2016 Philippine general election, Preparation, Counting machines
By September, the Commission sought the transfer the site manufacturing the voting machines from China to Taiwan after it received intelligence reports from the military in July that China might sabotage the elections. Smartmatic, the manufacturer of the machines, acquiesced to the request. China, meanwhile, denied any plans of sabotaging the election, calling it "sheer fabrication." Smartmatic also won the contract worth P500 million for the electronic results transmission services of the voting machines.


2016 Philippine general election, Preparation, Counting machines
On March 4, the Commission unanimously voted to disallow the issuance of voting receipt to voters, although onscreen verification was allowed, which would take an additional 15 seconds per voter.


2016 Philippine general election, Preparation, Counting machines
The Commission eventually aborted mall voting and allowed the use of replacement ballots.


2016 Philippine general election, Preparation, Results transmission
Election authorities, with the help of election services provider Smartmatic, created a Virtual private network (VPN) for the secure and reliable transmission of electoral data. To guarantee nationwide coverage, Smartmatic coordinated the main telecom companies in the Philippines.


2016 Philippine general election, Preparation, Results transmission
This VPN was used to transmit the votes of over 44 million citizens from 36.805 polling centres. On election night, 4 hours after the polls closed, 80% vote counting machines had transmitted the election data, setting a new record for the Philippines.


2016 Philippine general election, Preparation, Results transmission
Speed was one of the main reasons why Philippine authorities decided to automate elections. As an archipelago comprising over 7,000 islands, several of which lack a proper communications infrastructure, the transmission of results posed a challenge.


2016 Philippine general election, Preparation, Bans, Gun Ban
The election gun ban was implemented starting from January 9, 2016, the official start of the 90-day election period. Francisco Pobe, regional director of COMELEC-13, also pointed out that the candidate should not bring bodyguards without gun ban exemption. Go Act, a pro-gun group formed by gun owners filed a petition before the Supreme Court to fully stop the implementation of the election gun ban.


2016 Philippine general election, Calendar
On August 18, 2015, the commission released the calendar of activities for the May 9, 2016 national and local elections:


2016 Philippine general election, Calendar
Following a request by the Centrist Democratic Party of the Philippines, the commission extended the period for holding political conventions to October 8, 2015. The commission did not extend the deadline of filing of candidacies, though.


2016 Philippine general election, Calendar
The commission originally envisioned to release an "almost" final list of candidates on December 15, but postponed it to December 23. The commission did release a "final list" of vice presidential candidates on December 23, but Chairman Andres D. Bautista that disqualification cases on other positions led them to postpone the release to January 20, when the commission is expected to resolve all disqualification cases.


2016 Philippine general election, Calendar
On January 21, the commission released an "initial" list of candidates for all positions. The list is subject to trimming as the disqualification cases on presidential, vice presidential and senatorial cases are to be resolved with finality.


2016 Philippine general election, Debates
The Commission on Elections held three debates for presidential candidates—in Mindanao last February 2016, in Visayas last March 2016, and in Luzon last April 2016. A vice-presidential debate was also held in Metro Manila last April 10, 2016.


2016 Philippine general election, Debates
The commission identified the media entities who had covered the debates: GMA Network (E16: Eleksyon 2016) and Philippine Daily Inquirer (February 21), TV5 (Bilang Pilipino: Boto sa Pagbabago 2016 – English: As a Filipino: Vote for Change 2016) and Philippine Star (March 20), CNN Philippines (The Filipino Votes), Business Mirror, and Rappler (April 10), and ABS-CBN (Halalan 2016: Ipanalo ang Pamilyang Pilipino – English: Election 2016: Winning the Filipino Family) and Manila Bulletin (April 24).


2016 Philippine general election, Debates
The commission also encouraged non-governmental organizations to hold debates for Senate and local positions.


