# Rainbow Coalition (Philippines)

The Rainbow Coalition was a multi-party coalition in the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 1992. The Coalition was composed of Lakas, NPC (1992–1997), LDP (1992–1997), Liberal, and Nacionalista (1992–2001), PDP–Laban, and KBL. The coalition was led by then-House Speaker Jose De Venecia.

## History

After the plurality result victory of Fidel Valdez Ramos (Lakas) as president in 1992, Pangasinan's Jose de Venecia (Lakas), from the 4th congressional district was tasked to create a multi-party coalition to solidify the House of Representatives: so the legislative agenda of the president could be passed into law. During that same election, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) won the largest amount seats with 86, while Lakas gained 41 seats, and the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) of Danding Cojuangco, one of Ramos' opponent gained 30 seats. De Venecia later created a coalition with those parties, adding both the Liberal Party and the Nacionalista Party.
The coalition also continued into 1995, and was strengthened when Lakas and LDP officially formed Lakas–Laban Coalition.
However, in 1998, after LDP and NPC supported Vice President Joseph Estrada's run for president, the coalition became defunct. During the election of 1998, De Venecia was Lakas' candidate to challenge Estrada.

## Successor coalitions
### Sunshine Coalition

After the ouster of Joseph Estrada in the presidency, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assumed the presidency. Likewise, as a result of the 2001 elections, after three years, and his presidential run defeat in 1998, former House Speaker Jose de Venecia returned to his post as speaker. De Venecia revived the coalition model during the 2001 elections, and renamed it Sunshine Coalition. The former members of the initial coalition were recruited into the newly formed Sunshine Coalition, with the addition of PDP–Laban, Reporma, Aksyon Demokratiko, Imee Marcos' Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), and Tomas Osmeña's Probinsya Muna Development Initiative (PROMDI). LDP stayed on the Estrada's side.
In 2003, after the failure of impeachment filing in the House against Chief Justice Hilario Davide, rumors were circulated that the coalition would be cease to exist due to the NPC being disappointed in the failed impeachment. Additional rumors spread, asserting that there was a faction that was unhappy with De Venecia and would challenge his speakership. NPC later promoted quitting the coalition for the 2004 elections, and was rumored to be considering joining the opposition.
After the coalition disbanded, Congressman Ace Barbers from Surigao del Norte's 1st district proposed the creation of a new coalition, the Dawn Coalition for the sole purpose of securing the speakership for De Venecia.

## Formula usage
### 2013

President Benigno Aquino III's Team PNoy senatorial slate was composed of only three Liberal Party members: (Bam Aquino, Jamby Madrigal, and Jun Magsaysay). The others were from Nacionalista Party, PDP–Laban, Independent politicians, and from party-list Akbayan. A Rappler article said that the strategy of the slate was based on De Venecia's formula in 1992.

### 2016

After the 2016 elections, Rodrigo Duterte was elected as president, Pantaleon Alvarez, the soon to be Speaker of the House organized a coalition building similar to Rainbow Coalition, this time with PDP–Laban as the leading party of the coalition.

## Criticism

Ed Lingao, a former Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism personnel and TV5 News anchor opined on his segment News explainED that the formation of Rainbow Coalition caused the legislative branch, in 1992, to almost lose an opposition bloc. Additionally, he asserted that the coalition did not have clear intentions or goals, and the characters of each political party "melted", and turned out to be all just the same.