ROMANILLOS, ROMMEL ROY E.
JD 1 Block E
LEGAL RESEARCH & WRITING
A LAW STUDENT’S VIEW ON THE RECENT ELECTIONS
The 2025 national and local midterm elections in the Philippines have
just ended, the culmination of the candidates’ months long effort and hard
work in campaigning and convincing the people to vote for them have yielded
its results. Some old and familiar names were left in defeat, while some fresh
and new ones were elected into office. Some people are full of joy as their
picks got a seat, while some frown as the candidates they supported and voted
failed to succeed. It is safe to say, that the recent local and national midterm
elections proved to be a game changer as we saw the return of two opposition
candidates who unexpectedly performed well, namely Senator Aquino and
Senator Pangilinan who will undoubtedly be part of the Minority in the
Senate. Notable mentions who also won in the Congress include former
Senator De Lima, who is the 1st nominee of Mamayang Liberal (ML) Partylist
and Atty. Diokno who ran under the Akbayan Partylist, both of whom which
were called upon to be part of the Prosecution panel regarding the
impeachment complaint against Vice President Duterte.
Regrettably however, we still saw the rampant peddling of fake news,
vote buying and vote selling, election related violence, the usual difficulties
and inefficiencies experienced by the voters during the election day and many
more. Because of this, a lot of people’s choices were influenced especially the
poor and illiterate who are very much prone to exploitation, and only a handful
of candidates with clear platforms and impressive qualifications were able to
have success in winning even though they do not have a large political
machinery, not resorting to vote buying and not having the same resources or
capabilities unlike the old and traditional politicians, as what we have been
able to observe in the case of former Vice President Robredo who is now the
Mayor of the City of Naga and Mayor Sotto of Pasig City to name a few.
Despite the abovementioned circumstances, the Commission on
Elections (COMELEC) did not declared failure of elections. Some political
experts and civil society groups even saw that this midterm elections is a
turning point in the current administration. Most especially with the on-going
impeachment against the sitting Vice President, the would-be allies and
enemies of President Marcos will greatly affect the outcome of such
impeachment, not to mention that majority of the members of the Prosecution
panel in the lower house were able to secure their seats, with addition of two
brilliant opposition candidates in their team and also the inclusion of two more
opposition candidates in the Senate who will form part of the minority.
