United Negros Alliance, abbreviated as UNA (or UNegA to distinguish from

United Nationalist Alliance The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA; ) is a political party in the Philippines. It was created as a multi-party electoral alliance replacing the former United Opposition (UNO) coalition for the 2013 midterm elections, before it was launche ...

), is a provincial

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Negros Occidental Negros Occidental ( hil, Nakatungdang Negros; tl, Kanlurang Negros), officially the Province of Negros Occidental, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region. ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

based in

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Bacolod; fil, Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Western Visayas, Philippines. It is the capital of the province of Negros Occidenta ...

Establishment

Joseph Marañon, then Mayor of

Sagay City Sagay, officially the City of Sagay ( hil, Dakbanwa sang Sagay; ceb, Dakbayan sa Sagay; fil, Lungsod ng Sagay), is a 3rd class component city in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population ...

, established United Negros Alliance initially as a coalition of different parties for his candidacy in the Negros Occidental provincial elections, 2001. Marañon won the race as

Governor of Negros Occidental The governor of Negros Occidental is the local chief executive and head of the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental. Along with the Governor of Negros Oriental and the Mayor of the highly urbanized city of Bacolod, he serves as one of th ...

and registered United Negros Alliance as a local party, displacing the local party of former Gov. Rafael Coscolluela, Aton Tamdon Utod Negrosanon (ATUN). By convention, the Governor of Negros Occidental elected under the party is automatically named Chairperson. If the Governor is from another party, the party nominates the member holding the next highest post for the leadership.

National affiliation

Nationalist People's Coalition The Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) is a conservative political party in the Philippines, founded in 1992 by then-presidential candidate Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. History The Party was founded in 1992 after some members of the Nacionalista ...

led the alliance as a local affiliate until the party left after a disagreement with NPC chairperson

Danding Cojuangco Eduardo "Danding" Murphy Cojuangco Jr. (June 10, 1935 – June 16, 2020) was a Filipino businessman and politician. He was the chairman and CEO of San Miguel Corporation, the largest food and beverage corporation in the Philippines and Sou ...

and Alfredo G. Marañon, Jr., the older brother of the late Joseph Marañon. Gov. Alfredo G. Marañon, Jr. ran against NPC-bet, former Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez, in the Negros Occidental provincial elections, 2013 and retain his post. Along with 3rd District Rep.

Albee Benitez Alfredo Abelardo "Albee" Bantug Benitez (born December 20, 1966) is a Filipino-American businessman and politician serving as the City Mayor of Bacolod since 2022. He served three consecutive terms as the representative of Negros Occidental's 3 ...

, the supporters of Alvarez formed the Love Negros Alliance as the local opposition party. Despite the similarity in names, United Negros Alliance is not related nor an affiliate of former Vice President

Jejomar Binay Jejomar "Jojo" Cabauatan Binay Sr. (born Jesus Jose Cabauatan Binay; November 11, 1942) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 13th vice president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016, under President Benigno Aquino III. A hu ...

. Currently, United Negros Alliance has a political alliance with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. Both UNegA and Love Negros, with the notable exception of Rep. Benitez, supported the failed presidential bid of former DILG Sec.

Mar Roxas Manuel "Mar" Araneta Roxas II (; born May 13, 1957) is a Filipino politician who served as a Senator of the Philippines. He is the grandson and namesake of former Philippine President Manuel Roxas. He served in the Cabinet of the Philippines as ...

and the successful candidacy of

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

Leni Robredo Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona Robredo (; born Maria Leonor Santo Tomas Gerona; April 23, 1965) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 14th vice president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. She was the wife of the late Jesse ...

Special status

During the

2016 Philippine general election A general election in the Philippines took place on May 9, 2016, for executive and legislative branches for all levels of government – national, provincial, and local, except for the barangay officials. At the top of the ballot was the elect ...

Commission on Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

declared UNegA as a dominant local party of Negros Occidental, with the privilege of receiving an official copy of provincial election returns.

Party alliances

While being a local party, United Negros Alliance also includes the ff. parties under its local coalition: *

Nacionalista Party The Nacionalista Party (Filipino and Spanish: ''Partido Nacionalista''; ) is the oldest political party in both the Philippines and in Southeast Asia in general. It is responsible for leading the country throughout the majority of the 20th ce ...

Lakas–CMD Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats, abbreviated as Lakas–CMD and also known simply as Lakas, is a political party in the Philippines. Lakas–CMD is considered to sit on the centre-right of the political spectrum, and is influenced by Christi ...

* Paglaum Party *

PDP–Laban Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (), abbreviated as PDP–Laban, is a democratic socialist List of political parties in the Philippines, political party in the Philippines founded in 1982. It was part of the country's ruling party al ...

Proposed merger

Citing a stable relationship with Gov. Alfredo G. Marañon, Jr., Vice Gov. Bong Lacson proposed a merger between the breakaway Love Negros Alliance and United Negros Alliance. This also came with another proposal for the Governor and Vice Governor to run under a unity ticket, unopposed. Eventually, Gov. Marañon shot down the proposal and instead chose 4th District Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer as his running mate. Nevertheless, Lacson won the race and retained the Vice-Governorship.

Notable members

As the dominant local party, most incumbent officials are also members of United Negros Alliance. Most notables include the ff.: * Joseph G. Marañon† (founder):

, 1998-2008 * Alfredo G. Marañon, Jr.† (chairperson):

, 2010–2020 * David Albert Lacson:

Board Member A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

from the 3rd District, 2016–present

Ideology

On a national level, it usually enters on a coalition partnership with incumbent governments and dominant party. But on a local level, United Negros Alliance espouses Negrense regionalism and strongly believes in a unified Negros Island Region. It has been a strong proponent for the establishment and, recently, the resurrection of the

Negros Island Region The Negros Island Region ( hil, Rehiyon sang Pulo sang Negros; ceb, Rehiyon sa Pulo sa Negros), also abbreviated and officially designated as NIR (unofficially ''Region XVIII''), was a short-lived administrative region in the Philippines which ...

. With the promotion of

federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments (Province, provincial, State (sub-national), state, Canton (administrative division), can ...

under the current

Duterte administration Rodrigo Duterte became the 16th President of the Philippines on June 30, 2016, succeeding Benigno Aquino III. He was the first president from Mindanao, the first president to have worked in all three branches of government, and the oldest t ...

, it has been pushing for the establishment of

Negros Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

as a unified federal state.

References

{{Philippine political parties Local political parties in the Philippines Politics of Negros Occidental Regionalist parties in the Philippines 1998 establishments in the Philippines Organizations established in 1998 Political parties established in 1998