Vol. II, No. 09 - May 15, 2025

The 2025 mid-term elections have once again laid bare the deep-seated rot at the core of the semifeudal and semicolonial political system in the Philippines. Far from being a genuine exercise of democracy, the elections were marred by systematic and brazen fraud, manipulation, and political machinations orchestrated by entrenched political dynasties and power brokers. These anomalies are not incidental—they are embedded features of a reactionary system designed to serve the interests of the ruling elite, backed by imperialist forces, especially the United States.

The anomalies in the recent elections are staggering. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) oversaw a process riddled with irregularities, particularly involving the South Korean firm Miru Systems, whose counting machines issued receipts that misrepresented voters’ choices. The Comelec’s eleventh-hour “upgrade” to uncertified software has fueled suspicions of automated vote manipulation. Even watchdogs such as the PPCRV received unprecedented volumes of complaints within hours of voting. Quick count results were delayed, riddled with duplicates, and “corrected” without transparency. Reports of vote-buying, pre-shading of ballots, and widespread disenfranchisement of progressive groups point to an election system utterly hollowed out from within.

At the heart of this decay are the traditional political dynasties—the Marcoses, Dutertes, and their ilk—who treat electoral exercises as turf wars. These dynasties deploy state machinery, social aid funds, troll armies, and paramilitary intimidation to tilt the results in their favor. The US, keen on securing geopolitical leverage in the region, has actively intervened by backing its favored factions. This includes grooming their “reserve horses” in the form of liberal pseudoprogressive groups. The rise of an acceptable “Left” as a result of the elections despite widespread fraud, reveal a reshuffling of US-aligned factions, not a democratic renewal.

Meanwhile, progressive party-lists aligned with the national democratic movement continue to be sidelined and violently repressed. Red-tagging, automated vote-shaving, and military harassment have been weaponized against them. The aim is clear: to eliminate any parliamentary foothold for forces that challenge US imperialism and the local ruling classes’ grip on power.

All these point to one conclusion: the electoral arena under the current semifeudal and semicolonial character of Philippine society is a dead end for the vast majority of Filipinos. Genuine democracy—where the voices of workers, peasants, and the toiling masses are heard—cannot flourish under a political order dominated by comprador-landlord dynasties and bureaucrat capitalists beholden to US imperialist interests. The 2025 elections reaffirm that the path to real change lies not in the ballot box, but through mass struggle and revolutionary resistance.

In sharp contrast to the elite-dominated spectacle of the 2025 elections, genuinely democratic processes are unfolding in the countryside where Red political power has been established. Guided by the principle of three-thirds representation—one-third for the basic masses, one-third for the revolutionary forces, and one-third for the other progressive classes—the organs of political power ensure that the most oppressed and exploited classes play a decisive role in governance. These organs form the foundation of the people’s democratic government, a government-in-embryo that stands in stark opposition to the comprador and landlord-dominated bureaucratic state. Here, the political participation of the masses is not reduced to casting a vote every few years but is practiced daily through collective decision-making, mass line consultations, and accountability to the people.

Genuine change will only come when the oppressed themselves take the reins of history—organizing, resisting, and fighting for a society free from imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. In the face of widespread disenfranchisement and political repression, the Filipino people must see through the illusion of elections under the current system. It is through advancing the people’s democratic revolution—not through ballots manipulated by US-backed ruling classes—that genuine societal change can be realized.