Loud and clear: Protesters raising placards during a demonstration against alleged voting irregularities in the election in Manila. — AFP
Voters have delivered a blow to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and a boost to the controversial Duterte clan, whose members and allies outperformed expectations in Monday’s midterm elections.
Ex-president Rodrigo Duterte is set to become mayor of Davao City despite his detention by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, according to election results released by GMA News.
Duterte’s youngest son and incumbent Davao mayor, Sebastian, is leading in the race to be his father’s deputy mayor. His eldest son, Paolo, is on course to keep his congressional seat.
Impeached Vice-President Sara Duterte, who faces a July Senate trial for alleged misdeeds including an apparent threat to assassinate Marcos, saw allies win at least four of the 12 Senate seats up for grabs. That was more than surveys had indicated and gives her a core bloc of supporters in the 24-member chamber.
“It will be more difficult to get a conviction,” Maria Ela Atienza, a professor of political science at the University of Philippines, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “There will be a lot of negotiations now.”
The Senate trial still holds perils for the vice-president, but two-thirds of the chamber would need to vote for her conviction, which would remove Sara from office and block her from a 2028 run for the presidency.
But Marcos-endorsed candidates look set to win just six Senate seats, fewer than anticipated, amid widespread concerns about the cost of living and the dispute with his deputy.
“The results reflect the declining popularity of Marcos Jr, the resurgence of the Duterte brand, and the readmission of the traditional liberal opposition back into high politics,” said Anthony Lawrence Borja, an associate professor at De La Salle University in Manila.
“It is a welcome surprise for liberals and an unwelcome one for the administration.”
Those liberals are Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan, who are on course to return to the Senate after getting backed by Leni Robredo, a former vice-president who ran against Marcos in 2022.
The results, which may not be officially confirmed for days, raise questions about the ability of Marcos to press his agenda in his last three years in office, especially as the president tries to attract investors and expand the economy by at least 6% this year after first-quarter growth missed estimates.
The president’s sister, Imee Marcos, is on course for re-election as a senator after casting off her brother to join Sara on the campaign trail.
Congresswoman Camille Villar, daughter of the Philippines’ richest man, Manuel Villar, is set to win election to the Senate. But while she is part of the Marcos slate, she also sought the backing of Sara late in the campaign to boost her chances. But she didn’t publicly quit the president’s team.
While neither the president nor the vice-president were on the ballot, they campaigned extensively across the archipelago of 114 million people.
After running on a joint ticket in 2022, the Marcos-Duterte relationship fractured, and last November, Sara said that if she was murdered, she had arranged for revenge killings of Marcos and his wife.
The vice-president’s remarks, along with her alleged misuse of public funds, led to her impeachment by the House of Representatives. She denies the allegations. — Bloomberg
