The Philippines’ 2025 midterm election could have marked a moment of reckoning for the decades-old populist Duterte dynasty. Its patriarch, 80-year-old former President Rodrigo, had been arrested by the International Criminal Court in March for alleged crimes against humanity.

As allies they won a landslide victory in the last presidential election in 2022.

"While all of this is happening, our countrymen are complaining about low wages, inflation and unaffordable costs of medicine," he said.