Early results have begun to arrive in the Philippines' midterm elections, which have been dominated by a long-running feud between its two biggest political dynasties
The senate races pit candidates backed by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr against those supported by Vice-President Sara Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte
Unofficial partial vote counts point to a surprise swing towards independent politicians affiliated with neither Marcos nor Duterte
If Marcos' senate picks win more seats, it increases his chances of impeaching Sara Duterte for alleged misuse of state funds - which would bar her from seeking the presidency in 2028
Also on the ballot are candidates for the 317-member Congress, as well as hundreds of governors, mayors and city councillors
Voting closed at 19:00 local time (12:00 BST; 11:00 GMT), with unofficial results expected soon
Power, survival and revenge: What’s at stake in the Philippines election?
Earlier today our team in Manila captured scenes at a polling station in the neighbourhood of Baseco, where thousands showed up at a school to cast their votes.
Image source, Jonathan Head / BBC
Image source, Jonathan Head / BBC
Image source, Jonathan Head / BBC
Joel Guinto
Live reporter
Image source, Bam Aquino/FacebookFrancis Pangilinan (left) poses with Bam Aquino (right)
Before their fiery feud with the Dutertes, the Marcos family's main political nemesis was the Aquino family.
It was the assassination of opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr at Manila airport in 1983 that galvanised opposition against Ferdinand Marcos Sr, culminating in the Marcos family's ouster and exile in 1986.
Ninoy Aquino's widow, Corazon, was president from 1986 to 1992. She was cast as the plain, prayerful housewife that toppled a corrupt dictatorship. Their only son, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, was president before Rodrigo Duterte.
Noynoy stepped down in 2016 and died of kidney disease in 2021, leaving no apparent successor. The Aquinos were wiped out from national politics.
But in this election, Ninoy and Corazon's nephew, Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino is running for senator, and has a shot winning one of the last few seats. He lost re-election in 2019, at the height of Duterte's popularity.
Another Aquino ally, Francis Pangilinan, is also on the cusp of a Senate comeback and has roughly the same chances as Bam Aquino. He served as food security secretary in the Noynoy Aquino government.
A victory by Aquino and Pangilinan would not only bring the Aquinos and their allies back to national politics, it would also show that voters are choosing outside the Marcos and Duterte dynasties and their allies for the first time in many years.
We're less than two hours away till polls close at 7pm in the Philippines - that's noon in the UK.
The results will be counted by machines. There will be no official counting for the day, but media networks and election watchdog groups will be releasing unofficial counts based on data from the vote-counting machines.
These are historically reliable and a considerable portion of the votes are counted an hour or so after polls close.
This means that by 8pm local time, we might get an idea of at least the top six of 12 senate seats.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest results.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesVoters look for their names in a registration list for the mid-term election at a polling station in Manila
Voting fraud has been a persistent issue in Philippine elections, with allegations of cheating surfacing at nearly every poll.
This election is no different. Over the weekend, the military intercepted 441 million Philippine pesos ($7.96m, £6m) in cash from 11 suspects at an airport - an incident they said "raised serious concerns about potential election-related illegal activities, including vote buying and money laundering".
Several foreign nationals - six Chinese, one Malaysian, and one Kazakh - were involved in the case alongside two Filipinos, a military spokesperson said. This "strongly suggests the alarming possibility of foreign interference in our sovereign electoral process," he added.
Earlier today, a video circulated widely on social media showing several people said to be poll watchers filling in ballots for elderly voters in the province of Abra. The alleged poll watchers have since been fired, according to reports.
Meanwhile, in the province of Camarines Sur, police have arrested eight people involved in various alleged vote-buying activities, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
Image source, Bloomberg via Getty ImagesAlthough much of the spotlight in this election is on the Marcos-Duterte feud, the cost of living remains one of the top concerns for Filipinos.
Official data suggests that the country's inflation is slowing down. However, a survey conducted by Pulse Asia - one of the country’s most credible pollsters - shows that 69% of respondents consider the rising prices of goods to be their most pressing issue, according to GMA News.
Fighting corruption, combating criminality, and reducing poverty also rank high on voters’ list of concerns.
Meanwhile, another survey by OCTA Research Group found that inflation and the healthcare system are among the top priorities for voters in this election, according to news outlet PhilStar.
Joel Guinto
Live reporter
Image source, Facebook/Mayor Vico SottoVico Sotto is mayor of Pasig, one of the smaller cities in Metro Manila – but his constituency is far bigger. His Facebook following of two million is double the size of the city’s population.
The social-media savvy mayor was only in his twenties when he beat a political dynasty in 2019, promising honest and transparent governance.
And he delivered. Pasig is an aberration in Philippine politics: a city where the incumbent mayor does not have their name, photo or initials stamped on government projects and handouts to ingratiate themselves to voters.
