page_title: Lakas–CMD (1991)
section_title: Early days and Ramos administration
hierarchical_section_title: Lakas–CMD (1991) / History / Early days and Ramos administration
caption_attribution_description: English: President Ramos at The Pentagon.
context_page_description: Lakas–CMD, popularly known as Lakas, was a political party in the Philippines. Its ideology and that of its successor is heavily influenced by Christian and Islamic democracy. The party's influence on Philippine society is very evident, especially after the People Power Revolution, which has led the country to elect two presidents from the party, namely Fidel V. Ramos, a United Methodist, and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a Roman Catholic.
  In May 2009, Lakas–CMD merged with Arroyo's KAMPI thereby being known as Lakas–Kampi–CMD, a completely new entity. On May 2012, Lakas–Kampi–CMD renamed itself again as Lakas–CMD after the separation of KAMPI.
context_section_description: Lakas ng Tao was formed in December 1991 for the 1992 elections as retired General and then-Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos and former Cebu Governor Emilio Mario R. Osmeña were running for president and vice-president, respectively. It was also formed when Ramos bolted from the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP; Struggle of Democratic Filipinos), after he had lost in the bid for the presidential nomination of that party to Speaker Ramon Mitra.
  The party was formed out of two parties: Ramos's Partido Lakas ng Tao (People Power Party) and the National Union of Christian Democrats (NUCD) of Raul Manglapus. As they coalesced, the party became known as Lakas ng Tao-National Union of Christian Democrats, with Lakas ng Tao usually just shortened to "Lakas" and abbreviated as Lakas-NUCD.
  In 1994, it formed a coalition government with the LDP for the 1995 legislative elections.  This coalition, dubbed the "Lakas-Laban Coalition", won a majority in both Houses of Congress. In the 1997 Lakas National Convention, the party nominated House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. of Pangasinan after a close nominal fight with then-Defense Secretary Renato de Villa as its nominee to the presidency against the opposition's Vice President Joseph Estrada in the 1998 elections.  By this time, it was joined by the United Muslim Democrats of the Philippines (UMDP) of Sanchez A. Ali to form Lakas ng EDSA-National Union of Christian Democrats-United Muslim Democrats of the Philippines (Lakas-NUCD-UMDP).
  Secretary de Villa eventually bolted the party and formed Partido ng Demokratikong Reporma (Democratic Reform Party) for the 1998 elections.  Lakas also nominated then-Senator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Pampanga as its candidate as vice president. Arroyo had originally intended to run for president under her party, Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino (KAMPI). De Venecia lost to Vice President Estrada by a significant plurality, while Arroyo won the vice presidency in the same manner while her KAMPI party was in hiatus.
caption: President Fidel V. Ramos, co-founder of Lakas-NUCD.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "980409-D-9880W-007\n\tSecretary of Defense William S. Cohen (right) escorts President Fidel V. Ramos (left), of the Republic of the Philippines, through a cordon of honor guards into the Pentagon on April 9, 1998.  Ramos will meet with Cohen and other Department of Defense officials including Gen. Henry H. Shelton, U.S. Army, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss bilateral relationships, Asia-Pacific security issues and regional developments.  DoD photo by R. D. Ward.", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2006:08:12 20:22:36", "Image ExifOffset": "668", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "806", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6164", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "753", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "982"}