The rise of the Mindanao vote

In last week’s column, I delved into the reality that the Mindanao vote has risen and consolidated, and how the 2025 elections are a watershed moment for this section of the Philippine electorate.

- JOHN TRIA

This will inspire many researchers and pundits to analyze the factors that made this happen over the last 15 years and the six election cycles. I would encourage them to do so.

Knowing this, just how large is this voting bloc? The Mindanews website featured a breakdown of the 16,410,827 Mindanao voter population, as follows: the Davao Region with 3,376,470 voters, the Zamboanga Peninsula with 2,869,368, Northern Mindanao with 3,179,252, and BARMM with 2,378,828. The CARAGA region has 1,904,917 voters while SOCSKSARGEN has 2,701,992 voters. This is roughly a fourth of the total of 68.4 million Filipino voters. In the 2028 and future elections, these numbers may rise. How these numbers affect future national elections will make for an interesting discussion.