Philippines midterm results to shape futures of Duterte and Marcos clans
On paper, some 18,000 national and local seats were up for grabs at the Philippines midterm election.
But for two families, there was much more at stake.
The Marcos and Duterte clans were vying for ongoing power and political control over their respective destinies.
The families won a landslide victory as allies in 2022, but the relationship has spectacularly soured.
As the final votes are tallied, here's what we know about the results that could shape the future of politics in the Philippines.
The fractured relationship between the Marcos and Duterte clans started shortly after the election in 2022.
In the past year however, it's fallen through completely.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's allies helped impeach Vice-President Sara Duterte for plotting an assassination against him and allegedly misusing millions of dollars of public funds.
The vice-president then accused the Marcos administration of helping to deport her father, Rodrigo Duterte, to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he faces crimes against humanity charges linked to his war on drugs while president.
Of the 12 Senate seats up for grabs in Monday's midterm election, political analyst Richard Heydarian said that up to five may go to Duterte-aligned candidates.
That's significant because nine votes in the 24-seat Senate would successfully block a conviction against Sara Duterte.
A conviction would bar her from running for office at the next presidential election in 2028.
He said he expects she will get the required backing to block a conviction, if a trial even goes ahead.
"She may even have more [Senate support] because they [Duterte-aligned candidates] have done so well," Mr Heydarian told the ABC's The World program from Manila.
"Senators who have ambitions down the road in 2028 … seeing the 'House of Marcos' potentially sinking, they are already soft-peddling, so we may not even see a trial."
He said any trial and ultimate outcome would come down to the handful of "independent-minded and progressive senators … to do the heavy lifting".
"Otherwise just like Donald Trump last year in the US, we're going to see a comeback story for another controversial populist family in the case of the Philippines.
"If the Dutertes' come back, it's retribution time.
"Marcos's best chance is to get a coalition together to impeach Sara Duterte, and if he fails to do that, he going to be quite in trouble [at the 2028 election]."
Despite being nearly 11,500 kilometres away in The Hague, former president Rodrigo Duterte was elected mayor of Davao City — a position he held for two decades before rising to the country's highest office.
He's unlikely to step foot in Davao City, as he awaits a possible trial.
However for one of the most powerful political families in the Philippines, it's a problem solved conveniently.
His son, Sebastian, the current mayor of the city, was elected as vice-mayor and will serve in his father's absence.
The vice-mayor vacancy will likely be filled by a councillor, named Rodrigo Duterte II.
Mr Heydarian said the government was also out-performed in other areas of the country too.
"It's not just Davao City — Manila City … Baguio City … Cebu City — most of these have been won by the opposition or Duterte-friendly elements," he said.
He said the liberal progressive opposition targeted the government on issues of governance, accountability, the budget and alleged concerns over corruption.
On the other side, the Duterte family rallied after Rodrigo Duterte was sent to The Hague, with a call to "protect" Sara Duterte, the heir-apparent, from being impeached.
"Those two elements came together and that's why the administration was essentially squeezed in the middle," Mr Heydarian said.
He said many officials that were elected are government aligned, which gave Mr Marcos Jr some support to "go for broke" to keep the Dutertes in check ahead of the 2028 presidential poll.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
Thai PM to meet army commander to defuse political crisis
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra will on Friday visit an army commander she called an "opponent" in a leaked phone call as she battles to defuse a crisis threatening to topple her government. The 38-year-old leader, in office for less than a year, was forced to make a public apology on Thursday as anger flared over the call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen that appeared online. Her main coalition partner, the conservative Bhumjaithai party, pulled out on Wednesday saying she had insulted the country and the army, putting her government on the point of collapse. There was better news for Paetongtarn, daughter of controversial billionaire ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra, on Friday as another important coalition partner, the conservative Democrat Party, pledged to stay. "The Democrat Party will remain in the government to help resolve the challenges the country is currently facing," the party said in a statement. Another coalition party, Chartthaipattana, said late on Thursday that it would not withdraw, after urgent talks on the crisis with the Democrats and the United Thai Nation (UTN) party. With the departure of Bhumjaithai, the government led by Paetongtarn's Pheu Thai party now holds a razor-thin majority in parliament. Losing another major partner would likely see the government collapse, plunging the kindgom into fresh political instability as it grapples with a stuttering economy and US President Donald Trump's threatened trade tariffs. - Apology - Paetongtarn will travel to Thailand's northeast on Friday to patch things up with Lieutenant General Boonsin Padklang, the commander of the forces in northeast Thailand, where the border clashes took place. She referred to Boonsin as her "opponent" in the leaked call with Hun Sen, in which the two leaders discussed the ongoing border dispute. Thailand has formally protested to Cambodia about the leak, calling it a breach of diplomatic protocol that had damaged trust between the two sides. Paetongtarn was criticised as being weak and deferential in the call with Hun Sen, a veteran politician known as a wily operator, but her comments about the army commander were potentially the most damaging to her. Thailand's armed forces have long played a powerful role in the kingdom's politics and politicians are usually careful not to antagonise them. When she made her public apology for the leaked call on Thursday, Paetongtarn did so standing in front of army and police chiefs, in a show of unity. There were small street protests on Thursday and calls from across the political spectrum for her to quit or announce an election, but her apology and backing from some of her coalition partners appear to have shored up her position for now. But with a tiny majority she remains vulnerable, not least because of the awkward nature of her coalition. Paetongtarn took office in August last year at the head of an uneasy alliance between Pheu Thai and a group of conservative, pro-military parties whose members have spent much of the past 20 years battling against her father. Thaksin, twice elected PM, was thrown out in a military coup in 2006, and the bitter tussle between the conservative, royalist establishment and the political movement he founded has dominated Thai politics throughout that time. Former Manchester City owner Thaksin, 75, still enjoys huge support from the rural base whose lives he transformed with populist policies in the early 2000s. But he is despised by Thailand's powerful elites, who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising.

