2022 Philippine presidential election

According to the Constitution of the Philippines of 1987, the election is held every six years after 1992, on the second Monday of May. The incumbent president is term-limited. The incumbent vice president may run for two consecutive terms. The first-past-the-post voting system is used to determine the winner: the candidate with the highest number of votes, whether or not one has a majority, wins the presidency. The vice presidential election is a separate election, is held on the same rules, and voters may split their ticket. If two or more candidates wins the most number of votes for any position, Congress shall vote from among them which shall be president or vice president, as the case may be. Both winners will serve six-year terms commencing at noon on June 30, 2022, and ending on the same day six years later.[1]

The 2022 election will decide the successor of both President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo.

In the 2016 presidential and vice presidential elections, Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban) won against five other candidates, winning as president, while representative from Camarines Sur Leni Robredo of the Liberal Party won against Senator Bongbong Marcos and five others in the vice presidential election that is the closest margin since 1965. Marcos put the result under protest in the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.[2]

In July 2016, Vice President Robredo was appointed to head the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council,[3] but later resigned in December 2016 after she was told to stop attending all cabinet meetings, amid her criticism of the administration's bloody war on drugs.[4] His allies afterwards attempted to impeach her, with the president calling to end the impeachment.[5]

In the 17th Congress, the representative from Davao del Norte Pantaleon Alvarez was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in July 2016.[6] Faced with reports of destabilization, Duterte in October 2017 said that he will declare revolutionary government, where it is understood that all positions in government are declared vacant, in order to prevent chaos. The president listed the Communist Party of the Philippines, the elites, and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency as the organizations that had a hand in efforts to destabilize the government.[7]

Midway the legislative term, former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was the representative from Pampanga, ousted Alvarez from the speakership. The president's allies said that the ouster was due to a squabble between Alvarez and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, the president's daughter, who the latter branded the former as from the opposition when she launched the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, a regional political party in the Davao Region where both Davao del Norte and Davao City are a part of.[8]

In the 2019 midterm Senate election, the opposition fielded the Otso Diretso coalition,[9] while the administration fielded their slate under the Hugpong ng Pagbabago banner.[10] Hugpong won 9 of the 12 seats contested, while Otso Diretso won no seats. Cynthia Villar, wife of defeated 2010 presidential candidate Manuel Villar, topped the election, while 2013's topnotcher and 2016 defeated presidential candidate Grace Poe finished second.[11] While Sara Duterte's Hugpong won in the Davao Region, they notably failed to unseat Alvarez, and PDP–Laban defeated Hugpong candidate for governor of Davao del Norte, and won the province's both seats in the House of Representatives.[12]

On Marcos's electoral protest against Robredo, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal released in October 2019 the report on Marcos's pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental, and showed that Robredo increased her lead by 15,742 votes. The tribunal voted to defer on deciding on the protest, and instead proceeded with Marcos's plea to nullify the votes from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao. Those who dissented the decision said that the protest should have been dismissed, as Marcos failed to recover votes from his 3 pilot provinces, citing the rules of the tribunal; they were overruled when the others said that Marcos's plea on the ARMM provinces should also be resolved.[13]

A couple of weeks later, the president challenged Robredo to co-chair the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), the office that oversees the war on drugs, along with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief, which she accepted.[14] A week later, Duterte said that he will fire Robredo if she shares state secrets about the drug war.[15] Several days later, Duterte said he cannot trust Robredo, after she asked the government for a list of high value targets in the drug war.[16] Robredo replied that "He should tell me straight if he wants me out."[17] Senator Francis Pangilinan of the Liberal Party said that Duterte could have fired Robredo instead of belittling her.[18] A day later, Duterte fired Robredo as co-chair of the ICAD, with Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo shared that she spoke with foreigners, was asking for the scope of her powers and was among those daring the President to fire her, along with Senator Francis Pangilinan.[19]

In June 2020, American boxing promoter Bob Arum said that Senator Manny Pacquiao confided to him that he will run for president in 2022.[20] Pacquiao later denied talking about politics with Arum.[21] After remarks by actress Sharon Cuneta in July 2020 saying she hopes Robredo will succeed Duterte in 2022 so that "decency" will be restored in the country, Robredo said that she has no plans yet of running in 2022.[22]

Robredo had a televised speech in August claiming that the government had no plans on how to resolve the COVID-19 pandemic. She then shared 10 recommendations on how to resolve it.[23] Duterte himself, in a separate speech days later, asked Robredo not to "add fuel to the fire", and that even if he dies, the problems of the country won't be solved.[24] This comes as suggestions of a "revolutionary government" replacing the current constitutional government were put forward by the Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte – National Executive Coordinating Committee (MRRD-NECC). Archie Gamboa, the chief of the Philippine National Police, said that he received an invitation from the group, but did not act on it.[25] Duterte, in the same speech where he answered Robredo's suggestions, said that he does not know the people pushing for revolutionary government, and that he has nothing to do with it.[26]

After being disowned by Duterte, the MRRD-NECC offered Robredo a part in the plot; Robredo rejected the offer.[27] Duterte then said that he wants the concept to be discussed in public.[28]

Opinion polling in Philippines is conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS), Pulse Asia and other pollsters.

Experts have warned against voting for candidates backed by the government of China in the 2022 elections, amidst territorial conflicts between China and the Philippines.[82] Issues on the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, where it was alleged that it was used to justify suppression of critics of the Duterte's administration.[83]