2022 Philippine general election

The 2022 Philippine general election took place on May 9, 2022, for the executive and legislative branches of government at every level – national, provincial, and local – except for the barangay officials.

At the top of the ballot is the election for the successors to President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo. There were also elections for:


 * 12 seats of the Senate
 * All 316 seats of the House of Representatives
 * All 81 governors and vice governors, and 782 seats of the provincial boards in all provinces
 * All 146 city mayors and vice mayors, and 1,650 seats of the city councils in all cities
 * All 1,488 municipal mayors and vice mayors, and 11,908 seats of the municipal councils in all municipalities

The first election of the Bangsamoro Parliament was scheduled to be held on the same date, but was rescheduled to 2025.

This is the first election in Davao de Oro under that name, as it was renamed from Compostela Valley in December 2019 after a successful plebiscite.



Commission on Elections membership
In September 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte appointed lawyer Michael Peloton as commissioner, filling in for the seat vacated by Luie Tito Guia's retirement. As this was a regular appointment as opposed to an ad interim one made when Congress is in recess, Peloton had to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments before he could take office. In November, Duterte appointed Davao del Norte election supervisor Aimee Ferolino Ampoloquio to the seat vacated by Al Parreño.

By October 2021, there were reports that Duterte would appoint Melvin Matibag, the secretary-general of the PDP–Laban faction preferred by the former, as chairman. Matibag denied he knew about talks of him being appointed as chairman. Several weeks later, Duterte appointed Rey Bulay, chief prosecutor of Manila, as commissioner, with a term ending in 2027, replacing Peloton, who was rejected by the Commission on Appointments. Bulay was accepted by the Commission on Appointments on December 1.

Chairman Sheriff Abas and commissioners Rowena Guanzon and Antonio Kho Jr. retired on February 2, 2022. Over a month later, acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar announced the appointments of Saidamen Balt Pangarungan as chairman, and George Erwin Garcia and Aimee Neri as commissioners. Garcia, who lists presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos as a previous client, promised to inhibit (i.e., recuse) himself from cases involving his former clients, including Marcos.

Voter registration
Voter registration began on January 20, 2020, and was scheduled to end on September 30, 2021. The commission expects 4.3 million eligible voters to register. Registration was suspended in some areas in Cavite, Laguna and Batangas due to the Taal Volcano eruption, and in Makilala, Cotabato due to an earthquake. However, even before registration for 2022 opened, many voters enrolled early between August 1 and September 30, 2019, ahead of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. These were initially scheduled for May 11, 2020, but were eventually postponed after the general election to December 5, 2022.

On March 10, 2020, the commission suspended voter registration in the entire country due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. By June, the commission announced its initial resumption on July 1. However, the commission suspended voter registration anew up to August 31. The commission later stated on August 15 that voter registration would resume on September 1 in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) or modified general community quarantine (MGCQ). Areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) will have their registration suspended.

Registration in the province of Palawan was also suspended due to the plebiscite to divide it into three provinces on March 13, 2021. The plebiscite was originally set for May 11, 2020, but was rescheduled due to the pandemic.

In some areas, almost eight months of voter registration were lost due to lockdowns. There were calls to extend voter registration after September 30, 2021, but the commission rejected this, saying that this will delay other election-related activities. The commission instead allowed voter registration to continue in areas under MECQ starting on September 6, with longer hours and in malls.

With barely a week before the close of registration, the Senate passed a bill on second reading extending registration for another month. The House of Representatives passed a similar bill days later, also on second reading. Earlier, both chambers separately passed resolutions urging the commission to extend registration, while the Senate threatened to cut the commission's 2022 budget if registration was not extended. On the eve of the end of registration, Sheriff Abas announced that they approved extending registration from October 11 to 30 for voters in the Philippines, and from October 1 to 14 for overseas voters. On the same day, President Duterte signed into law extending registration for 30 days from when it was made effective.

After extended registration ended, the commission announced that 400,000 people registered in October. The commission tallied 65,745,529 voters in the Philippines, with Calabarzon being the region with the most voters, with 9.1 million. The total was almost 4 million more compared to 2019. By January 2022, the commission announced that they will print 67,442,714 ballots, with 1,697,202 of these for overseas absentee voting. The commission later released per-location total of registered voters, with Cebu (including independent cities associated with it) as the most vote-rich province, Quezon City as the most vote-rich city, and Calabarzon as the most vote-rich region.