In 2021, the US State Department cited Sotto as one of 12 global anti-corruption champions.
Beyond the accolades, he is well-loved online by millennials and Gen Z for his public service posts peppered with wisecracks. He is, after all, the son of one of the country’s most beloved TV and film comedians.
In this election, Sotto is running for his third and final three-year term, and is facing a serious challenger. This is one race the entire country will be watching.
We've also received images of Vice President Sara Duterte casting her vote today as her political fate hangs in the balance. She was swarmed by supporters at the polling station in the Dutertes' stronghold Davao City.
In February, she was impeached by lawmakers in the lower house of parliament. Whether or not her impeachment goes through hinges on the upcoming election - and the composition of the Senate thereafter.
Sara's father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, is running for mayor in Davao City with her brother Sebastian as vice mayor.
But Rodrigo Duterte is conspicuously absent - he is being held at the Hague after he was arrested in March. He cannot be disqualified under Philippine law because he has not been convicted of any crime.
Earlier Sara Duterte said her father failed to cast his vote from The Hague, despite a last-minute appeal to Filipino authorities to allow him to do so.
The 80-year-old was told he was ineligible to vote online since he is not registered to cast his ballot as an expatriate, she said.
Image source, Office of the Vice President of the Philippines
Image source, Office of the Vice President of the Philippines
Image source, Office of the Vice President of the PhilippinesAs we reported earlier, the Marcos family, one of the country's most powerful dynasties, showed up to vote at a polling station earlier today.
We now have more pictures of the family, which the Philippines' presidential communications office released to the media.
Image source, Presidential Communications OfficeOnce associated with excess and corruption, the Marcoses have since rehabilitated their image, paving the way for Ferdinand Marcos Jr, also known as Bongbong Marcos, to win the presidency in 2022. He was seen holding up his finger stained with ink, a sign that he had just voted.
Image source, Presidential Communications OfficeThe clan's matriarch, 95-year-old Imelda Marcos, was seen in a wheelchair. While she is known for her strong personality - earning her the nickname "Steel Butterfly" - she has also been known for her lavish lifestyle. Most famously, she left behind 3,000 pairs of shoes when the family fled the country in 1986, amid a public revolt against Ferdinand Marcos Sr's authoritarian regime.
Image source, Presidential Communications OfficeSandro Marcos, 31, the eldest son of President Marcos, was seen whispering into his father's ear. He has followed his father's footsteps in politics, and in 2022 he won an election to become a district representative in Ilocos Norte, the family's traditional stronghold.
Good morning to our readers in the UK and Europe. If you're just joining us, this is what we've been reporting on so far:
Image source, Getty ImagesVice-President Sara Duterte says she has briefed her father, Rodrigo Duterte, on their chances in today's senatorial elections.
Based on various polls, the vice-president says she had told her father it is "realistic" to expect "more than two" of their bets among the 12 winners.
"He told me, if that is the realistic view, let's just leave the miracle up to God," Sara tells reporters.
Two of Duterte's close aides - Bong Go and Ronald dela Rosa - are among the senate race frontrunners. Both are up for re-election.
Go, Duterte's longtime personal assistant, is seen as having a shot at the number one spot, a much coveted place in Philippine politics. Dela Rosa, who implemented the Duterte drug war as national police chief, is not far behind.
Most polls show a tight race for the 10th to 12th slots among a handful of candidates, including two candidates endorsed by Sara - Imee Marcos and Camille Villar.
Imee, President Bongbong Marcos' sister, recently bolted from her brother's alliance. Villar is from a prominent political family and was aligned with the Marcos family in the past, but has recently appeared in a campaign video with Sara Duterte.
Image source, Getty ImagesCardinal David was among three cardinals who took part in the conclave at the Vatican last week
Ahead of the election today, Catholic cardinals from the Philippines have urged voters to let the spirit of God guide their voting.
The Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, Socrates Villegas, told voters to "listen to the voice of Our Lady, not to the voice of money".
"Let us listen to the voice of the Lord, and not to the voice of lying, not to the voice of disinformation, not to the voice of fake news,” he said in a homily.
Meanwhile, Philippine cardinals who attended the papal conclave at the Vatican urged voters to view the election as a "sacred moment".
Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle - who were both seen as potential contenders for the papacy - said the oath taken by electors in the conclave could also be used by Catholic voters in any election, reported Rappler., external
The oath is: “I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.”
“This is also my message to candidates... let’s help each other have new models of leadership," said Cardinal David.
With more than 80 million Catholics, the Philippines has the biggest Catholic population in Asia and the third-largest in the world.
As Filipinos head to the polls, reports have been trickling in of suspected election-related violence.
Two people were killed and several injured in a shooting in Silay city, Negros Occidental on Monday morning. The victims were supporters of Silay Mayor Joedith Gallego, who is running for re-election today, authorities said.
