“The May 12 elections show we are in a critical interchange of our country’s democratic exposure and political history”
Beyond doubt, and past the election on May 12, 68.6 million voters and their families nationwide will be confronted with at least three worries after all the political jingles and slogans have faded out.
These are increasing job opportunities (93 percent); improving agriculture and ensuring food security (91 percent); and strengthening the healthcare system (91 percent) – which underline the vote they had cast, in the words of some pundits, will be for national dignity and collective future.
According to the Makati-based Stratbase-commissioned nationwide survey by the Social Weather Stations from April 11 to14. these issues represent basic needs of ordinary Filipinos, most of whom struggle daily to earn a decent income amid the rising cost of living.
Verily, we are in a critical interchange of our country’s democratic exposure and political history.
Winners take office midway through the six-year term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with 317 seats in the House of Representatives and 12 of the 24 seats in the Senate.
The first regular election to the Bangsamoro Parliament was supposed to be held within the general election after it was postponed in 2022 but will now be held on Oct. 13, 2025.
This will be the first general election to be held following the 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, and will also be the first automated election to be overseen by the South Korean firm Miru Systems after Commission on Elections disqualified Smartmatic from participating in future elections.
We are in sync with perceptive political observers that yet another concern in the people’s cerebrum during the electoral exercise, while it may appear abstract but remains a core concept in international relations and political science nonetheless, is the issue of national sovereignty, essentially a nation’s supreme power and authority to govern itself within its own territory, free from external interference.
Though strictly not a ‘hot-button issue’ like the three leading survey concerns, it appears more and more Filipinos are beginning to understand the importance of fighting for the country’s territorial integrity and sovereign jurisdiction – particularly in the West Philippine Sea.
The same SWS survey showed a significant 78 percent of voting-age Filipinos prefer candidates who assert Philippine sovereignty in the WPS against China’s belligerent and pushy actions.
Voters and even non-voters in this country of 117 million people have awakened to the vexatious behavior of China within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone and the constant, if compatible, reporting of such harassment by the Philippine Coast Guard.
The PCG has been on guard updating the Filipinos through traditional and social media each time Chinese naval forces and aircraft make illegal patrols and harass Filipino troops on humanitarian missions and fisherfolk in the WPS.
Accordingly, videos posted by PCG and various media suggest China’s aggressive actions have become bolder and more frequent the past few months, which include the ramming and damaging by Chinese Coast Guard ships of the vessels of the PCG and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources conducting patrols and research.
Last month, the Chinese Coast Guard unfurled China’s flag and took a picture on Sandy Cay, a reef three kilometers from Pag-asa Island in Kalayaan, Palawan.
Chinese state media reported that as an ‘exercise of maritime control’ by the CCG, seen by observers as constituting an illegal encroachment of Philippine territory.
As though that was not enough, we have seen Senate investigations which initially focused on a submersible drone recovered by fishermen in Masbate, and another Inquiry which exposed a PR operation to push pro-Beijing narratives in social media to influence voters amid the WPSA dispute.
Recently Filipino netizens endorsed the inclusion of the WPS on Google Maps, which illustrated how the battle for sovereignty in the high seas is complemented by Filipinos’ vigilance in social media and cyberspace.
Many have come around to appreciate what the WPS means to national sovereignty, as the country strengthens and modernizes its defense capabilities while engaging in maritime and security allies in Philippine waters.
The landmark Philippine Maritime Zones Law, principally authored by Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Admiralty and Maritime Zones, and signed by President Marcos last November, has helped fortify the country’s defense in the WPS.
With the Maritime Zones Law, the coast guard has been given additional legal ‘ammunition’ when challenging Chinese vessels that encroach on the country’s maritime territories.
In their radio challenges to drive away the intruders, the coast guard now cites a Philippine law, in addition to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the historic 2016 Hague arbitral ruling which nullified China’s mythical nine-dash line.
Tolentino has actively supported the modernization of the navy and coast guard to improve the military’s response capabilities in the WPS, helped the cause of Filipino small fisherfolk in Zambales, Pangasinan, and Palawan.
At the same time, he has advocated the signing of defense cooperation deals with allied nations, like Japan, New Zealand, France, and Germany – apart from security partnership with the United States, with which the Philippines signed a mutual defense agreement in 1951.
Observers see this as providing focus, leadership, resources and operational capabilities to secure the country’s maritime area.