In connection to the 2021 Southeast Asian Games which were held in Vietnam from May 12 to 23, 2022, the Philippine Sports Commission lobbied the commission to allow the participants to vote as local absentee voters. The commission denied the request, saying that unless a participant is a government official or employee, a member of either the Philippine National Police or Armed Forces of the Philippines who was assigned in places where one is not a voter, or media covering the games, the athlete cannot vote as a local absentee voter.

Election automation and logistics
Camarines Sur Representative Luis Raymund Villafuerte proposed to use a hybrid electoral system in 2022, or manual counting of votes, then electronic transmission of results. This is in contrast to the automated counting and transmission system used since 2010. He cited 40 lawsuits on the current system used by the Commission on Elections as evidence to shift away from automated counting of votes. President Rodrigo Duterte suggested junking Smartmatic as the automation partner for future elections because of problems from the previous election. However, Smartmatic expressed its interest to participate in future elections. In May 2021, the commission awarded the contract to conduct automated elections, specifically the software that will be used in the voting machines, to Smartmatic.

Administration of logistics related to the election was awarded to F2 Logistics in August 2021. A former commissioner questioned the deal because of the company's association with Dennis Uy, who donated to Duterte's 2016 presidential campaign. The commission stated that the deal with F2 Logistics is legal and valid.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
In April 2020, COMELEC Commissioner Rowena Guanzon proposed voting by mail as an option in the elections, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By May 2021, Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr. said that voting hours would be extended, as the eight-hour timeframe given for previous elections could not be used any longer. As for multiple days of voting, Kho said that only a law passed by Congress would allow that to happen.

Senator Migz Zubiri, in a privileged speech, disclosed that he commissioned a Pulse Asia survey in July 2021 which said that 46% of voters will not vote if COVID-19 cases in their barangay are high on election day, with 35% willing to vote and 19% undecided. Zubiri questioned if the public would accept the results if less than a majority of voters turned out to vote.

Postponement of the elections due to COVID-19
The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines states that unless otherwise provided by law, the election of members of Congress is held on the second Monday of May. According to Republic Act No. 7166, the election for national, provincial, city and municipal positions are held on the second Monday of May, since 1992, and every three years thereafter, with the president and vice president being elected in six-year intervals. It has been three years since the 2019 general election and six years since the 2016 presidential election, and with no law postponing the election to date, this meant that the election was scheduled to be held on May 9, 2022.

However, some congressmen and government officials suggested postponing the election due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. Sherriff Abas, the chairman of the commission, said that it had not entered their minds, that the terms are fixed, adding that they are planning on having the vote over two days. Postponement is only possible if Congress passes a law permitting such, and if it is approved by the people in a plebiscite. The commission has no part in scheduling the election outside from what is mandated by the constitution.

A group called Coalition for Life and Democracy petitioned the commission to postpone the elections due to the ongoing pandemic. The group conceded that only Congress can postpone the election, and that their petition contained different dates to hold the election: the body of the petition called for it to be rescheduled to May 2023, but the prayer in it called for May 2025. Another petition that would affect the election's date was filed on December 31 by the Cusi wing of PDP–Laban. Their petition aimed to re-open the filing of candidacies, and to suspend the printing of ballots. The commission tackled both petitions, and announced that both were unanimously dismissed on January 12.

Postponement of the Bangsamoro Parliament election
In November 2020, the 80-person Bangsamoro Parliament passed a resolution urging Congress to extend the transition from June 2022 to 2025. If Congress agreed, no election would be held. By July 2021, Senator Migz Zubiri said that postponing the Bangsamoro election to 2025 is likely. In September, the Senate passed a bill postponing the election to 2025. A few days later, the House of Representatives passed their own version of the bill. As the two bills are different, they had to be reconciled before being sent to President Duterte for his signature. The conference committee approved the Senate version, giving the winner of the 2022 presidential election the power of appointing the next transitional parliament. Duterte then signed the bill into law, postponing the election to 2025.

Electoral system
In the Philippines, congressional and local elections, excluding the regional and barangay levels, have been synchronized to be held on the second Monday of May every three years, starting in 1992. Presidents and vice presidents have six-year terms, so they are only elected on even-numbered years (1992, 1998, and so on). Elections where the presidency is not on the ballot are called midterm elections, and occur on odd-numbered years (1995, 2001, and so on).

Every seat up for election is voted on separately. Since 2010, general elections have been automated, with voters shading an oval next to their chosen candidate. For executive positions, elections are decided via the first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) system, where the voter has one choice. Elections to the Senate and local legislatures are held via multiple non-transferable vote, where the voter has x number of choices depending on the number of seats up for election (12 in the case of the Senate), and the x candidates with the highest number of votes win. For House elections, each voter has two votes, one via FPTP, and the other via a modified party-list proportional representation system.

