Violence on the vote: Can there be democracy at gunpoint?

THE 2025 MIDTERM elections in the Philippines were generally hailed as a triumph of democratic participation. News outlets noted the “orderly” polls in urban centers, the visible enthusiasm of young voters, and a renewed sense of civic engagement. 

The optimism, however, masked or missed the troubling reality of electoral violence that the media had reported during the campaign season and on election day, unfolding mostly in remote, rural, and marginalized regions. 

Election-related violence (ERV) is carried out systematically, with the use of private armies maintained by local warlords or entrenched political families, thus becoming endemic. But there are assaults and attacks that occur in the heat of political competition, engaging not just the candidates but their families, relatives, and supporters who on their own can turn the vote into a deadly contest. 

This pattern of violence is not isolated, nor is it unique to the Philippines. According to the latest Freedom House report, the 2025 elections in the Philippines are part of a global trend in which political violence and armed conflict are increasingly used to influence electoral outcomes. The report highlights how elections around the world are being conducted amid intensifying repression, violent coercion, and the weakening of democratic institutions—conditions mirrored in various regions in the Philippines. 

Yet this fundamental threat to democratic legitimacy is barely acknowledged in the broader media discourse. National coverage reported individual incidents of violence without connecting them as a larger, systemic pattern. The result is a dangerous gap in public understanding, one that fails to recognize how fear, coercion, and bloodshed still shape political life in the peripheries.

At least 42 documented attacks from October 2024 to April 10, 2025, resulted in over 30 deaths. Violence peaked on election day itself, with at least 11 individuals killed and numerous others injured in various regions, including Negros Occidental, Abra, Zamboanga del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, and Marawi City.

Media coverage included reports of supporters, campaign managers, watchmen, barangay officials, and candidates themselves as victims. The record reflects the high level of violence at the grassroots, with local elections consistently showing up as more fatal and bloody.

In 2023, CMFR recorded at least 59 attacks that killed 63 local officials in the Barangay elections. Two years later, in the local elections of 2025, at least 58 incidents of violence occurred. This continuing pattern confirms how localized positions remain the deadliest contests in Philippine politics.

April 11 to May 11

The incidence of violence escalated significantly in the month leading to elections, with 16 election-related attacks recorded in April to May and on election day itself. 

• April 21 (Tayum, Abra) – 1 dead, 1 injured in a shootout between rival convoys.
• April 23 (Rizal, Cagayan) – Mayor Joel Ruma and another victim shot dead in a campaign rally.
• April 26 (San Pablo, Isabela) – An ambush injured a councilor candidate and 2 companions.
• April 28 (Manila) – Party-list nominee Leninsky Bacud killed.
• April 28 (Badian, Cebu) – Campaign aide shot dead.
• May 4 (Buluan, Maguindanao del Sur) – Grenade attack on the vice governor candidate’s home.
• May 7 (Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay) – 1 killed during vote-count machine testing.
• May 10 (Zamboanga City) – 2 dead from crowd crush at alleged poll watcher payout.
• May 11 (Basilan) – 4 dead in a gunfight between rival mayoral camps.

May 12: Violence peaks on election day

Election day alone saw at least 11 people killed, with multiple incidents resulting in injuries across the country:

• Negros Occidental (Silay) – 2 supporters of Mayor Gallego killed; 5 injured.
• Abra (Bangued) – Gunmen injured 2 civilians near a precinct.
• Zamboanga del Sur (Dinas) – Political clashes left 1 dead.
• Lanao del Sur (Bayang) – A councilor candidate and barangay chair sibling killed.
• Basilan (Hadji Muhtamad) – 3 supporters of a mayoral bet killed in police shootout.
• Marawi City – Violence between rival camps disrupted polls.
• Cotabato City – Four individuals were injured in a shootout between supporters of rival political parties.

Red-tagging, arson, and other disruptions

Aside from killings, the 2025 elections were marked by other disruptions. Most of the media (Rappler, ABS-CBN, Bulatlat, Inquirer.net, GMA Integrated News) did well to cite election watchdogs which expressed their alarm. According to the Vote Report PH, over 1,750 election-related violations were recorded by May 10, including disinformation, harassment, and intimidation. The International Observer Mission (IOM) echoed these concerns, reporting an “intensified” wave of violence and rights violations. It cited Vote Report PH’s data on 1,445 incidents of red-tagging, particularly concentrated in Cordillera, Southern Tagalog, Southern Luzon, Negros, and across Mindanao. 

Other forms of disruption were equally alarming. In Abra, a school designated as a polling place was deliberately set on fire, disrupting election preparations and adding to the atmosphere of fear. In Basilan, armed men reportedly intimidated the Board of Election Inspectors from entering the precincts. In Maguindanao del Sur, members of election watchdog groups documented ballot snatching, misuse of voter assistance, and military presence near polling centers — all tactics that discouraged participation, particularly among indigenous and Muslim communities.

Namfrel also verified several violent incidents, including a shooting in Silay City, Negros Occidental, in front of a mayoral candidate’s headquarters, and mob attacks in Lanao del Sur against vans allegedly transporting “flying voters.” Meanwhile, Zamboanga City saw vote-buying result in a fatal crowd crush, and in Cotabato City, technical glitches and poll watcher disputes confused and delayed precinct openings in marginalized areas.

Despite marking 403 areas of concern ahead of the elections, the Commission on Elections reported only 44 election-related violent incidents, down from 120 in both 2019 and 2022.

These figures are conservative estimates. Many cases in remote areas may remain underreported or unverified. CMFR’s past reporting has shown that some cases were only reported by the local media, reflecting the lack of public awareness of the problem.

Under the shadow

Unfortunately, while stories of crime, with or without physical violence, lead the news agenda, violence in the name of politics has yet to gain significant media coverage as an electoral issue. 

Reporters filed stories of the killings but did not note this as a pattern, its recurrence darkening the political landscape. Media’s role is clear in calling attention to the phenomenon, as violence surely affects the quality of selection with which citizens raise their chosen politicians to lead and to 

Such reporting is needed if we are to hope for elections to be free of forces of traditional politics that continue to hold back national development. The survival of democracy depends not just on the ballots cast, but also on the context of the exercise. A vote under the shadow of a gun is not a free vote.