The electoral victory of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been attributed to a range of factors such as misinformation, patronage, and populism. We argue that Marcos' electoral victory should not be treated as an isolated instantaneous event, but rather a result of a shift in the country's political narrative due to the legacy of his predecessor. The shift to illiberal populism is tied to the public's continued support for Duterte's flagship policies as well as in the proliferation of populist rhetoric on social media. Using a non-probability survey of 1500 Filipinos, we find that support for President Duterte and his policies as well as trust in social media are significantly correlated with votes for Marcos Jr. It appears like Marcos Jr.'s investment in a social media campaign has paid off not just in terms of votes received but also in strengthening his image as a populist leader.

This article examines the experiences and assessments of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on the Philippine government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is part of the growing migration literature exploring the formation of political remittances, defined as political principles, norms and practices migrants acquire during the migration process and what these imply for democratization, particularly in migrants' home countries. Data for the study came from an online survey of OFWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from the ordered logistic regression suggest that overseas Filipinos' experiences of successful pandemic management and aid distribution in host countries may influence OFWs to expect and demand similar measures in the Philippines.

This study explores the relationship between political polarization, measured as pro-administration and opposition support, and vulnerability to online misinformation through a survey distributed through snowball sampling among students in colleges and universities across the Philippines. Using quasibinomial models, a two-model approach was conducted to disentangle the accuracy goals and partisan goals of the students. We find that polarized supporters of President Duterte are more likely to inaccurately identify fake and real news, compared to polarized supporters of the opposition. This is remarkably similar to trends in the United States where Republicans are more vulnerable to misinformation. Other results also highlight possible trends, such as the link between increased self-reported frequency of seeing fake news and decreased likelihood of correctly identifying fake news, and the link between increased trust in news in social media and decreased odds of correctly identifying both real and fake news.

How does online misinformation affect citizen’s likelihood to vote? The risk of fake news on social media does not only lie in the false narratives spread by manipulated content but also in the misplaced confidence cultivated by the way fake news is consumed. Both should be considered when evaluating the impact of fake news on political behavior. We examine a non-probability sample comprising 23,996 college students across the Philippines a year before the 2022 national elections to see the individual effects of misinformation susceptibility and confidence on voting. Contrary to previous empirical work, ordered logistic regression analyses reveal that both confidence and information accuracy are crucial predictors in voting likelihood. We also find empirical evidence for dissatisfaction with the President and the third person effect being significant factors in one’s choice to vote.