Elections are organized, run, and adjudicated by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), an independent governmental body. Appeals are allowed under certain conditions to the Regional Trial Courts, the Congress, or the Supreme Court, sitting as the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, the Senate Electoral Tribunal, or the Presidential Electoral Tribunal depending on the election being appealed.

Calendar
The election calendar was published by COMELEC in February 2021:

Timetable
Ballot printing was initially scheduled to start on January 15, 2022. However, technical issues hounded the printing, and the commission postponed it to January 17, and then to January 19. The commission started printing ballots on January 20, 2022.

Parties and coalitions
As this was a presidential election year, presidential candidates could endorse a running mate for vice president, a senatorial slate, district and party-list representatives, and local officials, who may not necessarily be of the same party or coalition. According to Joy Aceron, an academic from the Ateneo De Manila University, political parties in the Philippines have been described as "temporary political alliances", or it is argued that there are no parties at all, merely "fan clubs of politicians". Party-switching is not uncommon, and the dependence of parties on personalities instead of issues is seen as a factor of why this is so.

Parties and seats held prior to the elections
The following table is sorted by which party holds the presidency, vice presidency, number of House seats, and number of Senate seats.

National conventions and assemblies
National political conventions and assemblies were held to nominate candidates for the upcoming election. The PDP–Laban's two factions held separate conventions. On September 8, 2021, the Cusi faction held their national convention in San Fernando, Pampanga, where they selected Senator Bong Go as their presidential nominee and incumbent President Rodrigo Duterte as his running mate. They also nominated eight people for senator. The opposing faction led by Pimentel held their convention in Quezon City on September 19. Senator Manny Pacquiao was nominated as their presidential candidate. On the same day, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) held their own convention, nominating former Senator Bongbong Marcos as their presidential candidate. He was also nominated by the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) at their convention on September 24. National democracy coalition Makabayan held its assembly on September 27 and nominated members for its party lists. The Aksyon Demokratiko party also held their convention on September 27 in Manila, selecting Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and Willie Ong as their standard bearers for the presidential and vice presidential elections respectively. Aksyon also nominated two people for Senate. PROMDI held their national convention in Cebu City on the same day, nominating Pacquiao for president and approving an electoral alliance with the Pimentel faction of PDP–Laban. On September 28, two labor parties, Labor Party Philippines (LPP) and Partido Lakas ng Manggagawang Pilipino (PLMP), held their political convention in Mabalacat. This convention nominated Marcos for president, approved an electoral alliance between LPP and PLMP, endorsed the Asenso Manileño party list, and approved partnerships between LPP and KBL and PFP. The Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) held their national convention on the same day and nominated labor leader Leody de Guzman for president. Former Akbayan representative Walden Bello was eventually chosen to be his running mate.

Some of the results of the national conventions were noticeably not followed. For the Cusi faction of the PDP–Laban, Go declined to run for president, and Duterte, who originally accepted the nomination, changed his mind and announced his retirement from politics. In the end, Go became the vice presidential nominee, while Ronald dela Rosa was named their presidential nominee. Pacquiao ran under the PROMDI party instead of PDP–Laban, after the Pimentel faction forged an electoral alliance with them. Marcos, who was nominated by at least four parties, chose to run under the PFP. The Makabayan bloc would also later endorse incumbent VP Robredo and Senator Francis Pangilinan as their presidential and vice presidential candidates respectively.

In the flurry of substitutions prior to the deadline, Duterte and Go, erstwhile PDP–Laban politicians, were to run under the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan as senator and president respectively, to avoid legal complications amidst the ongoing dispute in PDP–Laban. Go announced his withdrawal from the presidential election on November 30, 2021.

Coalitions
The Philippines is a multi-party democracy. This means parties enter into coalitions and alliances with each other prior to, during, and after elections in order to be part of the government. These coalitions are ordered by formalization date.

Relationship with China
Laura del Rosario, former Undersecretary for International Economic Affairs, alleged that to ensure a pro-Chinese leader is elected, multiple candidates would be clandestinely supported by China, and encouraged the public to reject these "Manchurian candidates". China was involved in territorial disputes with the Philippines throughout the election period. Rodrigo Duterte's office described former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario's allegation that he received support from China in 2016 as nonsensical.

