2025 Philippine Senate election

The 2025 Philippine Senate election was the 35th election of members to the Senate of the Philippines. It was held on May 12, 2025, within the 2025 Philippine general election. The seats of the 12 senators elected in 2019 were contested in this election. The senators who will be elected in this election will serve until 2031, joining the winners of the 2022 election to form the Senate's delegation to the 20th Congress of the Philippines, with the senators elected in 2022 serving until 2028.

The election was shaped by several key issues, including employment and food security, concerns over the quality of public services such as healthcare, water, and education, and the demand for stronger anti-corruption measures and government accountability. Additionally, the impeachment of vice president Sara Duterte and the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte heightened political tensions, particularly between the Marcos and Duterte families.

The ruling administration of president Bongbong Marcos formed the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas, composed of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), Lakas, Nacionalista, National Unity Party (NUP), and the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC), to contest the election. The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino, aligned with former president Duterte and the vice president, endorsed DuterTen. In the traditional opposition, Bam Aquino and Francis Pangilinan ran together under the Liberal-backed KiBam umbrella, whereas Makabayan fielded a full slate branded as the Oposisyon ng Bayan. The Alyansa won six seats against the DuterTen's three, plus two guest candidates, while both KiBam candidates won.

In the Senate presidential election, Francis Escudero defeated fellow NPC member Tito Sotto to keep the Senate presidency.

Background

In the 2022 election, the UniTeam, backing the candidacies of eventual president Bongbong Marcos and vice president Sara Duterte, won a plurality of seats in the Senate of the Philippines. Leading up to the opening of the 19th Congress, Cynthia Villar and Migz Zubiri, both having run under UniTeam, were viewed as the frontrunners to succeed Senate President Tito Sotto, who left the Senate after being term-limited. After Zubiri presumptively earned enough votes to be elected Senate president and negotiations for a term-sharing agreement failed, Villar withdrew from the contest, leaving Zubiri unopposed for the Senate presidency.

Zubiri's term as Senate president was marked by speculation of efforts to unseat him. Such speculation was confirmed by Senator Imee Marcos, who stated that there were plans to oust Zubiri from the Senate presidency, attributing such efforts to pressure that "came from outside the Senate". On May 20, 2024, Zubiri resigned the Senate presidency after 15 senators expressed their support to oust him from the post. Senator Francis Escudero was nominated as his successor and was elected without objection.

While in government after UniTeam's large victories in the election, Duterte remarked that the UniTeam had already "served its purpose" but claimed that the alliance was still "intact". Following mounting tensions between the Marcos and Duterte political clans, Duterte resigned from her roles as Secretary of Education and co-vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. Political observers saw Duterte's resignation from her positions in the Marcos administration as a confirmation of the collapse of the UniTeam. Some labeled Duterte as a potential "leader of the opposition", a label that she would reject, claiming that she was "still friends" with Marcos.

Political scientist Julio C. Teehankee observed that a broad united coalition is unlikely to form in 2025 given that the Liberal Party, the traditional political opposition since 2016, has more in common with the ruling Marcos administration and noted that "there is little value in debating" which political faction is the true opposition, noting the varied motivations for opposing an incumbent government.

Electoral system

The Philippines has a 24-member Senate elected at-large. Every three years since 1995, 12 seats are contested. For 2025, the seats last elected in 2019 will be contested. Each voter has 12 votes, of which one can vote for one to twelve candidates, or a multiple non-transferable vote; the twelve candidates with the most votes are elected.

Senators are limited to serving two consecutive terms, although they are eligible for a third (and succeeding) non-consecutive term. Only half of the seats are up in every senatorial election. The winning senators will succeed those elected in 2019, and will join those elected in 2022 to form the 20th Congress.

Each party or coalition endorses a slate of candidates, typically not exceeding a 12-person ticket. A party may also choose to invite "guest candidates" to complete its slate. The party may even include, with the candidates' consent, independent candidates and candidates from other parties as the party's guest candidates. Parties also may form coalitions to endorse a multi-party slate of candidates.

Winning candidates are proclaimed by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC). The NBOC usually proclaims senators-elect by batches, if that candidate can no longer fall to worse than twelfth place in the tally. Post-proclamation disputes are handled by the Senate Electoral Tribunal, a body composed of six senators and three justices from the Supreme Court.

Participating parties

In both chambers of Congress, members are organized into "blocs", akin to parliamentary groups elsewhere. In keeping with the traditions of the Third Philippine Republic which was under a two-party system, there are two main blocs, the majority and minority blocs; this is although the country is now in a multi-party system. Those who voted for the Senate president are from the majority bloc, while those who did not (if there are more than two candidates for the Senate presidency) will vote amongst themselves on who will be the minority bloc. Those who belong to neither bloc shall be the independent minority bloc. Members can also be from the independent bloc. Each bloc can have members from multiple parties. Only the majority and minority blocs have voting privileges in committees.

In the 19th Congress, the majority bloc is composed of members who voted for Escudero for Senate president.

These parties have put up at least one candidate in the election:

Coalitions

This section describes the events prior to the campaign period.

Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas

On May 8, 2024, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) and Lakas–CMD signed an alliance agreement at the Manila Polo Club in Makati to form the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas (English: Alliance for the New Philippines) for the 2025 general elections. House Speaker Martin Romualdez remarked that the formation of the alliance created the "most powerful political force in our country today", noting the positioning of the PFP as the de facto ruling party in the country and Lakas' status as the largest political party in the House of Representatives.

Romualdez also implied that the coalition plans to include "all major parties", including the Nacionalista Party, which began negotiations with the alliance on July 2. President Marcos remarked that the alliance aims to be based "not on political expediency but on ideology" that focuses on unity and a new Philippines. Two parties would sign alliance agreements with the coalition: the Nationalist People's Coalition on May 19, and the National Unity Party on June 29. The Nacionalista Party formally entered the coalition on August 8.

On May 10, former Senator Manny Pacquiao announced his senatorial candidacy as a member of the alliance while remaining a member of PROMDI. Reelectionist Senator Imee Marcos, the sister of the president and PFP chairman, noted that she was unsure of her inclusion in the coalition, though the entry of the Nacionalista Party in the alliance ensured her inclusion in its ticket. Party leaders under the alliance met on August 19; on the same day, Erwin Tulfo noted that the administration "still has no final senatorial lineup".

On September 26, President Marcos announced the administration's twelve senatorial bets during an event at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay. Although Imee Marcos, the president's sister, was introduced as part of the slate, she stated that she would not be joining the slate and would instead be running as an independent. Despite her statement, she was never formally dropped from the slate, and was even shown campaigning with the alliance at the start of the campaign season.