Interregnum | Philippine Progressive and Reform Politics in an Age of Authoritarian Nostalgia

Drawing on Antonio Gramsci’s concept of interregnum –  the moment when an old order is dying and a new one cannot yet be born – the opening chapter offers an analytical framework for interpreting the 2025 Philippine midterm elections. It examines the return of the Marcos family to the presidency in 2022, the subsequent breakdown of the Marcos-Duterte alliance, and the political developments that followed as part of a broader period of political transition. Against this backdrop, the chapter explores competing political narratives and introduces the analytical approach that guides the volume. It asks a critical question that runs throughout the book: what conditions enable politics to take hold, and what might this require in the lead-up to the 2028 elections?

Authors

• Julio C. Teehankee is a full professor at the Department of International Studies of De La Salle University.
• John Benedict Felices is the program manager at the La Salle Institute of Governance.

Several of the country's most prominent political families lost their seats in the 2025 midterm elections. Drawing on six electoral maps, the chapter examines how these results reshaped the country’s political landscape beyond party labels. It analyzes the extent to which political influence was maintained through appointments, political allies and informal networks, and distinguishes between dynasties that were displaced and those that remained influential despite electoral setbacks.

Authors

• Monica Ang-Tan is the program manager for Political Affairs at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Philippines.
• Majahlia Quimpo is the assistant communications manager at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Philippines, where she leads communications across programs on gender justice, climate justice, labor, peace and security, and democratic governance.

Written off by many after his 2022 defeat, Kiko Pangilinan came back as an independent candidate , focusing his campaign on the price of rice at a time when much of the political debate centered on the Marcos-Duterte split. Although he remained below the winning threshold in most opinion polls, he ultimately finished fifth. The chapter argues that his campaign represented more than a personal political comeback, examining how a focused issue-based platform and a decentralized volunteer network contributed to its success.  It also explores the more difficult question of whether a campaign promise can be sustained in government, and whether a fragmented reform-oriented movement can build lasting political influence beyond the 2025 elections.

Authors

• Jeorge G. Alarcon Jr. † was an assistant professor at the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
• Miguel Enrico G. Ayson, MA is an assistant professor at the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
• Lara Gianina S. Reyes-De Leon, MA is an assistant professor at the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

While polls placed him outside the winning circle for most of the campaign, Bam Aquino finished second nationally, topping the country's richest voting corridor on a platform centered on free college education and employment opportunities for graduates. The chapter examines his political comeback as a case study in campaign reinvention, exploring how issues positioning image rebranding, and organizational strategy contributed to his electoral success. It also considers the challenges that followed the election, including the implications of his decision to align with the Senate majority, and asks what it takes for individual electoral gains to develop into a broader and more durable reform-oriented political coalition.

Author

• Miguel Enrico G. Ayson, MA is an assistant professor at the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

Following electoral setbacks in 2019 and 2022, Akbayan faced the process of delisting under the party-list system's two-percent rule. In the 2025 elections, however, it topped the race with 2.8 million votes, the highest total in the party-list system's history. The chapter examines the factors behind this turnaround, including organizational renewal, youth engagement and grassroots organizing. But does the result represent a lasting breakthrough—or, as the title suggests, merely a dead cat bounce in a political landscape still shaped by political dynasties? The chapter explores whether Akbayan can sustain its electoral gains beyond the 2025 elections.

Author

• Lara Gianina S. Reyes-De Leon, MA is an assistant professor at the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

For two decades, Bayan Muna was one of the most recognizable left-wing party-list voices in Congress, advocating on issues affecting workers and the poor. In the 2025 elections,  the party failed to regain representation in Congress. The chapter examines a range of factors that may have contributed to this outcome, including the effects of red-tagging- the practice of branding activists as communist fronts -  as well as internal organizational and strategic challenges. Written largely from within the political tradition it examines, the chapter reflects critically on whether long-held organizational approaches may have limited the movement's ability to adapt to a changing political landscape, and asks whether a movement can change without losing its identity.