Candidate substitution
Substitution of candidates aside from death or illness is allowed in the Philippines, under the Omnibus Election Code. A substitute can replace a withdrawn candidate only on COMELEC's set schedule; for death or disqualification, the substitute can replace the original candidate until midday on election day. Notably, incumbent president Rodrigo Duterte was a substitute in 2016. Deputy speaker Rufus Rodriguez proposed to ban such substitutions, and to reimpose the old rule that requires candidates to resign from any political positions they hold when running for a different position. The commission promised to be firm on rules regarding substitution after Sara Duterte missed the deadline to file for presidential candidacy.

Smartmatic data breach
On January 10, 2022, the Manila Bulletin published an article alleging that COMELEC's servers were hacked by a group who downloaded more than 60 gigabytes of data containing usernames and passwords for the vote-counting machines (VCMs), and other sensitive information. The commission initially denied its servers were breached and asserted that their system has not yet been connected to any network and no PINs have been generated. Following the report, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) launched its own investigation into the incident. Another investigation by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) asserted that it was not COMELEC that was hacked, but its software contractor, Smartmatic. A public hearing was held by the Senate. On March 17, 2022 after the Senate's executive session with COMELEC officials, senators Imee Marcos and Tito Sotto revealed that Smartmatic was breached after an employee allowed a group to copy data from a company-issued laptop. The commission later met with Smartmatic officials on March 31. On April 1, COMELEC confirmed the Smartmatic breach, but clarified that the leaked data was not related to the elections, and the SD cards for the VCMs were not compromised.

Election-related violence
Even before election day, multiple cases of gun violence and attacks were reported in different areas of the country. In Ilocos Sur, a shoot-out led to 2 injuries.

COMELEC placed the following areas under strict control. Once an area is placed under the commission's control, it has direct supervision over officials and employees, and full control over law enforcement agencies guarding the area. Prior to the release of the initial two places, the commission withheld releasing a list of such areas because it had not yet been validated. Most of the places under commission control are located in Mindanao.

On the election day itself, several separate incidents of grenade explosions were reported in the Maguindanaon towns of Datu Unsay and Shariff Aguak, which resulted in nine minor injuries. In Buluan in the same province, a shooting led to the deaths of three guards. In Datu Piang, six were hurt when a grenade exploded in front of a polling center.
 * Malabang, in Lanao del Sur, due to a "recent spate of killings"
 * Tubaran, Lanao del Sur, which has a history of election-related violence
 * The following places in Bangsamoro, upon recommendation of the police, military, and regional election director:
 * Marawi, Lanao del Sur
 * Maguing, Lanao del Sur
 * Buluan, in Maguindanao
 * Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao
 * Datu Piang, Maguindanao
 * Mangudadatu, Maguindanao
 * Pandag, Maguindanao
 * Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao
 * Misamis Occidental, for security and safety concerns
 * Pilar, in Abra, upon petition of its mayor

One day after the elections, escalating protests at the Butig town hall in Lanao del Sur resulted in multiple injuries and damage to the hall's windows. The AFP calmed down the situation after sending additional personnel to the area. Accusations of electoral cheating by bringing VCMs into the hall as well as allegations of ballot fraud were seen as the primary reasons for the conflict between the two camps in the mayoral race.

Issues with vote-counting machines
Out of the 106,174 VCMs used in the elections, about 1,800 malfunctioned in election day. Commissioner George Garcia listed the common issues that the VCMs encountered as follows:


 * 940 VCMs had a paper jam
 * 606 VCMs rejected ballots
 * 158 VCMs had scanner issues
 * 87 VCMs were not printing
 * 76 VCMs were not printing properly

The affected VCMs were repaired by technicians and only ten faulty machines needed to be replaced.

Voters in several precincts complained about the ordeal and many of them exceeded the allotted voting time during election day due to delays and machine malfunctions. Many were told to leave their ballots for the precinct director to scan, with some required to sign a waiver. This resulted in dismay from voters with many rejecting the offer. Some ballots which were successfully entered into the VCMs were reportedly not counted after the machine broke down requiring a designated technician to repair or replace it. COMELEC then ordered a temporary time extension for the precincts encountering problems.

According to national security adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., there were more than 20,000 attempts to hack the VCM system and automated fraud attempts but all were prevented. Esperon also noted that the number of malfunctioning VCMs did not reach one percent of the total number of VCMs that were used during the elections, signifying that the system was effective.

Observations
The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), a global human rights group, released its final report in June 2022. The report said the elections failed to meet the standards of "free, honest, and fair" voting, citing reports of human rights violations and fraud. The ICHRP recommended the restructuring of COMELEC and replacing VCMs for future elections.