2016 Philippine general election, Results
Rodrigo Duterte of PDP–Laban and Leni Robredo of the Liberal Party won the presidential and vice presidential elections, respectively. The Liberals also won a plurality of seats in both houses of Congress, but several of the Liberal Party members of the House of Representatives jumped ship to Duterte's PDP–Laban, allowing his party to create a supermajority coalition that put Pantaleon Alvarez into the Speakership. The Senate leadership was ultimately won by PDP–Laban's Koko Pimentel, with the Liberals ultimately comprising the minority bloc there. The election of Alvarez and Pimentel meant that PDP–Laban currently holds three of the four elected highest political offices, for the first time since 1986 when the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan held the offices of the presidency, vice presidency, parliamentary speaker and prime minister.


2016 Philippine general election, Results, President
The winner of the presidential election succeeded President Benigno Aquino III, who was term limited. A separate election was held to determine the Vice Presidency; Jejomar Binay could have defended the vice presidency, but ran for president instead. Both elections were under the plurality voting system.


2016 Philippine general election, Results, Congress, Senate
12 seats of the Senate of the Philippines were up for election. The Philippines uses plurality-at-large voting to determine the winning candidates. With the country as one at-large "district", the twelve candidates with the highest number of votes joined the winners of the 2013 election in the Senate.


2016 Philippine general election, Results, Congress, House of Representatives
All seats of the House of Representatives were up for election. There are two types of representatives: the district representatives, 80% of the members, were elected in the different legislative districts via the plurality system; each district elected one representative. The party-list representatives were elected via closed lists, with the parties having at least 2% of the vote winning at least one seat, and no party winning more than three seats. If the winning candidates don't surpass 20% of the members, other parties that got less than 2% of the national vote will get one seat each until all party-lists have been filled up.


2016 Philippine general election, Results, Local
Local elections were held in all provinces, cities and municipalities. Executive posts were elected by the plurality system, while elections for the membership of the local legislatures were by plurality-at-large voting.


2016 Philippine general election, Results, Local
Each Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board) has three ex officio members, while each Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council) and Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council) has two. The federation presidents each of Liga ng mga Barangay (barangay chairmen), Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council chairmen), and for Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the chapter presidents of the Sangguniang Bayan and Sangguniang Panlungsod (city and municipal councilors). The ex officio presiding officer of each local legislature is the chief executive's deputy, but that person only votes to break ties.


2016 Philippine general election, Results, Local
The federation presidents of the Liga ng mga Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan were elected from the membership who won in the 2013 elections until December 2017, when they were replaced by appointees of the president, who voted among themselves who shall represent them. A barangay election, originally scheduled for October 2016, is postponed until 2018, to replace these appointees starting in December 2018.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections
The 2016 Philippine Gubernatorial elections were held in the Philippines on May 9, 2016. All provinces elected their provincial governors for three-year terms, who will be inaugurated on June 30, 2016, after their proclamation. Governors that are currently serving their third consecutive terms are prohibited from running as governors (they may run for any other posts however).


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections
Highly urbanized cities and independent component cities such as Angeles City, Bacolod, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro City, Cebu City, Davao City, Iloilo City and Metro Manila with the municipality of Pateros are outside the jurisdiction of any province and thus won't run elections for governors of their mother provinces (Pampanga, Negros Occidental, Benguet, Misamis Oriental, Cebu, Davao del Sur and Iloilo  for Angeles, Bacolod City, Baguio City, Cagayan de Oro City, Cebu City, Davao City and Iloilo City respectively). These cities and Pateros would elect mayors instead.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections
Davao Occidental held its first gubernatorial election on this day.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Luzon, Cordillera Administrative Region, Apayao
Incumbent governor Elias Bulut, Jr. is running for reelection unopposed.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Luzon, Cordillera Administrative Region, Mountain Province
Incumbent Governor Leonard Mayaen was running unopposed for reelection to a third term, but died in office from a heart attack on March 31, 2016. His daughter, Kathy Jyll, is the substitute candidate.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Luzon, Central Luzon, Bulacan
Incumbent governor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado is running for re-election, also won.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Luzon, Central Luzon, Nueva Ecija
Incumbent Governor Aurelio Umali is term limited and ran for congressman for Nueva Ecija's 3rd District


