Peer-reviewed article · 2026
The Philippines in 2025: Midterm Elections and the Reordering of Power, Policy, and Posture
Nico Ravanilla · Asian Survey 66(2): 312-322
In brief
A review of Philippine politics in 2025: the midterm elections, elite rivalries, corruption in infrastructure spending, and tensions with China in the West Philippine Sea.
Abstract
This year-ender examines Philippine politics in 2025 through the lens of the May midterm elections and their effects on political, economic, and foreign policy incentives. As elections approached, institutional reform stalled and unresolved elite rivalries were reorganized into electoral competition, most visibly through impeachment efforts, alliance breakdowns, and Senate contests. Economic performance remained narrowly based, driven primarily by consumption amid weak investment, persistent planning constraints, and limited structural change, yet sufficiently stable to reduce pressure for difficult reforms. At the same time, corruption in infrastructure became unusually visible, exposing long-standing patterns of politically mediated contracting but without producing durable accountability. In foreign affairs, sustained pressure from China in the West Philippine Sea reinforced a familiar strategy centered on presence, legal framing, and alliance signaling rather than resolution. The result was continuity rather than transformation, as power, policy, and posture were reordered by electoral incentives rather than institutional change.
Cite
@article{ravanilla2026philippines,
title = {The Philippines in 2025: Midterm Elections and the Reordering of Power, Policy, and Posture},
author = {Nico Ravanilla},
journal = {Asian Survey},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1525/as.2026.66.2.312},
}