ABSTRACT
Electoral campaigns in the Philippines, while patterned after traditional liberal democratic practices, operate under a peculiar set of social and political dynamics. Elections have been an integral part of Philippine political development since its introduction by American colonial rule in the 1900s. The inequitable social structure has engendered a clientelistic political tradition and personality-based electoral campaigning. Electoral campaigns and party politics served as avenues for elite dominance of a resilient oligarchy throughout the post-independence republic from 1946 to 1971. In the post-1986 political regime, electoral campaigns in the Philippines provide opportunities for both elite circulation and popular participation. A Campaign Finance Reform Bill has been discussed in the Philippine Senate that would seek external audits of political campaign funds. Contemporary electoral politics in the Philippines can be divided into three distinct phases: the period of post-independence republic, the period under authoritarianism and the re-establishment of democratic politics since 1986.