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Luzon, Calabarzon, Batangas
Incumbent Governor Vilma Santos Recto is term limited and is running for Congress. Her party nominated incumbent Vice Governor Mark Leviste.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Luzon, Calabarzon, Cavite
Current provincial governor Jonvic Remulla will not run for reelection.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Luzon, Calabarzon, Laguna
The current governor, Ramil Hernandez, the former vice-governor, will run for his first full term against ex-governor ER Ejercito, who was unseated in 2014 by a COMELEC decision.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Visayas, Western Visayas, Antique
Exequiel Javier is the incumbent governor. However, in January 2015, the Commission on Elections en banc disqualifies Javier (voting 4-2) for violating the Omnibus Election Code after suspending Valderrama, Antique Mayor Joyce Roquero. The then Vice Governor, Rhodora Cadiao assumed the vacated Office of Antique Provincial Governor on February 3, 2015 after the Department of Interior and Local Government imposed the disqualification. However, on January 12, 2016; The Supreme Court overruled and reversed the decision of the Commission on Elections en banc, reinstating Javier into office on March 28, 2016.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Visayas, Negros Island Region, Negros Occidental
Incumbent governor Alfredo Marañon, Jr. is running for reelection unopposed.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Biliran
Incumbent governor Gerardo Espina, Jr. is running for reelection unopposed.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Mindanao, Northern Mindanao, Camiguin
Incumbent Governor Jurdin Jesus Romualdo is term limited and is running for Mayor of Mambajao.


2016 Philippine gubernatorial elections, Mindanao, Davao Region, Davao Occidental
The first governor of Davao Occidental will be determined. Since Claude Bautista was the sole candidate, he will stand unopposed for election.


2016 Philippine local elections
Local elections in the Philippines were held on May 9, 2016. This was conducted together with the 2016 general election for national positions. All elected positions above the barangay (village) level were disputed.


2016 Philippine local elections, Electoral system
Every local government unit, be it a province, city, municipality or a barangay elects a chief executive (a governor, city mayor, municipal mayor and barangay chairman, respectively), and a local legislature (the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Sangguniang Panlungsod, Sangguniang Bayan and Sangguniang Barangay, respectively), president upon by the chief executive's deputy (vice-governor, city vice-mayor, municipal vice-mayor, respectively; no equivalent for the barangay). In addition, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elects a governor, vice-governor and members of the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly.


2016 Philippine local elections, Electoral system
Elections where one seat is being disputed, such as the regional governor and vice governor in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, provincial governors and vice governors in each of the 81 provinces, and mayors and vice mayors in each of the 145 cities and 1,489 municipalities are elected via the plurality system.


2016 Philippine local elections, Electoral system
Elections where more than one seat is disputed, such as for the membership in local legislatures, are done via plurality-at-large voting. For Sangguniang Panlalawigan seats, the Commission on Elections divides all provinces into at least 2 districts, while for Sangguniang Panlalawigan seats, the appropriation depends on the city charter (some are divided into districts, while others elect all councilors at-large), and for Sangguniang Bayan seats, all municipalities have eight councilors elected at-large, except for Pateros, which elects twelve, six in each district.


2016 Philippine local elections, Provincial elections
The new province of Davao Occidental first voted for its provincial officials during this election.


2016 Philippine local elections, Provincial elections
Local parties are denoted by purple, independents by light gray, and ex officio members of the legislatures are in dark gray.


2016 Philippine local elections, Barangay elections
Barangay elections were supposedly to be held in October 2016 to end the election cycle, but were postponed by Congress to October 2017. The officials elected in 2013 will continue to serve up to 2017. By March 2017, Congress then postponed the election anew, this time to May 2018.


