After six long years, the time has finally come again to elect a new set of leaders for the country. While local leaders like mayors and barangay (think neighborhood level) captains are elected every 3 years, the focus here is the selection of national scale officials: the senate, vice-president and most importantly, the president.

This year’s presidential candidates are an interesting bunch. We have Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son of the former dictator, Ma. Leonora “Leni” Robredo, current vice president and widow of politician Jesse Robredo, Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao, world boxing legend and current senator, Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, current senator and former Philippine National Police chief, Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, current mayor of Manila and former actor and Leody “Ka-Leody” de Guzman, a socialist labor rights activist.

Notable people running for vice president and senator are Sara Duterte, the current president’s daughter and mayor of Davao City, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, current senator and husband of celebrity Sharon Cuneta, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, current president of the senate and grandson of the late Vicente Sotto I, Dr. Willie Ong, controversial physician, Jose “Lito” Atienza, former Manila mayor and father of TV personality Kuya Kim; for senator are TV personalities Robin Padilla and Raffy Tulfo, some overqualified underdogs like De Lasalle University Law School dean Jose “Chel” Diokno and Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat and, some others with cases of graft, corruption, and plunder.

From an insider perspective, Philippine politics has been treated like a butt of jokes over the years. It is an open secret that the Philippine government is notorious for its corruption despite being a democratic state, mistakes of voting for the wrong candidates are always repeated. This is usually blamed on misinformation, vote buying, and lack of knowledge among the youth and lower economic strata.

Another thing about election season in the Philippines is that it’s the time for online debates and losing friendships. People defend their candidates and attack the candidates of others. While this sounds very petty, it is a very toxic part of Philippine elections. Many people refuse to be corrected for sharing fake information and even start attacking others on personal matters instead of the matter at hand. While social media plays a big role during the campaign period, many Filipinos who live in rural areas cannot access these means and choose candidates they are familiar with, even for no good reasons.

Come May 9, the election day. In the Philippines, our elections are not online so many people go to their assigned precincts and vote there. Some issues on the day include broken ballot counting machines, which make the validity questionable. After this, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) live results showed constant upward trends, raising suspicions of rigging among concerned citizens. The results showed Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. as president, Sara Duterte as vice president, and Robin Padilla as the most voted senator. All sides have their own take on interpreting the results and if there are suspicions of rigging. The outlook of the Philippines is bleak but all we can do now is hope that the best is yet to come.

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