When dynasties (slowly) crumble

It seemed straight out of a teleserye, a plot twist one might see only on local prime time TV or while watching an edge-of-your-seat Netflix drama.

In the soap opera, a political family falls from grace as it loses its grip on power after decades of lording it over a certain population or locality.

This time, however, it happened in real life after some 70 million people went out to vote on Monday.

And this time, it’s not just one family but several entrenched political dynasties in the country – from north to south, who saw their destinies change overnight.

While some dominant political clans extended their control in many of the local races, many Filipinos opted not to put back in power the ruling political dynasties in key regions.

Some examples: The Velascos of Marinduque, the Garcias of Cebu and the Bernos of Abra. In Las Piñas, the Villars also lost their congressional seat.

What do these results tell us?

I see it first, as a ripple effect of the bitter feud between the Marcoses and the Dutertes.

After months of becoming unwitting spectators to the ugly break-up between the two political clans, Filipinos, it seems, realized how political dynasties want nothing but to tighten their grip on power.

We witnessed how both camps showed that their main priority was political survival, not the people or their constituents.

It was all about self-preservation and not the everyday concerns of Filipinos.

In a way, as the Senate results showed, the Dutertes and the Marcoses cancelled out each other, with just an equal number of candidates from both sides making it to the Senate.

As Manuel Quezon III said in Asia Sentinel, in the end, the warring camps ended in a draw with five senators each.

As a result of the two camps’ visible hatred against each other, Filipinos saw through political dynasties elsewhere in the Philippines, and opted to choose other candidates.

The power of social media

The dizzying power of social media, with netizens posting just about anything and everything on our timelines, also played a key role in the shifting political landscape in the Philippines.

Now, information spreads so fast that it can make or unbreak a candidate.

Everyone can easily capture just about anything under the sun with their mobile phones – whether it’s a lady politician lashing out at security guards, a trapo handing out cash to a drenched flood victim or a lawmaker threatening somebody in a bar.

And those washed-out celebrities who want to join the political circus? They’ve also been captured many times on social media making a fool of themselves.

They’re either just throwing jackets, singing and dancing in campaign sorties or crying on national TV.

No newbie celebrities made it to the Senate’s Magic 12. One can also blame first termer Senator Robin Padilla who showed Filipinos what a celebrity-turned-lawmaker can do – or cannot do – at the esteemed chamber.

In fact, there’s a meme going around on social media thanking the ex-action star for the fact that no newbie celebrity made it to the Senate: “Salamat Robin Padilla sa tulong mo, natuto ang Pilipino…”

There are also many organizations now demanding accountability and transparency through posts on social media. This resonated among the voters.

For Stratbase Group president Dindo Manhit, the surprisingly strong performance of former senators Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan in the 2025 senatorial elections “is a clear reflection of the Filipino people’s renewed demand for accountability and reform-oriented leadership.”

Revenge vote

It was also a revenge vote of sorts because the two candidates ran outside the shadows of the polarized Marcos and Duterte factions and became symbols of principled, reformist alternatives.

“For many Filipinos, their votes for Aquino and Pangilinan served as a ‘revenge vote’ against political toxicity, corruption and empty promises,” he said.

Young voters

The real heroes in this year’s elections are the Gen Zs and millennials who voted against the trapos.

They made up a significant portion of the electorate – more than 60 percent – and shifted the scales in their favor.

I hope that in the coming 2028 elections, we see even better results, especially because Gen Zs who were born in 2008 to 2010 will be able to vote by then.

On Monday morning, I braved the scorching heat to walk to my precinct, located on the fourth floor of a public school in our city.

It was like a furnace in one of the classrooms where we waited. I wondered how students could actually hold classes in the unbearable heat.

The voting was very slow, at least in our precinct. I wanted to give up many times because a long day awaited me, including a long-haul flight in the evening.

But I desperately wanted to vote. I wanted to vote for candidates I believed in, even if some of them didn’t show in the surveys. I wanted to vote and be counted.

At last, after an hour, I was finally able to cast my ballot.

I left the precinct drenched in sweat and sun-baked in the summer heat but I was proud and happy to add my voice in this year’s midterm polls.

And when the results started coming in – better-than-expected and way better than the surveys – I heaved a big sigh of relief.

There is hope. There is so much hope.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.