MANILA, Philippines – The official campaign period for national elective aspirants for the 2025 midterms began on Tuesday, February 11, subjecting dozens of senatorial hopefuls and party-list groups — many of whom have engaged in early campaigning since last year — to regulations that were virtually non-existent prior.
The three-month period, lasting until May 10, empowers the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to regulate election propaganda in mass media.
In total, 64 aspirants are running for senator, while 155 groups are on the party-list ballot. Official campaigning for local positions, meanwhile, does not start until March 28.
Why the campaign period matters
Ahead of the campaign period, elective aspirants for 2025 have spent a combined P4 billion in ads on TV and radio stations across the Philippines, according to a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism report. The amount does not include hopefuls’ ad expenditures on social media.
Among the biggest spenders are Deputy Speaker Camille Villar and Senator Imee Marcos, scions of political families and are both in the administration’s senatorial ticket.
Contrary to popular belief, premature campaigning in the Philippines has long been allowed, in the wake of a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that said that while candidates are subject to campaign regulations, they are only considered candidates once the campaign period begins. This enabled aspirants to woo voters outside the months-long window without repercussions.
Now that the campaign period has begun, candidates are required to declare their expenditures.
Other regulations imposed on candidates during the campaign period are the following:
- Foreign entities are not allowed to aid candidates.
- Candidates have to follow an antiquated spending cap: for candidates with political parties, that’s P3 for every voter; for independent candidates and for political parties and groups, the amount is P5 per voter.
- Candidates must follow limits on the size of physical election paraphernalia, as indicated in the Fair Election Act.
- Candidates cannot display paraphernalia in private properties without consent of the owner, and in public spaces outside of authorized common poster.
- Limitations on cumulative running time and page size apply to the broadcast and print ads of candidates, respectively.
- Aspirants who work as a mass media columnist, commentator, announcer, or reporter are deemed resigned or shall take a leave of absence during the campaign period.
Referendum on the administration
In the Philippines, the midterm polls — which take place three years after the current administration takes power — are considered a referendum of the policies of the incumbent president.
Close to 69 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots, deciding based on whatever issue matters to them the most. In the past year, survey showed top concerns were among those closest to the gut — inflation, salary, and jobs.
This election season, however, will be underscored by the Philippines’ biggest political crisis in years — the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Questions on when her trial would start are expected to cast a long shadow on the campaign period, creating a highly delicate scenario for seven reelectionist senators who will have to consider the feelings of both supporters of the administration and sympathizers of the country’s second highest leader. – Rappler.com