News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi marks 80th birthday in junta jail
Myanmar's deposed democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 80th birthday in junta detention on Thursday, serving a raft of sentences set to last the rest of her life. Suu Kyi was the figurehead of Myanmar's decade-long democratic thaw, becoming de facto leader as it opened up from military rule. But as the generals snatched back power in a 2021 coup, she was locked up on charges ranging from corruption to breaching Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and is serving a 27-year sentence. "It will be hard to be celebrating at the moment," said her 47-year-old son Kim Aris from the UK. "We've learned to endure when it's been going on so long." He has run 80 kilometres (50 miles) over the eight days leading up to her birthday, and collected over 80,000 well-wishing video messages for his mother. But Suu Kyi will not see them, sequestered in Myanmar's sprawling capital Naypyidaw from where the military directs a civil war against guerilla fighters, many of whom took up arms in response to the toppling of her government. Aris said he has heard from his mother only once via letter two years ago since she was imprisoned. "We have no idea what condition she's in," he said, adding that he fears she is suffering from untreated medical problems with her heart, bones and gums. Myanmar junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP late on Thursday Suu Kyi "is in good health", without providing any further details. - 'Do you still remember?' - No formal celebrations took place in junta-held parts of Myanmar, but a gaggle of followers in military-controlled Mandalay city staged a spontaneous protest ahead of her birthday, local media said. A few masked protestors showered a street with pamphlets reading "freedom from fear" and "happy birthday" as one member held up a portrait of Suu Kyi in shaky camera footage shared on social media. "Do you still remember this great person?" asked one of the protestors in the video, which AFP has not been able to independently verify. Other small protests were also reported, including in a rebel-contested area of northern Sagaing region where women marched holding roses in tribute to the former leader, who famously wore garlands of flowers in her hair. While Suu Kyi remains hugely popular in the majority Buddhist country, her status as a democracy icon abroad collapsed before the military takeover after she defended the generals in their crackdown against the Rohingya. Hundreds of thousands of the Muslim minority were sent fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh under her rule, though some argued she was powerless against the lingering influence of Myanmar's military. Nonetheless institutions and figures that once showered Suu Kyi with awards rapidly distanced themselves, and her second round of imprisonment has received far less international attention. - Locked away birthday - Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San, became a champion of democracy almost by accident. After spending much of her youth abroad, she returned in 1988 to nurse her sick mother but began leading anti-military protests crushed by a crackdown. She was locked up for 15 years, most of it in her family's Yangon lakeside mansion where she still drew crowds for speeches over the boundary wall. The military offered freedom if she went into exile but her poised refusal thrust her into the spotlight and won her the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Suu Kyi was released in 2010 and led her National League for Democracy (NLD) party to electoral victory in 2015, never formally in charge as army-drafted rules kept her from the presidency. The NLD said in a statement on Thursday she "must be recognised as an essential figure in any credible and inclusive solution to Myanmar's ongoing crisis". But if the octogenarian were released from her current incarceration, Aris predicts she would likely step back from a "frontline position" in Myanmar politics. The military has promised new elections at the end of this year, but they are set to be boycotted by many groups comprised of former followers of Suu Kyi's non-violent vision who have now taken up arms.

ABC News
7 hours ago
- ABC News
Former Malaysia PM Najib Razak discharged but not acquitted of money laundering charges
Malaysia's High Court has discharged but not acquitted former prime minister Najib Razak of money laundering charges. The long-running case involved a former unit of scandal-tainted state fund 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad), his lawyer said on Friday. Mr Najib had been in prison since August 2022 after being found guilty of corruption and money laundering over funds misappropriated from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB. Malaysian and US authorities said about $US4.5 billion ($6.8 billion) was stolen in a complex, globe-spanning scheme. He was also facing three separate money laundering charges over 27 million ringgit ($9.8 million), allegedly misappropriated from SRC. The case had repeatedly stalled since 2019 due to procedural delays, prompting the Kuala Lumpur High Court to grant Mr Najib's request for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on Friday, his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told reporters. Muhammad Shafee said the decision was a fair one, as the prosecution remained free to re-file the charges once they were ready to proceed. The attorney-general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Friday's decision was the second time 1MDB-linked charges filed against Mr Najib have been dropped. Last year, a court allowed another DNAA request due to procedural delays in a corruption case against the ex-premier and the country's former treasury chief. In 2023, he was also acquitted on separate charges of tampering with a government audit into 1MDB. Mr Najib is still awaiting a verdict in the biggest trial he faces over the 1MDB scandal, with the court expected to hear closing arguments in October. He has denied all of the charges brought against him. Mr Najib is also bidding to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, and has sought to compel the government to confirm the existence of a royal order that he says would allow him to do so. Reuters