Campaign
Campaigning for nationally elected positions began on February 8, 2022. COMELEC, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, prohibited entering houses, kissing and hugging, and taking selfies with voters. Campaigns also required approval from the local elections office before being allowed to start. The commission also set up a Facebook page for its e-rallies, allowing candidates and parties a limited time to campaign. With most of the country being placed in Alert Level 1, the commission recalibrated its rules on March 16, increasing the capacity for venues and removing the need for permits for localities in levels 1 and 2.

The commission, as mandated by the Fair Elections Act, also banned campaign paraphernalia outside the common posting areas in every locality, in public spaces, and in private property without the owner's consent.

Oplan Baklas
The Philippine National Police started Oplan Baklas (lit. 'operation plan remove') on the first day of campaigning. The Leni Robredo presidential campaign, citing the arbitrary application of the law, was considering legal action in response to the actions of the authorities, as they removed campaign materials from private property. This followed the removal of campaign materials from their media center in Quezon City, and from their Santiago, Isabela campaign headquarters. Interior Secretary Eduardo Año defended the police actions, saying that private property owners were notified of the violations before the campaign materials were removed. 1Sambayan cited the Diocese of Bacolod v. COMELEC Supreme Court case, which states "COMELEC [has] no legal basis to regulate expressions made by private citizens." On March 8, the Supreme Court issued a restraining order against the operation.

One day after the elections, the MMDA and several LGUs conducted widespread enforcement, removing campaign posters and electoral paraphernalia. Posters near schools and government buildings were prioritized for clearance ahead of incoming classes. A week after the election, the MMDA had removed more than 470 tons of campaign material.

On March 2024, almost two years after the election, the Supreme Court ruled Oplan Baklas, as it pertains to removal of campaign materials in private property, as unconstitutional, citing the aforementioned Diocese of Bacolod v. COMELEC case as precedent.

Candidates
These are the candidates for national-level positions, except for party list candidates:

Results
COMELEC announced that there would be 18,180 posts up for election, including the 80 seats that would have been contested in the Bangsamoro Parliament. The commission then announced that there will be 18,100 posts up, with a total of 47,853 candidates running across all posts.

Overseas absentee voting began on April 10 and ended on May 9, election day in the Philippines. There were about 1.6 million registered voters outside the country.

The commission declared the winners for all positions except for president and vice president, who were declared by Congress.

For president
The presidential election determined the successor of Rodrigo Duterte, who was term-limited and thus could not run for re-election. COMELEC released the official list of candidates on January 18, 2022, with 10 candidates listed on the final ballot.

Bongbong Marcos was elected with over 31 million votes.

For vice president
The vice presidential election determined the successor of Leni Robredo, who was eligible for a second term but decided to run for president. COMELEC released the official list of candidates on January 18, 2022. There were nine candidates on the ballot.

Sara Duterte, daughter of outgoing president Rodrigo Duterte, was elected with over 32 million votes.

Congress
Members of the 19th Congress of the Philippines were elected in this election.

Senate
One half of the senators, or 12 of 24 seats in the Senate, last contested in 2016, were up for election. Those elected in 2019 were joined by the winners of this election to serve in the 19th Congress. There were 178 people who filed to run for Senate, and the final ballot included 64 names.

Among the senators-elect, four were reelected, five returned to the Senate, and three including top vote-winner Robin Padilla were new. Migz Zubiri was elected Senate President.

House of Representatives
All 316 seats in the House were up for election, an increase of 12 seats from the outgoing 18th Congress. There are now 253 congressional districts, each electing one representative, and 63 seats elected via the party-list system on a nationwide vote. There were 733 people who filed to run for Congress.

After the election, allies of President-elect Bongbong Marcos obtained a supermajority in the House. Martin Romauldez, a cousin of Marcos, was subsequently elected Speaker.

Local
Local elections above the barangay level were held along with the national elections:


 * All 81 governors and vice governors, and 782 seats to provincial boards in all provinces
 * All 146 city mayors and vice mayors, and 1,650 seats to city councils in all cities
 * All 1,488 municipal mayors and vice mayors, and 11,908 seats to municipal councils in all municipalities

In popular culture

 * A "two joints" hand gesture in support of Isko Moreno went viral during the campaign
 * A chant in support of Leni Robredo called "Ang Presidente, Bise Presidente" was turned into a song by Gabriel Valenciano
 * "Bagong Pagsilang", a march commissioned in 1973 during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, was re-released in 2022 with a new version for Bongbong Marcos's campaign
 * Yorme: The Isko Domagoso Story, a biographical film about Isko Moreno, was released in January 2022