2016 Philippine local elections, Barangay elections
The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairmen in a city or municipality will elect among themselves a representative each to sit in the town's Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council) or city's Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council), as the case may be. The municipal and city representatives of the barangay and SK chairmen, and the city and municipal councilors in every province then elect among themselves a representative each to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board).


2016 Philippine local elections, Barangay elections
The provincial and city (which are independent from a province) representatives of the SK chairmen will then elect themselves a president that shall sit as a member of the National Youth Commission. The same is true for the barangay chairmen, who shall be the president of the Liga ng mga Barangay (Association of Villages), and the councilors, who will be the president of the Philippine Councilors League.


2016 Philippine presidential election
The 2016 Philippine presidential and vice presidential elections were held on Monday, May 9, 2016, as part of the 2016 general election. This was the 16th presidential election in the Philippines since 1935 and the sixth sextennial presidential election since 1986.


2016 Philippine presidential election
Incumbent president Benigno Aquino III was ineligible for re-election, pursuant to the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Therefore, this election determined the 16th president. The position of president and vice president are elected separately, thus the two winning candidates could come from different political parties.


2016 Philippine presidential election
Rodrigo Duterte led the preliminary count with 38.5% of the vote. The Congress met in late May to canvass the results and issued an official result with Rodrigo Duterte and Leni Robredo emerging as the winners of the presidential and vice presidential races, respectively. They were proclaimed on May 30 in the House of Representatives.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Electoral system
According to the Constitution of the Philippines, the election is held every six years after 1992, on the second Monday of May. The incumbent president is term limited. The incumbent vice president may run for two consecutive terms. The plurality voting system is used to determine the winner: the candidate with the highest number of votes, whether or not one has a majority, wins the presidency. The vice presidential election is a separate election, is held on the same rules, and voters may split their ticket. Both winners will serve six-year terms commencing on the noon of June 30, 2016 and ending on the same day six years later.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
Senator Benigno Aquino III of the Liberal Party, who ran on an anti-corruption platform, won the 2010 election with 42.08% of the votes defeating Joseph Estrada, a former president who was deposed in 2001 after scandals of massive corruption, and several others. Meanwhile, Estrada's running mate, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban), defeated Aquino's running mate, Senator Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party and several others, in the vice presidential election. Roxas eventually accused Binay of electoral fraud in the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, citing that some of his votes were recorded as null votes.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
Both Binay and Roxas were subsequently appointed by Aquino to his cabinet, with Binay heading the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, and Roxas first being given the Transportation and Communications portfolio, then finally named as Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, after the ban of appointing losing candidates expired a year after Aquino took office on June 30, 2010. As of 2014, the tribunal had still not yet acted upon the preliminary motions of both parties and on Binay's counter-protest; the suit is expected to still not have been resolved by the time President Aquino's term expires.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
For the midterm 2013 Senate election, Aquino and Roxas formed the Team PNoy coalition; Estrada's PMP and Binay's PDP–Laban forged an electoral alliance, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). Team PNoy won nine Senate seats against UNA's three. Former Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chairwoman Grace Poe, daughter of defeated 2004 presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. topped the senatorial election.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
In March 2014, PDP–Laban withdrew from UNA, a week after Binay resigned as party chairman, due "to differences with its leaders". Party president Aquilino Pimentel III had a public quarrel with Binay over Juan Miguel Zubiri's inclusion in UNA's 2013 senatorial slate, whom Pimentel had accused of cheating in the 2007 Senate election. In Pulse Asia survey released in April 2014, the first opinion poll for the presidential election, it showed Binay leading aspiring candidates, with 40% of those surveyed with Grace Poe a far second at 15%.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
Several other stalwarts of UNA, such as senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada, who had manifested his intention to run as Binay's running mate, and others such as Senator Bong Revilla of Lakas–CMD, who was planning to run for president, were detained due to their involvement in the pork barrel scam. No personalities linked with the Liberal Party involved in the scam were investigated. These actions by the government, which it said was part of its anti-corruption drive, were cited by UNA as "political persecution".


