A Look Back at UniTeam: Unity, Power, and Political Branding in Philippine Elections
The Collision of Dynasties
The UniTeam political alliance was formed to support the 2022 presidential and vice presidential campaigns of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte, though this was far beyond more just a simple campaign strategy. It was an attempt to merge two powerful political dynasties under a unified brand to appeal to public perception, promote elite governance, and change the way to go about reshaping electoral politics in the Philippines.
Before the election began in 2022, the UniTeam was formed in late 2021 as an alliance between political parties to support Marcos and Duterte’s partnership in the 2022 national elections. The name itself was a ploy to attract attention, emphasizing unity and team dynamics, and it became one of the strongest components of the campaign’s brand, signaling a message of collective leadership and national community.
Against the campaigns of Leni Robredo and Manny Pacquiao, the UniTeam found major success. Unlike the United States, the country follows an electoral process of voting presidents and vice presidents into office separately, though the alliance helped bring both Marcos and Duterte to office with overwhelming victories in May 2022. With combining themselves in a way that showed familiarity, emphasizing their dynasties, they were capable of appealing to voters’ desire for recovery, stability, and continuity following the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. This highlighted how branding can promote unity, despite the underlying awareness that they were developing a campaign that downplayed their ideological differences.
Downfall in Governance
Following the election, UniTeam’s purpose immediately began seeing a shift. President Marcos Jr. insisted the alliance was still active and essential to gain unity among citizens, while Vice President Duterte later claimed that the alliance was only meant for the campaign. This began painting the picture of how their political branding was built on the underlying fact of divergence once their power was secured.
As time passed, public tensions between the Marcos and Duterte highlighted deeper fractures in what they had originally advertised. Their political dynamic began highlighting how electoral alliances built for branding can struggle under the strains of governance and competing priorities within governance.
Generally, the UniTeam perfectly exemplifies electoral strategies in the Philippines where branding, team building, and public messaging unfortunately seem to be as influential, if not more influential, than policy platforms. This overall speaks to broader issues in Philippine politics where political marketing aligns with dynasty based voting patterns, something citizens seem more naturally inclined to in order to sustain their ideologies of family and tradition as opposed to strong leadership due to the way politics are viewed in the country.
Connection to Modern Day Politics & Filipino Empowerment
As of February 4th, 2026, impeachment complaints against Marcos were dismissed at the House level for lacking substance. The complaints filed were on Marcos’s alleged betrayal of public trust, corruption, violation of the Constitution, controversial budget decisions, as well as accusations that he allowed for Rodrigo Duterte’s ICC arrest. Meanwhile, multiple impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte are now being reviewed by the House Committee on Justice, alleging misuse of over 600 million pesos in confidential funds, corruption, unexplained wealth, bribery, abuse of power, and threatening violence against other political figures.
These developments illustrate the destruction of the once powerful UniTeam brand, revealing how alliances can unravel under pressure from differing priorities and competing political goals. The resulting current climate of the Philippines highlights issues of opposition, legal drama, and rivalry. Many recurring government issues are ongoing struggles over accountability, governance, and political legitimacy in the Philippines, a pattern that has taken over the political scene of the country and continues to influence both domestic and international perceptions of the country.
Filipino Americans are capable of speaking from an outside perspective and from experience with governments as different from the Philippines as it gets. The role that could be taken is extremely beneficial in shaping public awareness internationally. The spread of digital misinformation, including manipulated narratives about Duterte’s ICC case, Marcos’s alleged corruption, or the impeachment complaints, makes literacy extremely essential for the livelihood of the country, though may not be possible given the education and marketing done in the country domestically.
Overall, staying informed and digitally literate allows diaspora communities to actively participate in shaping the political future of the Philippines, holding leaders accountable and helping citizens make decisions that are for the betterment of the country, not what looks good as a concept.
