Believing that China will try to influence next year’s national polls, former defense secretary Orlando Mercado and University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea director Jay Batongbacal see the West Philippine Sea as a 2022 election issue. In an interview with “The Chiefs” over One News Tuesday night, both expressed belief that those aspiring to be the country’s next leaders should consider how or where they stand on the matter as an important factor in whether or not Filipinos should vote for them. “I’ll be surprised that they will not meddle here in the next elections… We have to talk about the potential death trap. We have to ask for transparency, for example, about the contracts that we have made with China. We have to get into the details about our obligations or potential problems that we face,” Mercado said.

Punongbayan, M. (2021, May 20). 'WPS becoming a national election issue'. The Philippine Star, p. 2.