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
In July 2014, Renato Bondal, a defeated mayoral candidate in the 2013 Makati mayoral election, filed plunder cases against Makati mayor Jejomar Binay, Jr. and his father, the vice president, to the Ombudsman. By the next month, a subcommittee of the Blue Ribbon Committee composed solely of Pimentel, along with Nacionalista Party members Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV, began Senate hearings against Binay on his alleged corruption while serving as mayor of Makati, beginning with the alleged overpriced annex building of the Makati City Hall. It was followed by hearings on alleged corruption on deals supplying Makati senior citizens with birthday cakes, an agricultural estate in Rosario, Batangas that Binay allegedly owns, the allegedly overpriced Makati Science High School, and the relocation of Makati residents to Calauan, Laguna in a community without basic necessities.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
Binay had consistently denied any wrongdoing, and from owning the Rosario estate, but had never appeared at the Senate. UNA Secretary General JV Bautista branded the investigations as part of the "Operation Plan Stop Nognog", insinuating on Binay's dark skin, with Roxas, Cayetano and Trillanes allegedly behind it to prevent Binay from becoming president. He accused billionaire businessman Salvador Zamora as its financier. In May 2015, the Court of Appeals ordered the 242 bank accounts belonging to Binay to be frozen for six months, when it granted the petition of the Anti- Money Laundering Council and of the Ombudsman. Binay's camp had alleged certain people from the Liberal Party to be behind the freeze order, a charge President Aquino, in a Bombo Radyo interview, himself denied.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
By late May 2015, the subcommittee report recommending the filing of a plunder (corruption worth more than 50 million pesos) complaint against Binay was signed by all three subcommittee members and Grace Poe. By early June, ten senators had already signed the subcommittee report, making it official and available to be debated upon in the Senate floor. A Pulse Asia presidential survey taken at the time the hearings were done showed Grace Poe overtaking Binay, with her getting 30% of the respondents, over Binay's 22%. A month later, Binay sued Cayetano, Trillanes and several others for 200 million pesos in damages at the Makati Regional Trial Court for "well-organized and orchestrated effort" to damage his reputation and worsen his chances of becoming president.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
Meanwhile, Aquino held several meetings with Roxas, Poe and Francis Escudero on who should be the standard bearer of the Liberal Party. While none of them had announced their preferences at that time, Aquino was expected to announce his preferred candidate after his final State of the Nation Address late in July. Congressional heads Franklin Drilon and Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. denied that Liberal Party members had been dissatisfied with Aquino's indecision, saying that the party was still united.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
On early July, Binay launched his party, the United Nationalist Alliance. Later that month, Aquino endorsed Roxas for president, which the latter accepted. In August, Rodrigo Duterte, the Davao City mayor who had been a subject of a strong online following urging him to run, announced his intention to retire from politics after his mayoral term ends in 2016. Poe announced her intention to seek the presidency by mid-September, followed by Escudero's announcing that he'll be her running mate a day later. Several days later, Cayetano announced his vice presidential candidacy, preferring to be Duterte's running mate.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
On October 3. Trillanes formally announced his vice presidential campaign as an independent, supporting Poe's presidential campaign. Days later, Leni Robredo, the representative from Camarines Sur and widow of former Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Jesse Robredo who died in a plane crash in 2012, accepted the offer of the Liberal Party to be Roxas' running mate. Also on that day, Senator Bongbong Marcos announced his candidacy as vice president. A week later, after being nominated by UNA, Senator Gregorio Honasan announced that he would be Binay's running mate. A day later, on the launch of her new book, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago announced her presidential candidacy; a couple of days later, she announced that Marcos would be her running mate.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
