A presidential election is scheduled to be held in the Philippines 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 in the country since 1935, and will be the seventh sextennial presidential election since 1992.

Incumbent president Bongbong Marcos is term-limited under the Constitution of the Philippines and is ineligible for re-election. This election will determine the 18th president of the Philippines. 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.

On May 11, 2026, Duterte was impeached again, becoming the first official in Philippine history to be impeached twice, and triggering a period of severe instability within the Senate. Her allies in the upper chamber ousted Sotto and elected Alan Peter Cayetano, a move incited by the return of Ronald dela Rosa following a prolonged absence due to an arrest warrant on charges related to the Philippine drug war. Tensions escalated after a Senate lockdown due to a shooting incident and attempts to arrest dela Rosa failed after he left the Senate's premises. On May 27, the minority bloc staged a walkout in opposition to a proposed rule change by the majority bloc for remote voting, which they claim was designed to accommodate dela Rosa and senators facing arrest warrants. Jinggoy Estrada was later detained on plunder and graft charges, further reducing the majority bloc to ten seats. On June 3, the minority bloc formed a quorum to declare all leadership positions vacant and installed Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President pro tempore and acting Senate President, starting a leadership dispute. This was ultimately resolved on June 17, when Gatchalian was formally elected as Senate President, officially ousting Cayetano. The impeachment trial is scheduled to begin on July 6.

Electoral system

Presidential elections in the Philippines are held every six years, after 1992, on the second Monday of May. Elections to the 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, as the case may be.

The winner will serve a six-year term 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 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.1987 Constitution of the Philippines, art. 7, sec. 2 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

May 11: Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte of the UniTeam alliance declares victory in the 2022 presidential and vice presidential election. May 24: Congress begins its canvassing of the election results. May 25: Congress finishes the canvassing, declaring Marcos and Duterte as the winners of the presidential and vice presidential election. June 19: Duterte is inaugurated in Davao City. June 30: Marcos is inaugurated in Manila as the 17th president of the Philippines and takes office along with Duterte as the 15th vice president of the Philippines.

2024

May 20: Senator Francis Escudero replaces senator Juan Miguel Zubiri as Senate President. June 19: Duterte resigns as the secretary of education. December 2: The first impeachment complaint is filed against Duterte in relation to her assassination threat against Marcos and his family, and alleged extrajudicial killings during her tenure as Davao City mayor. December 4: Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Makabayan) files the second impeachment complaint against Duterte over allegations of corruption due to her controversial use of confidential funds. December 19: A third impeachment complaint is filed against Duterte in relation to her confidential funds controversy.

2025

February 5: Duterte is impeached by the House of Representatives, becoming the first vice president, and the fourth official, to be impeached in Philippine history. March 11: Former president Duterte is arrested by the International Criminal Court. May 12: Midterm elections are held. In the Senate, six Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas candidates win seats, against the DuterTen's three and the KiBam ticket's two. In the House, Marcos-aligned Lakas–CMD remained the dominant party, while Akbayan emerged as the top party in the party-list election. June 9: Senators Koko Pimentel and Risa Hontiveros fail to start the impeachment court in the Senate. June 10: Senate remands the articles of impeachment back to the house. June 11: The House certifies the impeachment complaint. July 25: The Supreme Court declares the articles of impeachment against Duterte "unconstitutional". September 4: Protests against corruption begin in response to the flood control projects scandal. September 9: Senator Tito Sotto ousts Escudero as Senate President. September 17: Bojie Dy is elected as House Speaker following the resignation of Romualdez. September 21: Major anti-corruption protests in Metro Manila.

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. March 18: Manila Mayor Isko Moreno rules out of 2028 for any national position and to stay as mayor in the nation's capital. April 12: Sebastian Duterte and other Duterte supporters, allies, and factions unite and form the RAGE Coalition in support of Sara Duterte. April 21: Robredo officially rules out 2028 run for any national position and to stay as mayor in Naga. April 25: Hontiveros says she has been preparing and is seriously considering a bid for the presidency after Robredo rules out run in 2028. April 27: Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla says he is ready for the role of president but he is not sure if the people will accept him running for president. May 5: Senator Raffy Tulfo officially rules out any possibility of running for president in 2028 and will seek re-election as senator. May 8: Remulla announces his decision not to seek the presidency and rather run for local position in his home province of Cavite in 2028. May 11: Sara Duterte is impeached for a second time in the House of Representatives. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano ousts Sotto as Senate President. May 13: Tensions in the Senate result in a lockdown following a shooting incident, and attempts to arrest Ronald dela Rosa in the Senate fail. June 3: The Senate minority bloc forms a quorum, declares all leadership positions vacant, and installs Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President pro tempore and acting Senate President, starting a leadership dispute. June 17: Gatchalian is elected as Senate President, ousting Cayetano and ending the leadership dispute. June 18: Leaders from Akbayan, Magdalo Party-List, Liberal Party, and Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino caucused and announced its intention to field a single ticket under "one united democratic opposition."

Candidates

For president Declared

Sara Duterte