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2028 Philippine presidential election

A presidential election in the Philippines is scheduled to be held on May 8, 2028, as part of a general election that will also determine the control of the Congress of the Philippines and numerous local positions in the country. This will be the 18th direct presidential election and 16th vice presidential election in the country since 1935, and will be the seventh presidential and vice presidential election since 1992.

Incumbent president Bongbong Marcos is term-limited under the Constitution of the Philippines and is ineligible for re-election. Incumbent vice president Sara Duterte is eligible for re-election to a second term but has decided to run for president instead. Therefore, this election will determine the 18th president and the 16th vice president. The president and vice president are elected separately, thus, the two winning candidates may come from different political parties.

Background

In the 2022 Philippine presidential and vice presidential elections, the UniTeam ticket of former Senator Bongbong Marcos of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) and Davao City mayor Sara Duterte of Lakas won, running on a platform that promised broad continuity of incumbent president Rodrigo Duterte's programs and policies. The two became the first presidential ticket to win since 2004 and the first president and vice president to be elected by a majority since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1987, defeating the Liberal-led opposition ticket of incumbent vice president Leni Robredo and senator Kiko Pangilinan alongside several other candidates. Being the only candidate of the opposition Team Robredo–Pangilinan alliance to be re-elected in the 2022 Senate election, senator Risa Hontiveros of Akbayan emerged as the de facto leader of the opposition against Marcos and Duterte.

During the Marcos presidency, relations between Marcos and Duterte worsened. Duterte left Lakas in May 2023 and later resigned from his cabinet in June 2024. On February 5, 2025, the vice president was impeached in the House of Representatives, following Duterte's controversial use of confidential and intelligence funds and her assassination threat against Marcos and his family. She became the first sitting vice president, and the fourth official in Philippine history, to be impeached. If Duterte had been convicted, she would have been removed from office and be barred from holding any government position, including the presidency.

For the 2025 midterm Senate election, Marcos formed the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas (Alyansa) electoral alliance, while former president Duterte formed a separate slate of candidates under the DuterTen in support of the vice president. The traditional opposition led by Hontiveros fielded two candidates under the KiBam ticket. During the campaign period, former president Duterte was arrested on charges related to the Philippine drug war. In response, the president's sister, Imee Marcos, withdrew from Alyansa. Six Alyansa candidates won seats, while three DuterTen candidates were elected. Two winning candidates, Imee and Camille Villar (an Alyansa candidate), were guest candidates on the DuterTen slate. Meanwhile, both candidates from the KiBam ticket secured victories, marking a significant gain for the opposition. Duterte ally and incumbent senator Bong Go emerged as the top-ranking candidate in the Senate race.

Following the election, the Senate minority sought to formally convene the Senate as an impeachment court on June 9; the court was officially convened the following day, June 10. Senators allied with Duterte attempted to dismiss the impeachment complaint, but the Senate ultimately voted to return the articles of impeachment to the House. On July 25, Duterte's impeachment was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the basis that the fourth impeachment case violated the one-year ban on the filing of multiple impeachment cases but maintained that it was not absolving the vice president. While the House filed a motion for reconsideration, on August 6, the Senate voted to archive the articles of impeachment, with only senators Bam Aquino, Hontiveros, Pangilinan, and Tito Sotto voting against.

A flood control projects scandal emerged shortly after the election, with allegations of corruption around ghost projects, substandard construction, and irregularities in the bidding process of projects around the country. In response, a series of anti-corruption protests began in September 2025.

Electoral system

Presidential elections in the Philippines are held every six years, after 1992, on the second Monday of May. Elections to the presidency and vice presidency use the first-past-the-post voting to determine the winner, with the candidate with the highest number of votes, whether or not one has a majority, winning the contested position. The elections are held in parallel and voters may split their ticket. If two or more candidates are tied for either 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, 2028, and ending on the same day, six years later.

Eligibility

The Constitution of the Philippines limits the occupancy of the presidency and vice presidency to natural-born citizens aged 40 on the day of the election who are registered to vote, who have been a resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding such election, and are able to read and write. Incumbent presidents who have served a complete a six-year term are term-limited while their vice president may seek reelection for a second consecutive term.

Timeline

2022

2024

2025

2026

  • February 2: Two new impeachment complaints against Duterte are filed in relation to her confidential funds controversy; Makabayan files the first complaint while Tindig Pilipinas, Akbayan and Mamamayang Liberal file the second.
  • February 17: Hontiveros states that there is a consensus that the liberal opposition will choose a common candidate by the end of 2026.
  • February 18:
  • Sara Duterte announces her bid for the presidency.
  • A fourth impeachment complaint was filed against Duterte.
  • February 21: President Marcos meets with former vice president Leni Robredo in Naga, Camarines Sur.
  • February 22: Duterte declares that she already recruited her running mate last year but chose to not reveal their name yet.

Candidates

For president

Declared

  • Sara Duterte (Hugpong), incumbent vice president of the Philippines (campaign)
  • On February 7, 2025, Duterte announced in a press conference that she is "seriously considering" running for elected office in 2028 despite her ongoing impeachment at that time, though she affirmed that she will assess her chances of being elected before making a major decision. While she did not specify any position, she later confirmed that she would be seeking the presidency in such a case, motivated by discontent over the direction of the Marcos administration. On February 18, 2026, Duterte formally announced her presidential bid at a press conference.

Publicly expressed interest

The following individuals have been mentioned as potential presidential candidates in at least two reliable media sources in the last six months.

  • Risa Hontiveros (Akbayan), incumbent senator of the Philippines
  • At a press conference on May 21, 2025, Hontiveros stated her openness to a possible presidential run, although she emphasized that she remained "open to all possibilities." She reiterated that her main priority is to unify and strengthen the opposition, and expressed confidence that a standard bearer for the liberal-progressive bloc, or a "third force," would emerge by 2028.
  • Jonvic Remulla (NUP), incumbent secretary of the interior and local government
  • In an interview with ANC on December 22, 2025, Remulla said he might run for president in 2028 if it becomes a "one-on-one fight or a two-way battle." "It’s a possibility. No conclusion yet, but it is a possibility," he stated. However, Remulla noted that his wife would need to approve his presidential bid. If he decides to run, he said he wants voters to have a clear choice between different "versions of governance."

Speculated by the media

The following individuals have been mentioned in media discussions as possible presidential candidates but have not publicly expressed interest in running

For vice president

Publicly expressed interest

  • Robin Padilla (PDP), incumbent senator of the Philippines
  • Padilla has stated his openness to a vice presidential bid alongside Sara Duterte, if asked by former president Duterte. Earlier, Padilla's wife, Mariel Rodriguez said that Padilla won't run for another elected position in 2028 due to frustration toward the slow pace of government. He has also endorsed Imee Marcos as Duterte's running mate.

Speculated by the media

Individuals below have been mentioned in media discussions as possible vice presidential candidates but have not publicly expressed interest in running.

Declined to run for either position

The following individuals have been mentioned as potential candidates but have publicly declined to run.

Endorsements

For president

For vice president

Opinion polling

Social research institutions in the Philippines, including Social Weather Stations (SWS), Pulse Asia, OCTA Research, have conducted surveys for the 2028 Philippine presidential election as early as 2025. In each poll, bold indicates the leading candidate whereas italics indicate runner(s)-up within the margin of error.

Hypothetical polls

For president

President

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For vice president

Vice president

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Notes

References

External links