PCIJ's On the Record

It’s the same number as before the May 12 elections. But despite the outcomes, the clans did not always win gubernatorial races with ease. A deeper study of the electoral contests revealed continuing resistance to dynastic rule, with some successes even if few.

At least 18 political dynasties won between five and 19 seats in the May 2025 elections, but reform advocates also saw encouraging signs. A few challengers secured victories, while others came close. Some dynasties suffered a downfall while others shrank in number. 

Can new leaders rise in the power struggle ahead?

A confessed assassin for the Davao Death Squad, Edgar Matobato was the first to go public about the killings allegedly ordered by former President Rodrigo Duterte. Since 2014, when he was detained and brutally tortured by his former comrades, Matobato has been on the run. For ten years, an unlikely network kept him alive: Catholic clergy who believed in his redemption, former military mutineers who shielded him, and, at one point, the security detail of an outgoing president. Together, they helped him evade the powerful forces intent on silencing him.

Today, Matobato is out of the country, having fled in the company of two priests, a journalist, and a photographer from The New York Times. With his wife at his side, he assumed a new identity, slipped through airports under cover, and landed in an unnamed country. It is an indefinite stop on his way to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where Duterte may one day stand trial for crimes against humanity.

His journey, from a recruit into a brutal profession, to whistleblower, to fugitive, is a remarkable tale that mirrors the country’s complex relationship with violence, power—and redemption. 

Scions of political clans ramp up spending in a Senate race packed by media celebrities.

Senatorial candidates Rep. Camille Villar and Sen. Imee Marcos account for half of the total advertisements aired from January to September 2024. Meanwhile, Camarines Sur gubernatorial candidate LRay Villafuerte has a bigger advertising budget than many national candidates.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) sits down with election watchdogs to identify urgent tasks before the October 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, 2025 national elections, and the 2025 BARMM elections.

Environment Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga pleaded with the enterprises to register their plastic recovery programs with the government given the relatively low number of registrants.  

Speaker Romualdez has neither confirmed nor denied the reported $1 million donation, which amounts to around 10% of his declared total net worth as of 2016.

Stakeholders and analysts say President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address in July 2023 indicated his commitment to the peace process. But the rosy picture he painted in his SONA betrayed realities on the ground.