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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.

Measures of presidential satisfaction have long been in the public’s attention, but the factors that drive them have brought about much discussion. As a contribution to the literature, this study empirically examines presidential approval data in the Philippines using a unique survey of 1200 low-income voting age residents of Metro Manila. Using individual-level data, this study unpacks the possible factors underpinning survey results on citizens’ satisfaction with leadership in the Philippines. While accounting for the personal circumstances of the respondents, this study finds evidence of bandwagoning among survey respondents; and partial evidence of personal economic conditions and disinformation possibly linked to presidential satisfaction. The findings here suggest there should be more caution in interpreting presidential satisfaction indicators.

This article provides a brief overview of five years of legislative and constitutional reforms under the Duterte administration. President Duterte’s bold campaign promises were backed by wide public support, a supermajority coalition in Congress, and a unified Cabinet. Indeed, empirical evidence points to how the President’s coalition in Congress, upcoming national elections, and the President’s capacity to tag bills as urgent or priority can help fast-track the passage of laws. While this was able to translate to high legislative productivity in the 17th and 18th Congresses, crucial aspects of the President’s legislative agenda still remain pending. Moreover, key reforms that were passed are widely criticized for promoting efficiency over equity and for falling short in addressing key governance issues. Even though the President had the unprecedented institutional means to steer legislation to his agenda, we find that Duterte is no different from his predecessors who prioritize short-term and rewarding laws over meaningful long-term reforms.

Misinformation, political polarization, its links, and negative societal consequences have long been studied in literature. This study contributes to this field by exploring the relationship of political polarization, using a novel measure that captures political support for President Duterte (representing the administration) against political support for Vice President Robredo (representing the opposition) on a spectrum, and the vulnerability of the Filipino youth to online misinformation through an online survey conducted among college-aged students in various colleges and universities across the Philippines. We find evidence that partisan supporters of President Duterte are more likely to inaccurately identify fake and real news, compared to partisan 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.