Like in previous elections, “guns, goons, gold” ruled over the 2025 midterm elections. There was blatant fraud and maneuvers using automated elections and violence against ordinary citizens. The elections saw nothing new, and merely gave a democratic facade to the installation of representatives of big landlords, big comprador bourgeoisie, and the US imperialists.

Riddled with fraud

Days before the voting, Miru and Comelec were exposed to have replaced the system controlling the “automated counting machines” bypassing independent scrutiny and review.

On the day itself, election observer groups reported various anomalies. Kontra Daya reported having received complaints, more than 50% of which were machine-malfunction related, followed by illegal campaigning, vote-buying, and missing names in voter lists. Red-tagging and the dissemination of fake news were also reported.

As soon as the precincts opened, complaints poured in regarding “inconsistencies” with the machines from South Korean company Miru Systems Co. Ltd, which the government paid ₱18 billion.

Many reported that their ballots were rejected due to “overvoting”, as well as “undervoting” despite them having been marked completely. Groups also noted permanent markers having excessively thick ink and machines being excessively sensitive.

According to the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the enormity and type of complaints received was unprecedented. They stated that a match between the votes on the ballots and those registered by the machines would be impossible to determine unless counted manually.

Recorded “overvotes” amounted to 18.2 million, with 16.8 million for senators and about 3.3 million for the party-list. In addition, many precincts started the voting late because the machines failed to take in ballots.

The PPCRV also reported anomalies in Comelec’s transmission of results. At 8:00 p.m. on election day, the group complained that it did not receive the electoral transmissions simultaneously. The 15% they received contained only “headers” and not the actual votes. The counting became even more dubious when Comelec suddenly subtracted 5 million votes from 15,000 precincts because they were allegedly counted twice.

Overseas Filipino workers’ “online voting” was also riddled with anomalies, making it difficult for them to cast their votes.

Incidents of election-related violence during the campaign were also reportedly rampant. From January to April, 26 incidents were reported. On the eve and the day of the elections, widespread shootings and armed attacks reportedly resulted in 16 deaths.

Meanwhile, the European Union Election Observation Mission could not fully carry out its duty to observe the elections in the country after Comelec barred them from entering precincts on election day. They also noted widespread vote-buying in the country.

The International Observer Mission also recorded overlapping anomalies in their observation. They also faced direct state repression when one of their delegates was barred from entering the Philippines and deported to the US.

Rule of the few

The 2025 elections ended, but nothing changed and the same names of winners and those in power remained.

Five Marcoses won in the last election. Imee Marcos will sit as senator, Cecilia Araneta-Marcos as governor, and Matthew Joseph Manotoc as vice governor, while Ferdinand Alexander Marcos (Sandro) and Angelo Marcos Barba will sit as congressmen of the first and second districts of Ilocos Norte.

No less than five Romualdezes, also relatives of the Marcoses, won positions in Leyte. Martain Romualdez won as congressman of the first district of Leyte. They took the positions of mayor, vice mayor, and one councilor in Tacloban City. One Romualdez will also sit as one of the three representatives of Tingog Party-list, a party created by the family.

On the side of the Dutertes, six won in the election. These are in addition to sitting Vice President Sara Duterte and a barangay captain in Davao City. The Dutertes captured the whole of Davao City (mayor, vice mayor, congressmen of the first and second districts, and one councilor). Rodrigo Duterte was elected mayor even though he is jailed at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against humanity. One Duterte also won as first nominee of the PPP Party-list.

Meanwhile, the Duterte Youth Party-list obtained three positions, and while the nominees are not Dutertes, they serve as an extension of their power.

In the Senate, two Tulfos are now seated after Erwin won. The Cayetanos and the Villars also have two senators each. The Ejercito-Estrada siblings have previously held seats under the same family.

The Buluts remain strong in Apayao, the Ortegas in La Union, the Dy family in Isabela, Ebdane in Zambales, Kho in Masbate, the Tans of Samar, Alonto-Adiong of Lanao del Sur, Hataman-Salliman of Basilan, the Sali family in Tawi-Tawi, and many others.