On Monday, millions of eligible voters converged upon polling stations for the Philippine midterm elections, where a vast array of candidates, encompassing the incarcerated former President Rodrigo Duterte, vied for approximately 18,000 national and local legislative positions; local media outlets furnished extensive coverage of President Marcos Jr.'s casting of his ballot in Batac City, Ilocos Norte.

In this photograph furnished by the Presidential Communications Group, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., President of the Philippines, displays the indelible ink applied to his finger post-casting his ballot at a polling station in Batac City, Ilocos Norte province, on election day, May 12, 2025. (Presidential Communications Group/via AP)

Captured on Monday, May 12th, 2025, within the precincts of a polling station in Quezon City, Philippines, a solitary individual is depicted casting their ballot (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe).

Come Monday, 12 May 2025, within a polling precinct in Quezon City, Philippines, an elector is observed in the act of submitting their ballot (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe).

Within the confines of a polling station in Southern Davao City, Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte is captured in the act of directing a pointed gesture towards the assembled press corps during a post-ballot press conference. (AP Photo/Manman Dejeto)

As evinced by this photograph disseminated by Team Pacquiao, Manny Pacquiao, the Philippine boxing icon and erstwhile senator, is depicted exhibiting the indelible ink adorning his finger subsequent to casting his ballot at Kiamba Central Elementary School in Kiamba, Sarangani province, on Monday, May 12, 2025. (Wendell Alinea/AP via Team Pacquiao)

テレサ・セロハノ氏の筆致による報道

Despite his detention in The Hague, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte stood as one of the candidates contesting nearly 18,000 national and local seats in midterm elections which experts indicate will be determinative of whether he and his family retain their political ascendancy.

Since March, Rodrigo Duterte has been held in the custody of the International Criminal Court, awaiting trial for crimes against humanity stemming from the brutal anti-illegal drug operation that resulted in thousands of deaths during his presidential tenure from 2016 to 2022; nevertheless, this has not deterred him from pursuing a mayoral bid in the southern city of Davao.

In accordance with Philippine law, even a candidate under indictment is permitted to stand for election, provided they have not been convicted and all avenues of appeal have been exhausted.

Given his provenance, having served as Mayor of Davao for an extended tenure prior to ascending to the presidency, Duterte is widely anticipated to prevail in the mayoral election; nonetheless, the modus operandi by which he would discharge the functions of the mayoralty from a state of detention remains an open question.

On Monday, upwards of 68 million registered Filipino constituents were poised to cast their ballots in a comprehensive electoral exercise encompassing half of the 24-seat Senate, the entirety of the 317-member House of Representatives, and a panoply of gubernatorial, mayoral, and local government positions across the archipelago.

Although the polling stations closed punctually at 7:00 p.m. local time, electors who were still queued in certain areas were nonetheless permitted to cast their ballots. Electoral commission officials indicated that while unofficial outcomes might be discernable within a matter of hours, the formal results would likely not be promulgated for up to a week hence.

The focal point of attention is coalescing around the senatorial elections, an event which potentially holds sway over the political trajectory of Sara Duterte, the incumbent Vice President and daughter of the former President. She is slated to confront an impeachment tribunal in the Senate come July, stemming from allegations of complicity in a purported assassination plot targeting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., coupled with accusations of malfeasance concerning intelligence funds allocated to her office. Duterte has vociferously refuted these charges, positing that they are fabrications disseminated by her political adversaries with the express intent of orchestrating her downfall.

Sarah Duterte, widely regarded as a formidable contender for the 2028 presidential election, faces potential disenfranchisement from her vice-presidency and forfeiture of eligibility for public office should she be impeached by the Senate, a process necessitating the affirmative votes of no less than nine of the twenty-four senators to preclude a guilty verdict.

The 2025 midterm elections hold exceptional salience, with their outcome poised to dictate the trajectory of subsequent events and preordain which familial lineage or political faction will exert suzerainty over the 2028 electoral cycle, averred Maria Ela Atienza, a distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of the Philippines.

She articulated that should Sara Duterte incur a guilty verdict in an impeachment trial, this outcome could signify the political twilight of the Duterte dynasty, which has tenaciously held significant national offices; concurrently, other scions of the family are vying for electoral ascendancy, including Rodrigo Duterte's youngest son, Sebastian, the incumbent Mayor of Davao, who is the presumptive victor in the vice-mayoral race, while his eldest son, Paolo, is endeavoring to secure re-election to the House of Representatives, and two grandchildren are likewise contesting regional elections.

The impeachment, arrest, and rendition to The Hague of Rodrigo Duterte transpired subsequent to the dissolution of his political affiliations with President Marcos and Sara Duterte, precipitated by the divergence of their political ideologies and the collision of their respective ambitions.

Come Monday, Sara Duterte exercised her franchise in Davao, whilst President Marcos, in a parallel act of civic duty, cast his ballot in his northern hometown of Batac City, thereby underscoring the geographically disparate yet politically unified nature of the electoral process.

Following the plebiscite, Sara Duterte articulated to the press her amenability to accede to the electorate's desideratum should her favoured candidate fail to secure an ascendance.

She asserted, notwithstanding the near certainty of her father's triumph, "Unequivocally, my father will not be present here; our expectation is for Deputy Mayor Sebastian to assume the acting mayoral duties."

In the run-up to the election, President Marcos exhorted the Filipino populace via a video communiqué to cast their votes and make their voices heard.

Furthermore, her father's spiritual counsellor and close political confederate, the televangelist Apollo Quiboloy, is also running for a senatorial seat despite being detained on charges of sexual abuse and human trafficking; he is concurrently wanted for equivalent transgressions in the United States.

The electoral proceedings were significantly disrupted in several locales by acts of violence, manifesting particularly acutely in the central city of Sirai, where police reports detailed a lethal exchange of gunfire resulting in two fatalities and seven casualties. Further to the south, in the municipality of New Corella, a violent confrontation erupted between partisans of two mayoral aspirants, escalating into a firefight that claimed two lives and injured a further two individuals. The southern region of Basilan bore witness to an election-linked fusillade leading to seven deaths, with numerous other instances of gunshot-related injuries documented across diverse areas.

Furthermore, the process of casting ballots was impeded in certain constituencies due to internecine strife among partisans of rival candidates; simultaneously, in Manila, an appreciable segment of the electorate voiced grievances concerning the omission of their names from electoral registers at polling stations and expressed profound exasperation regarding the interminable queues endured under the oppressive heat.

Electorate member Reymark Marquez, critiquing the Marcos-Duterte camp's failure to fulfill its 2022 pledges, articulated that the forthcoming midterm elections transcend the 'Duterte versus Marcos' dichotomy, representing instead a pivotal juncture for the electorate to discern and select apt leadership.

Diana Joy Acosta, a neophyte mother aged 32, having cast her ballot at a polling station in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, articulated her belief that "this election is about the future of the next generation," expressing her fervent hope for an end to corruption and the emergence of upright politicians, for the sake of her child's prospects.