Millions of Filipinos participated in the Philippine midterm elections on Monday, a pivotal electoral exercise where the detained former president Rodrigo Duterte was among the myriad aspirants contending for approximately 18,000 national and local positions, while concurrent reportage from local media depicted President Marcos Jr. fulfilling his civic duty by completing and submitting his ballot in Batac City, Ilocos Norte.

Captured in this image furnished by the Presidential Communications Office, His Excellency Ferdinand Marcos Jr., President of the Republic of the Philippines, is depicted exhibiting the indelible ink adorning his digit subsequent to the submission of his ballot at a polling precinct in Batac City, Ilocos Norte province, Philippines, on Monday, 12th May 2025. (Source: Presidential Communications Office, disseminated via AP)

In a scene captured on Monday, May 12, 2025, at a polling station within Quezon City, Philippines, a constituent is depicted in the act of exercising their franchise. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)

On the twelfth of May, two thousand twenty-five, the populace of Quezon City, Philippines, fulfilled their electoral obligations by depositing their suffrages at an appointed polling station. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte is captured in a gestural pose, addressing the gathered media corps during a post-vote press conference held at a polling precinct in Davao City, southern Philippines, on Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manman Dejeto)

In this image disseminated by Team Pacquiao, the Filipino pugilistic icon and erstwhile senator, Manny Pacquiao, exhibits the indelible mark upon his digit subsequent to exercising his franchise at Kiamba Central Elementary School in Kiamba, Sarangani province, located in the southern reaches of the Philippines, on Monday, May 12, 2025.

Authored by Teresa Cerojano.

Notwithstanding his detention in The Hague, erstwhile Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte numbered amongst the candidates contending for a tranche of the circa 18,000 national and local mandates in Monday’s midterm elections, an electoral exercise posited by analysts as pivotal in determining the perpetuation of his and his family’s political hegemony.

Since March, Duterte has been in the International Criminal Court's custody, awaiting trial for crimes against humanity pertaining to a ruthless anti-narcotics campaign during his 2016-2022 presidency that resulted in the deaths of thousands of suspects, a predicament that has not, however, precluded his bid for the mayoral seat of his southern redoubt, Davao City.

According to Philippine jurisprudence, individuals confronting criminal accusations, encompassing those in custody, remain eligible to stand for election absent a definitive conviction and the exhaustion of all avenues of appellate review.

Duterte is widely anticipated to prevail in the Davao mayoral race, an office he occupied for over two decades prior to his presidency; his practical ability to discharge mayoral duties while incarcerated remains a less readily ascertainable matter.

Exceeding sixty-eight million, registered Filipino electors were primed to exercise their franchise on Monday, tasked with selecting twelve of the twenty-four senatorial posts, the entirety of the three hundred seventeen seats in the House of Representatives, and a myriad of subnational roles spanning provinces, cities, and municipalities.

The polls concluded their operations at 7 p.m. local time; nonetheless, electors still queuing at certain precincts were permitted to exercise their franchise. Election officials intimated that the provisional outcome could be ascertained within a few hours, with the authoritative results slated for promulgation within a hebdomad.

The senatorial contest, poised to significantly influence the political trajectory of Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of former President Duterte, is currently under intense scrutiny; she is scheduled to undergo impeachment proceedings in the Senate in July on charges alleging complicity in a scheme to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and malfeasance regarding intelligence funds allocated to her office, allegations she vehemently refutes, asserting they constitute politically motivated fabrications disseminated by her adversaries with the express intent of undermining her standing.

Sara Duterte is widely regarded as a formidable aspirant in the upcoming 2028 presidential election; however, a conviction by the Senate would necessitate her removal from the vice presidency and effectively preclude her from any future public service, requiring the assent of a minimum of nine of the twenty-four senators to secure an acquittal.

"The forthcoming 2025 midterm elections assume paramount importance, serving as a crucial determinant in establishing the trajectory for subsequent political developments, including which familial dynasty or partisan faction will ultimately exert dominance in the 2028 electoral cycle," opined Maria Ela Atienza, a distinguished professor of political science at the University of the Philippines.

Should Sara Duterte face conviction in the impeachment proceedings, it might portend a cessation of the Duterte family's dominance in crucial national offices, she opined.

Other familial aspirants in the current electoral cycle encompass Rodrigo Duterte’s youngest progeny, Sebastian, the incumbent mayor of Davao, now contesting the vice-mayoral position and broadly projected for victory. His eldest scion, Paolo, is endeavoring to secure re-election as a member of the lower house of the legislature. Furthermore, two grandsons are vying for positions in sub-national electoral contests.

The impeachment and the apprehension and conveyance of Rodrigo Duterte to the tribunal in The Hague transpired subsequent to the disintegration of the alliance between Marcos and Sara Duterte, occasioned by their divergent political philosophies and conflicting aspirations.

Preceding Monday's proceedings, Sara Duterte exercised her franchise in Davao, whilst Marcos père cast his ballot in his ancestral northern redoubt, Batac City.

Subsequent to the exercise of her franchise, she conveyed to the assembled press corps her unwavering commitment to acquiesce to the electorate's ultimate decree, even should it transpire that those contenders enjoying her patronage failed to secure victory.

Regarding her father's projected triumph, she articulated, "Assuredly, his presence will be lacking; our anticipation is for the vice mayor (Sebastian) to undertake the provisional mayoral duties."

Marcos, in an eleventh-hour video missive, had enjoined Filipinos to exercise their franchise and make their voices count.

Apposite to note, her father’s spiritual counsel and political intimate, televangelist Apollo Quiboloy, is likewise contesting a Senate seat, notwithstanding his current detention on allegations of sexual abuse and human trafficking, concomitant with being sought for extradition in the U.S. on analogous charges.

The electoral process has been significantly compromised by isolated incidents of egregious violence. In Silay City, situated in the central Philippines, law enforcement personnel documented a fatal shooting resulting in two fatalities and seven casualties. Concurrently, in the southern municipality of New Corella, adherents of two mayoral contenders became embroiled in a reciprocal exchange of gunfire, which culminated in two fatalities and two injuries. Furthermore, in southern Basilan, seven individuals were purportedly killed in what are suspected to be election-related shootings, and numerous others sustained injuries in similar occurrences across various regions of the nation.

Altercations between proponents of competing aspirants also precipitated postponements in the casting of ballots in sundry constituencies; in Manila, numerous electors voiced their chagrin at the inexplicable omission of their appellations from the electoral registers pertinent to their respective precincts, whilst others articulated their vexation concerning the interminable queues endured amidst the oppressive calorific conditions.

Reymark Marquez, a constituent, articulated that the Marcos-Duterte tandem, triumphant in the 2022 elections, had demonstrably fallen short of fulfilling their pledges, thereby framing the forthcoming midterm elections as a contest transcending the mere dichotomy of Duterte versus Marcos, and instead as a critical juncture demanding the discernment of apposite leadership.

"The stakes in this election, in my estimation, are nothing less than the trajectory of the forthcoming generation," remarked Diana Joy Acosta, a 32-year-old recent matriculant to motherhood, subsequent to exercising her suffrage within a scholastic precinct in metropolitan Manila's Mandaluyong City. Her aspiration, primarily for her progeny's future well-being, encompasses the extirpation of corruption and the accession to power of individuals possessing unimpeachable integrity.