In Manila, workers set up polling stations on Sunday for an election deciding over 18,000 posts, ranging from positions in the House of Representatives to contested local offices.
While the Senate race carries significant implications for the 2028 presidential election, as the 12 senators elected will form half the jury in Duterte’s impeachment trial, tentatively set for July, which could result in her ban from public office.
Duterte accused of having her family’s name “dragged through the mud” through her impeachment process, which she claims could benefit no one including the Filipinos, victims of crime, unemployed, poor and even the hungry.
Declared as a public enemy, her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested and flown to the international criminal court (ICC) to face a charge of crimes against humanity over his anti-drugs campaign just a month later.
Sara Duterte requires at least nine votes in the 24-seat Senate to hope for a future presidential run.
Seven of the candidates polling in the top 12 were backed by Marcos while four aligned with his vice-president, with two, including the president’s independent-minded sister Imee Marcos, being adopted as honorary members of the Duterte family’s PDP-Laban party on Saturday to protect the vice-president against impeachment.
In her final rally, Duterte brought concerns of “massive” electoral fraud and once again referred to her father’s transfer to the ICC as a “kidnapping”.
Despite the elder Duterte being detained, he remains on the ballot in his family’s southern stronghold of Davao city, where he is predicted to win the mayor’s seat.
With election-related violence common, National police have been on high alert for more than a week, deploying over 163,000 officers to secure polling stations, escort election officials and guard checkpoints.
Thousands more personnel from the military, fire departments and other agencies have been mobilized to maintain peace.
Several casualties were reported in the run-up to Monday’s election, including a city council hopeful, a polling officer and a village chief.