In Davao Occidental, a child was injured by a stray bullet on Monday, the election commission chairman told reporters, though he did not say if the incident was related to the election. "We don't know why they feel the need to fire their guns," he said.
At least two political candidates have also been shot and killed leading up to election day, while four people were killed in Mindanao during a clash on Sunday.
As we reported earlier, such deaths around elections are not uncommon for the country, which has lax gun laws and a violent political culture.
For more than a decade, the Philippines has used electronic voting machines to boost the speed and accuracy of vote counting.
This year, the country is switching its vote counting machine provider to Miru Systems, a South Korean polling company.
Last year the company was the lone bidder for a government contract worth 17.9bn Philippine pesos ($325m; £244m) to provide some 110,000 automated counting machines for the mid-term polls.
However, Miru has faced controversy in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq. Critics say the company's technology is prone to hacking and fraud - claims that the company has denied.
Joel Guinto
Live reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesManila's former mayor Isko Moreno has promised to "Make Manila Great Again"
Manila is the capital city of the Philippines - not to be confused with Metro Manila, the capital region that is comprised of 16 cities, including Manila, and one municipality.
The city of Manila is is rich in history, and home to the presidential palace. Its leader is tasked with the upkeep of many of the country’s cultural treasures, as well as receiving VIP visitors from overseas.
This is where Isko Moreno wants to make a comeback. Moreno, a former teen heartthrob, was tipped to be a strong presidential candidate in 2022. But his rags-to-riches tale of garbage picker to mayor was no match against Marcos’ promise of a new golden age.
Moreno, who was Manila mayor from 2019 to 2022, has promised to “Make Manila Great Again”, borrowing the language of Donald Trump.
He is running against incumbent Honey Lacuna, a medical doctor and veteran politician who was his vice mayor.
Voting is in full swing across the Philippines. Here are the latest images we're seeing from the capital Manila, where Filipinos have been streaming into schools to cast their vote, and getting their thumbnails inked as proof of having voted.
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty ImagesJoel Guinto
Live reporter
With 12 of the 24 Senate seats up for grabs today, it’s important to note that the Philippines’ multi-party system is based less on principles and more on shifting loyalties among the political elite.
The president - who serves for six years and is not eligible for any re-election - wields considerable power under a system that is modelled on that of the US, the Philippines’ last colonial overseer.
Presidents have historically controlled the House, and depended on the national government to fund projects for their congressional districts.
They typically have less influence on the Senate, which decades of personality-based politics has turned into a bench for presidents- and vice presidents-in-waiting.
Senators, especially those with ambitions for higher office, play a very intricate game.
They don’t want to be out of the good graces of the presidential palace, which holds considerable power, yet don’t want to be seen as too subservient to the president.
Image source, Getty ImagesBack in 2022, the Philippines saw history come full circle with the election of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr as president.
A ruling family which was driven out of power 36 years ago, accused of spectacular greed and brutality, returned to the Malacañang, the presidential palace.
It was a stunning blow to those in the Philippines who have campaigned for accountability for the abuses of the old Marcos era. The Marcos family has never apologised for those abuses, nor given back much of the treasure they are accused of stealing from the national purse.
How did the Marcos family do it? You can read our correspondent Jonathan Head's analysis here.
Around 31,000 inmates across the Philippines have registered to vote in today's election, according to the country's Commission on Elections.
Many of those voting from prisons are still awaiting trial.
These voters cast their ballots from a prison in Muntinlupa City, south of central Manila, where they were searched by guards before entering their polling stations.
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty ImagesThe BBC team in Manila has been speaking to voters at polling stations. One of them is nursing student Luisa Rivera, who is voting for the first time.
“I want good governance and accountability. As a first time voter, I’ve researched politicians that I will be voting. Never will I vote for a political dynasty," she said.
“I hope that those who will win this election would prioritise the people and not themselves and political careers,” she added.
Meanwhile, senior citizen Aida Tungod said she did not vote for the Duterte's slate of senatorial candidates, as she hopes that "the winners will help the people genuinely, especially the poor".
Hospital janitor Robert Dizon told us: “This election and every election is not just about filling the circle on the paper. People need to realise that the politicians they are voting will dictate which support they will be getting for years."
"I hope Filipinos vote smart this time.”
Imelda Marcos, the mother of current Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and widow of former dictator president Ferdinand Marcos, has voted alongside her son in the northern Batac City.
Pictures of the 95-year-old on a wheelchair escorted into the polling station appeared on her son's Facebook page.
She was wearing red clothing with a butterfly brooch - at the height of her power, she was known as the "Steel Butterfly".
For more on Imelda and the Marcos family, you can read our explainer here.
Image source, Bongbong Marcos/Facebook
Image source, Bongbong Marcos/Facebook