements, and the presence of Protestant missionaries, wanting to strengthen Catholicism's hold in the Philippines.

Principalía were successful in keeping Spanish an official language, despite a huge decline in the number of speakers as English began to replace Spanish as the major Indo-European language.

The loyalist-factions for the most part, remained quiet and in the shadows until the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos which began in 1965. Marcos abolished the official usage of Spanish. The Restorationists and New Principalía leader Sancho Cruz de Quirós had a meeting in the city of Cristo el Salvador, where they announced the formation of a united party which would, become the Conservative Party of the Philippines in 1969.

Political Beliefs
The goal of the Conservative Party of the Philippines is two re-establish ties with the Spanish Crown, restore Spanish language, culture and tradition whilst maintaining a sovereign nation. The Conservatives prefer a constitutional monarchy, with the Prime Minister as the Head of State and Spanish Crown as the Monarch, and the Pope as the leader of Christianity and of religious affairs in the Philippines.

Conservatives regard José Rizal as the founder of the Philippines. Sancho Abelló y Terrazas, the leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1981, argued that Rizal never encouraged rebellion or revolution, and wanted to establish a sovereign state with maintaining ties to the Spanish monarch and with the Roman Catholic Church.

Same Sex Marriage
The Conservative Party is against same-sex marriage, and has, unsuccessfully tried to pass bills that would ban and/or restrict LGBT movements in the Philippines. In spite of being a predominantly Catholic nation, the Philippines is one of the most gay-friendly nations in the world. Much of these anti-homosexual pogroms were made under the leadership of Sancho Abelló y Terrazas, but didn't come into prominence until the leadership of José Chavarría, who was put under global criticism from LGBT activists. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has long-supported and endorsed attempts by the Conservative Party to restrict and eventually, outlaw LGBT movements. In 2013, Terrazas and Rodrigo introduced a municipal bill that would designate public sexual acts between two same sexes as a form of public indecency.

On January 2, 2014 Carlos de Villalobos, the mayor of Cristo el Salvador was criticized for a controversial statement. He had said, "I hate gay people. They need to be diagnosed, healed by the power of God or be imprisoned."

The mayors of San Lorenzo, Manila del Sur, San Navarre and many cities in Batangas also stated their support of banning same-sex marriage and outlawing all LGBT activities, and to label homosexuality as a mental disorder in the Philippines.

Birth control and abortion
The Conservative Party is also against abortion and birth control. They provided the momentum in fighting against the RH bill that allowed free birth control pills and condoms to be given by medical institutions. Hernan Sanchez y Rodrigo, the party's current leader said, "The bill is evil and is forcing doctors to violate a person's God-given mission to be on the Earth."

Religion
Philippine Conservatives are highly aligned with the Roman Catholic Church, and want Catholicism to be the representing religion of the Philippines. They want the Pope to be the religious leader of the Philippines and Catholicism to be the country's state religion. The Conservative Party currently helps and supports Catholic crusader movements in the non-Catholic areas in the Philippines to convert people to Catholicism. Like the Spanish rulers, Catholic converts are given high honors, praises, community support and luxurious gifts, paid for by both Catholic donors and the Conservative Party. They are also against Protestants, Baptists and non-Catholic sections of Christianity. Sancho Abelló y Terrazas stated that Protestantism and Baptism are "products of evil rebellion", and that Christians are to be obedient to their superiors. in this case, the King and the Pope.

During a public speech in 2014, he made negative criticisms and comments about the Anglican Church, and Conservative parties that promote Westminster politics (such as the British and Canadian Conservative Parties), stating that Queens should never be bowed down to and only Kings should be, stating that the Anglican conservatives are the "opposite" of righteous Catholics. He called Queen Elizabeth II a daughter of Satan.

Aftewards, the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom released a refuting statement, stating that Sancho was banned from entering the United Kingdom for three years. Canada and Australia also followed, issuing two-year bans against Sancho from entering their countries.

Language
Another major goal of the Conservatives is to make Spanish the national language of the Philippines, alongside Filipino. They argue that the Philippine historical documents were all written in Spanish. Conservatives want to see Spanish replace English as the major language alongside Filipino. After the Borneo War, the Conservatives opposed the Philippine government's decision to make Malay a third official language in the Philippines.

Harnan Sanchez y Rodrigo argued that the Philippines is not a Malay country, and that Malay is ancient history in the Philippines.

"I am appalled at the government's decision to officiate Malay. Look here, we are Filipinos, we are not Indonesians, we are not Malaysians. The names 'Philippines' and 'Filipino' are of Spanish origin. Malay is a language that was spoken a thousand years ago, but that's it, it's not needed, it's our ancient past. The Philippines was established by the Spaniards, and it is the glory of Spanish culture that united the Philippines, not Malay. If anything, the Malays are the ones that divided us, turning Muslims against Christians. Our constitution was written in Spanish, the works of Dr. Rizal were all written in Spanish, not Malay. So to see the government avoid officiating Spanish but to make Malay official and try to integrate us into the seas of hostility that lie below us, is despicable."

Gun control
Members of the Conservative Party has offered mixed views about gun control. The first leader, Villa Ortiz supported gun ownership for responsible Filipino citizens, having fell victimized by Marcos' gun control regime. During the presidency of Marcos, Villa and his family kept illegal firearms in their home.

However, the following leaders supported gun control and stricter regulations for firearms ownership. Sancho Abelló y Terrazas was one of the most vocal supporters against firearms ownership, stating that it encourages rebellion and that all subjects to the Monarch and the Pope must be disarmed. Terrazas also associates gun ownership with Protestants and Bapists as well as Islamic terrorists.

"Gun ownership causes rebellion. We are taught, as obedient Christians to be faithful to our superiors. Citizens have no use for guns. Gun ownership is a Protestant and a Muslim tradition, which is nothing more than a product of rebellious scum like Martin Luther King, Jr and those Moro leaders."

José Chavarría, the party's leader from 1981 to 1987, who owns a shotgun for pest control at his farm, stated that "self-defense" with a firearm was un-Biblical, and a violation of the First Commandment and that Catholics are to turn the other cheek, and forgive those who persecute them.

The party's current leader, however, has been generally more pro-gun leaning, supporting the use of firearms for rural landowners in the country, stating that police protection was insufficient in those areas. He rejects the current strict gun control regulation, stating that it should not apply for rural Filipinos.