Authors

• Sigmund Fletcher D. Tarrayo is an internship coordinator and faculty member of the Political Science Program at the University of the Philippines Tacloban.
• Antonio D. Salazar, Jr. is an assistant professor and the program coordinator of the Political Science Program at the University of the Philippines Tacloban.
• April Grace U. Lazarito is the faculty-in-charge of the Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment and a faculty member of the Political Science Program at the University of the Philippines Tacloban.

After spending nearly seven years in detention, Leila de Lima spent returned to electoral politics in an unexpected way. Rather than pursuing another Senate bid, de Lima ran for Congress as the first nominee of Mamamayang Liberal, the Liberal Party's party-list arm. The chapter  examines the strategic considerations behind this decision and explores how campaign timing, volunteer mobilization and the party-list system shaped her return to public office. It also reflects on the opportunities and limitations of the party-list system as a pathway for established political figures seeking to re-enter national politics, and asks whether a single symbolic victory can serve as the basis for longer-term political renewal.

Authors

• Donabel S. Tumandao is a project development officer at the Better Regulations Office, Sectoral Division D of the Anti-Red Tape Authority.
• Leandro G. Piga is a senior lecturer in the BA Political Science program at the University of the Philippines Tacloban College.
• Geralyn A. Merimilla is an instructor in the BA Political Science program at the University of the Philippines Tacloban College.

Benjamin Magalong’s 2025 Baguio campaign centered on his long-standing anti-corruption platform and reputation for integrity. The chapter explores how these themes resonated with voters in the context of political culture of the Cordillera region and local debates on governance. More broadly, the chapter asks what politics built around an individual's credibility can deliver, and whether it can be sustained beyond a single political figure.

Authors

• John Patrick S. Pineda is an instructor at the Department of Political Science, College of Governance and Public Policy of the University of Makati.
• Hannah Gwynneth Y. Pimentel is an independent researcher.

Vico Sotto's election as mayor in 2019 ended nearly three decades of one family's political dominance in Pasig City. Following his re-election in 2022 and 2025, he has frequently been cited as an example of reform-oriented local governance. The chapter examines key features of his administration, including approaches to public service delivery, welfare programs, and local governance, and explores how these have shaped public perceptions of political leadership in Pasig. At the same time, it considers a broader question that extends beyond one city: can governance reforms built around a single political leader become institutionalized and endure beyond that individual's time in office?

Authors

• Joseph Edward B. Alegado, MA, MPM is a PhD candidate at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. He is also a part-time lecturer at Ateneo School of Government and De La Salle University.
• Paula Patrice S. Hamoy, MA is a lecturer at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) and the head of field research at WR Numero Research (WRN).

Sonny Trillanes’ 2025  mayoral of Caloocan against a long-stablished political family, and lost. Drawing on interviews with the candidate and voters, the chapter introduces what it terms the "Trillanes Effect," the proposition that a credible electoral challenge can influence governance and political accountability even without resulting in electoral victory. Building on this, the author explores the conditions under which entrenched political structures can be challenged and examines how candidates establish and sustain reform-oriented political identities in competitive local politics. The defeat becomes evidence, drawn from interviews with the candidate and the voters he was trying to reach, for two questions: how a dynasty actually gets dislodged, and whether a former mutineer who has worn four party colors can credibly claim the reformist label.

Author

• Paul Anthony L. Tecson is a faculty member at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Far Eastern University, Manila. 

After losing the 2022 presidential elections, Leni Robredo chose to run for mayor of Naga, reviving the "tsinelas leadership" associated with her late husband, a style of governance built on listening to constituents and maintaining a strong presence in the barangays. The chapter explores how this approach has been supported by Naga’s long-standing civic institutions, while also examining its limitations. It argues that the Robredo political brand reflects elements of pragmatic local politic practices alongside its reform-oriented agenda. This sharpens the paradox the book keeps returning to: why reform-oriented politics often gains traction locally, but struggles nationally, where political machinery and disinformation shape electoral competition. What does it mean that one of the country's most prominent reform-oriented political figures could win a city but not the nation, and can politics rooted in local governance scale nationally?

Authors

• Lermie Shayne S. Garcia, PhD is an assistant professor at the History Department of Ateneo de Manila University.
• Mnenosyne Hilary P. Vinarao is a faculty member at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Santo Tomas.

