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| (Image Source: ABS-CBN Corporation) |
ABS-CBN News gears up for the upcoming national midterm and local elections with its comprehensive coverage of Halalan 2025 airing across multiple digital and television platforms along with its electoral interview features, school tour programs, and launching of its live Halalan webpage. On the day of the elections which is May 12, 2025, ABS-CBN News goes live with its Halalan 2025 special coverage with its reporters stationed across the country to deliver the latest updates and provide an up-to-date count on the number of national and local votes.
The ABS-CBN Halalan coverage also delivers additional electoral content providing an in-depth look on this year's aspirants and their platforms — featuring one-on-one interviews with national candidates in "Harapan 2025" and reporters hitting the road to visit various cities and municipalities and sit down with local hopefuls in "Biyaheng City Hall". ABS-CBN News will also visit several schools to inform young voters to make well-informed choices regarding the country's next leaders in "Campus Patrol" as part of its extensive voter education effort to reach out to Filipino youth. Alongside these features and projects from ABS-CBN News, its Halalan page is now live online to deliver election updates and exclusive features to netizens via ABS-CBN.com. Meanwhile, ABS-CBN has partnered with various government agencies, media organizations, poll watch groups, research firms, and academic institutions to reaffirm their commitment to ensuring peaceful and honest elections, along with helping voters make a well-informed decision in choosing the next leaders of the nation and providing them a platform to voice social issues and needs to be addressed — through a covenant signing event held last January 14, 2025.
ABS-CBN News partners with the following government agencies to secure orderly elections and informative coverage for Filipinos: the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), the Department of Education (DepEd), the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Department of Foreign Affairs Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS), Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Various media organizations also join ABS-CBN's cause in delivering real-time updates on the elections including Manila Bulletin, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), Philippine Press Institute (PPI), and Google & YouTube. Also heeding ABS-CBN's call for honest and fair elections are electoral watchdogs Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), YouthVote, Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE), and KontraDaya alongside research groups WR Numero, Pulse Asia, and PARTICIPATE, and business organization Makati Business Club (MBC). Rounding up the list of partners are academic institutions including University of the Philippines' Department of Political Science, Ateneo de Manila University-School of Government, De La Salle Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, Cavite State University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, San Beda University, Saint Louis University-Baguio City, Siliman University, and STI.
The covenant signing event was attended by COMELEC chairman George Garcia, DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy, DFA Undersecretary Jesus Domingo, DepEd Assistant Secretary Cilette Liboro Co, PNP Chief PGen. Rommel Marbil, AFP Spokesperson Col. Francel Padilla, representatives from various organizations, and ABS-CBN executives including Chairman Mark Lopez, President and CEO Carlo Katigbak, Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Broadcast Cory Vidanes, and Vice President for News Francis Toral. "Working together, we will build on each other's strength and capabilities to help our kababayans through this crucial event... We will keep our countrymen informed and ensure that their will is enforced trough clean and honest elections," said Katigbak. Lopez emphasized that ABS-CBN has always invested in its election coverages as the company believes that every election is a “significant and pivotal moment for our nation”, saying, "For ABS-CBN, halalan has always been a very important coverage. We devote time and resources, from the election preparations, to the filing of candidacies, the campaign, and all the way to the day of elections... We are united in our collective mission to keep voters informed and enlightened."
Meanwhile, ABS-CBN signed separate memorandums of agreement with COMELEC and public opinion research firm WR Numero for an extensive election coverage this year. Garcia said the agreement with the Kapamilya network will boost its campaign against disinformation, misinformation, and fake news this election season. According to Toral, with its common vision, the partnership will be of big help to inform the voting public. She said, “This is a very meaningful and important partnership for us as we share the common vision: to have honest and fair election and truthful and responsible coverage.” Toral said. Robin Michael Garcia, founder and chairman of WR Numero Research which has an extensive experience in doing research and surveys since 2019, told in an interview with ABS-CBN News that media's role in every election is crucial to the country’s democracy, explaining, “The ABS-CBN story has been intimately intertwined with the story of Philippine democracy. We’re very privileged and honored to be a partner for 2025, another crucial moment in Philippine democracy and elections.” Meanwhile, WR Numero President and Cleve Arguelles added that the voice of the voting public should be heard, saying, “Kagaya ng ABS-CBN, layunin ng WR Numero na tulungan ang ating mga kababayan na mas maintindihan yung proseso ng eleksyon sa ating bansa, at ang papel namin… ay siguraduhin na sa panahon ng eleksyon na ito, hindi lamang mga boses ng kandidato, hindi lamang boses ng mga makapangyarihan, kundi boses ng taumbayan din ay mananaig sa ganitong klaseng panahon.” Media Serbisyo Production Corporation, a joint venture of ABS-CBN and Prime Media Holdings Inc., also signed an agreement with COMELEC for its “Mandato Sa Halalan” coverage on DWPM Radyo 630 on radio, Teleradyo Serbisyo on pay TV and PRTV on digital free TV.
