It seems that many political analysts view the first quarter of 2026 as the start or a crucial time for political positioning in the 2028 elections. The 2028 election itself is seen as one of the most important electoral exercises in recent decades as it can very well decide which side of the political fence will be dominant for the next decades. The year 2028 will be the big shakeup and 2026 will be peppered with the tremors and opening salvoes.
Apparently, the first political tremors will start in the second district of the city of Antipolo in the province of Rizal. On March 14 of this year, a special election will be held to fill the district’s vacant seat in the House of Representatives. The vacancy arose when the incumbent lawmaker Romeo Acop passed away in December 2025.
As this was a sudden development and since the period for preparation and campaign will be short, the late congressman’s party or family will have the advantage. There are, however, a couple of possibly powerful candidates that can offer a challenge. What will be interesting is this election might be a proxy war both for local powerful groups and even the national parties. The tactics and results of this special election can shape not only possible special elections occurring thereafter but also the big one on 2028.
In November this year, the Barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan Elections will be held in around 42,000 barangays all over the Philippines. Although barangays are the smallest administrative division on the country, barangay officials are an indispensable factor in local and national campaigns. In fact, many of the campaigns for mayoralty, congressional, and even gubernatorial posts begin with the control of the barangay.
In any campaign for local positions, the barangay is an important cog in any campaign machinery despite the fact that barangay officials are supposed to be apolitical. On the national campaign, ground campaigns are very dependent on one’s ability to expand one’s machinery to the barangay level. For party list campaigns, whether national or regional, barangays are even more crucial as party-list campaigns are actually organizational campaigns rather than political campaigns per se.
Other than these two events, there will be many instances where the political tremors for the 2028 big one will arise. All instances of allegations of corruption and wrongdoings and all seemingly wrong moves by incumbents, will now be magnified by political PR specialists. Even trips abroad will be weaponized against politicians.
All in all, 2026 will be the start of exciting things to come for political creatures such as me. Let the battle begin.