In Davao, the Duterte family dominated local politics since the post- EDSA period, long enough that the chapter argues their style of politics, built on strong name recognition and political machinery, has come to define electoral competition. Everything else is often viewed as the alternative or the political fringe. Mags Maglana, a development worker of more than 30 years, she built her congressional campaign around a different approach, captured in four words: handshake, heard, help, hugs. She lost to a Duterte, as she had in 2022. The chapter asks whether a campaign centered on everyday concerns can effectively challenge entrenched political structured and whether refusing the terms set by dominant political actors can create space for political change.

Author

• Nathan Mishael O. Go is an assistant professor at the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines Manila.

Two weeks before the 2025 vote, an election tribunal annulled Bruce Matabalao's 2022 victory and awarded the seat to his rival. He ran anyway and swept the Cotabato City elections, winning the mayoralty, the vice mayoralty, and all ten council seats. But survival in Cotabato is not the same as transformation. The chapter examines governance within the Bangsamoro peace transition, where political leadership operates alongside former combatants, regional political clans, and long-standing political settlements. It explores the tensions between pursuing reform and maintaining stability, asking how much transformation is possible when political change must be balances with the demands of a still-evolving peace process, and whether reform built on compromise remains reform?

Authors

• George Vincent F. Gamayo, MM is an assistant professor at the Department of Communication Research of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
• Madzween Joy K. De Asis, MA is an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science of the Mindanao State University Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography.

Following two elections in which Akbayan failed to secure representation and came closing to delisting under the party-list system's two-percent threshold, the party topped the party-list race for the first time in its history in 2025. The chapter examines the role of the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, —a network of student councils across more than one hundred campuses—in supporting this turnaround through sustained campus organizing, engagement with Akbayan's nominees, and student-led political activities. It asks whether this model of grassroots organizing can provide a durable foundation for broader political mobilization, and whether progressive movements can sustain cooperation while navigating internal divisions and electoral competition.

Author

• Francis Isaac is an assistant professor at the International Studies Department of San Beda College Alabang.

The 2025 elections tested whether reform politics can be achieved through organizing. The chapter contrasts different approaches to labor mobilization, arguing that while workers have often been viewed as a natural el electoral constituency, solidarity and political engagement require sustained organizing. Rather than relying primarily on individual candidates, the trade union movement, and the labor center SENTRO in particular, focused on building political engagement around workers' shared interests and a common agenda. Through case studies from Davao and Surigao, the chapter examines how workplace organizing and political education translated into electoral participation. It asks whether a labor vote built one union at a time can eventually become a broader political force.

Author

• Benjamin Miguel G. Alvero III is the executive director of the Labor Education and Research Network.

Women accounted for 51% of voters in the 2025 midterms and 27.5% of those elected to major positions. Of the women who won, 94.8% came from political dynasties. The chapter examines this pattern of “dynastic feminism”, arguing that while women’s political representation has expanded, the existing structure of family-based political power stays intact. At the same time, it notes that these dynastic women introduce gender-progressive legislation at higher rates than their male counterparts. The chapter asks whether the rise of women in Philippine politics represents a loosening of patriarchal power, or a reconfiguration of it that continues to reproduce established political families.

Authors

• Monica Ang-Tan is the program manager for Political Affairs at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Philippines.
• Francisco A. Magno is a full professor at the Department of Political Science and Development Studies of De La Salle University. He is also the director of the La Salle Institute of Governance.

Fifteen campaigns later, the verdict is deliberately left open. Drawing together the findings from the preceding chapters, the conclusion reflects on the factors that shaped both electoral successes and setbacks across national and local races. It argues while reform-oriented politics made important gains in several local contexts, these advances have yet to consolidate into a broader political realignment. The chapter also examines the opportunities and constraints facing youth, women, and progressive movements, and considers what the 2025 midterms may reveal about the road to the 2028 elections.

Authors

• Julio C. Teehankee is a full professor at the Department of International Studies of De La Salle University.
• John Arzil E. Manabat is a program and research coordinator at the La Salle Institute of Governance.