UniTeam was an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

formed to support the candidacies of

Bongbong Marcos Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (, , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials BBM or PBBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since 2022. He is the second child ...

and

Sara Duterte Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio (, ; born May 31, 1978), commonly known as Inday Sara, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who is the 15th and current vice president of the Philippines. She is the third female vice president (after Gloria Macap ...

in the 2022 presidential and vice-presidential elections and their allies in the

2022 Philippine general election The 2022 Philippine general election took place on May 9, 2022, for the executive and legislative branches of government at every levelnational, provincial, and localexcept for the barangay officials. At the top of the ballot is the election fo ...

. The alliance was formalized on November 29, 2021, with Senator

Imee Marcos Maria Imelda Josefa Remedios "Imee" Romualdez Marcos-Manotoc (; born November 12, 1955) is a Filipino politician and film producer serving as a Senate of the Philippines, senator since 2019. She previously served as governor of Ilocos Norte ...

coining the name UniTeam. UniTeam as an electoral alliance was dissolved shortly after the landslide wins of both candidates in the 2022 national elections. The term "UniTeam" continued to be used to refer to the relationship between the president and vice-president, until relations broke down between the two after Duterte's resignation from the Marcos cabinet in July 2024 and the antagonistic rhetoric of the Duterte family against Marcos in the succeeding months. The resulting feud between the Marcos and Duterte families has also been termed as "Kadiliman vs. Kasamaan" () by critics of the Marcos administration, taken from an accidental quote by lawyer

Harry Roque Herminio Harry Lopez Roque Jr. (; born October 21, 1966) is a Filipino lawyer, politician, and former law professor. He served as the presidential spokesperson of President Rodrigo Duterte from 2017 to 2018 and from 2020 to 2021. He was the pa ...

Coalition members

The alliance consists of four political parties: In addition, the alliance's senatorial slate features guest candidates from the

Nacionalista Party The Nacionalista Party (Filipino language, Filipino and Spanish language in the Philippines, Spanish: ''Partido Nacionalista''; , NP) is a political party in the Philippines which is the oldest existing party in the country and in Southeast Asi ...

Kilusang Bagong Lipunan The New Society Movement (, KBL), formerly named the New Society Movement of United Nationalists, Liberals, et cetera (, KBLNNL), is a Right-wing politics, right-wing political party in the Philippines. It was first formed in 1978 as an umbrel ...

(KBL),

Nationalist People's Coalition The Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) is a conservatism, conservative political party in the Philippines which was founded in 1992 by presidential candidate Danding Cojuangco. History Formation In 1990, amid political and economic unce ...

(NPC),

PDP–Laban The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP, ) is a populist political party in the Philippines founded in 1982. It was previously known as Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban) from 1983 to 2024 as a result of a merger with L ...

, and

People's Reform Party The People's Reform Party (PRP) is a political party in the Philippines. Founded on April 12, 1991, as the political party of former Agrarian Reform Secretary Miriam Defensor Santiago for her bid as president in the 1992 Presidential Election ...

(PRP). Except for the NPC, all of the aforementioned parties are allied with Marcos and Duterte.

Presidential bid

Senatorial slate

Marcos and Duterte have endorsed the following candidates for the 2022 Philippine Senate election, thus who are part of their "senatorial slate":

Result by island group

Luzon

Visayas

Mindanao

Aftermath

It was clarified that the UniTeam was only made for the purpose of the 2022 election, and no formal meeting has been held among its members as an alliance since then. UniTeam's Lakas-CMD formed the majority of the House of Representative's 19th Congress. This was the first time a vice president's party leads the lower house, although Marcos'

Partido Federal ng Pilipinas The Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP; ) is a national political party in the Philippines. It is chaired by Bongbong Marcos, president of the Philippines, who won in the 2022 election. During the run-up to the 2022 general election, the UniTea ...

is part of the

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

. Out of the twelve upcoming members of the 24-seat

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, only Risa Hontiveros formed part of the opposition. Vice President

was appointed as Marcos' first

Secretary of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

after they both took office in mid-2022, although she preferred to be Secretary of Defense. Over the next two years, Duterte's relationship with Marcos' allies detoriated, particularly with House Speaker

Martin Romualdez Ferdinand Martin Gomez Romualdez (, born November 14, 1963) is a Filipino businessman, lawyer, and politician who has served as the 24th Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, speaker of the House of Representatives since 2 ...

and Marcos' wife and first lady Liza Araneta. She resigned in May 2023 from

Lakas–CMD Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats, abbreviated as Lakas–CMD and also known simply as Lakas, (and known as Lakas–Kampi until 2011) is a political party in the Philippines. Lakas–CMD is considered to be on the Centre-right politics, centre ...

where she served as chairperson. Lakas is part of the ruling coalition. In January 2024, President Marcos insisted that the UniTeam is still "vibrant", referring to his working relationship with his deputy. Duterte tendered resignation from her position as education secretary in June 2024. When asked about her friendship with Marcos in September 2024, she said they were never friends and merely running mates in the 2022 elections. Marcos responded expressing he was "deceived" about their supposed friendship. In October 2024, she detailed her fallout with Marcos, who she says "does not know how to be president".

References

{{Sara Duterte 2021 establishments in the Philippines 2022 disestablishments in the Philippines Defunct political party alliances in the Philippines