PDP-Laban merged two political organizations that played key roles in the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship; the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino, established in 1982 by Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel, Jr. and other staunch fighters for human rights, among them Mindanao-based political activists; and Laban, the party of Ninoy Aquino and other prominent freedom fighters, which was established in 1978.

In 1986, these two political parties coalesced to form PDP-Laban, the single biggest political group to go up against Marcos in the snap elections. Corazon Aquino ran against the deposed dictator under the PDP-Laban banner.

The hope was that the 1986 EDSA Revolution would usher in a new era in Philippine politics; one that would redefine politics and take a giant step towards modernization with a radical shift away from individual ambitions to national issues and policies.

The PDP-Laban's program of action addresses the concerns of all sectors of society - the workers, farmers, women, youth, rural workers, cultural communities, the elderly, the urban poor. But its solutions are best demonstrated in the success of the political units where it has achieved control and shown how governments should be run and communities served.

We believe in devolving even more political power, and therefore initiatives downwards, to local government units. We believe in a federal system of government to break the stranglehold of the national capital on the rest of the nation. No single part of this nation can pull up the rest of this country by itself. We must trust and empower every part to lift itself up, and the nation all together.

Jejomar Binay is the PDP-LABAN Party's president and as much as he is qualified to be the President of the country, he deemed it better to aim for the Vice Presidency, as this is his first national campaign.