At the final day of the filing of candidacies, Duterte did not show up; instead, the PDP–Laban nominated Martin Diño, chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption. At the end of the day, more than a hundred people registered as presidential candidates, after a 5-day long filing period. These include current OFW Family Club representative Roy Señeres running under the Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka, former representative from Iloilo Augusto Syjuco, who is running as an independent, and Engineer Juanita Mendoza Trocenio under the Partido Bagong Maharlika (PBM). For the vice presidency, nineteen people manifested their intention to run, including former assemblyman from Ifugao Zosimo Jesus Paredes II, who is also running under the Partido Bagong Maharlika.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Background
AC Nielsen Philippines showed on its monitoring report between Jan 1 and Nov 30 that presidential candidate Binay spent 595 million pesos for campaign advertisements on television (before the campaign period). Vice presidential candidate Cayetano led the spenders in the race, spending 398 million pesos worth of TV advertisements. Binay, denied the claim. An article from The Manila Times reported also that the administration's bet, Mar Roxas, led the list of the biggest ad spenders in the country with 774 million peso in television advertisement expenses from January to December, in a survey also conducted by AC Nielsen.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates
An initial list of eight presidential candidates were uploaded on the certified candidates list in the commission's database on January 21, 2016. But only trimmed down to five, due to the declaration by the commission en banc of Dante Valencia as a nuisance candidate and the withdrawal of certificates of candidacies of Romel Mendoza and Roy Señeres.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates
This is the final and certified list of candidates for the elections to be included in the ballots: Jejomar Binay, Miriam Defensor Santiago, Rodrigo Duterte, Grace Poe,  and Mar Roxas.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates
Although Señeres withdrew his candidacy and later died, his name was still included on the printed ballots.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, Presidential tickets
Under the Constitution of the Philippines, the President and Vice President are elected separately.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Jejomar Binay
When questioned by the media at the Coconut Palace in September 2011, Vice President Jejomar Binay (PDP–Laban) confirmed his plans of running as president.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Jejomar Binay
By May 2014, Binay began his search for a running mate. As his potential running mate Senator Jinggoy Estrada was in jail due to his implication in the PDAF scam, Binay's offers were declined by JV Ejercito, Manny Villar (via wife Cynthia Villar), Vilma Santos (via husband Ralph Recto), Mar Roxas, Grace Poe, Rodrigo Duterte and Joseph Estrada.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Jejomar Binay
Binay's daughter Abigail, also the Representative from Makati, said that Binay would accept anyone as his running mate except for Antonio Trillanes, and that she preferred Grace Poe, however Sen. Bongbong Marcos was the most preferred by UNA officials to be his running mate. On June 12, Independence Day, speech in Iloilo, President Aquino said that he could only offer Binay the conduct of a clean and honest election, but not an outright endorsement.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Jejomar Binay
On June 22, Binay resigned from the Aquino cabinet, both as presidential adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers' concerns and as chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, but did not say why. Two days later, Binay addressed the public from his Coconut Palace office, branding the current administration as "manhid at palpak" (insensitive and bumbling), but did not mention Aquino by name. His running mate was confirmed to be Gregorio Honasan.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Miriam Defensor Santiago
In a press conference on July 2, 2014, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago (People's Reform Party) revealed that she was suffering from stage 4 lung cancer and she might run as president for the third time if it goes into remission. Called "the Iron Lady of Asia" and a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, she was the widely expected winner of the 1992 election, but lost after an inexplicably unscheduled power outage during the counting of votes. She then ran for a Senate seat in 1995 and won.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Miriam Defensor Santiago
She became one of the most popular senators since then, owing to her broad media visibility as well as to the high number of laws and bills she authored, a record that stands up to this day. She once again ran for president in 1998, but lost, citing black propaganda against her during the campaign.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Miriam Defensor Santiago
By November 2014, Santiago, in a tweet, announced that "In the 2016 presidential elections, when I am rid of my lung cancer, I intend to claim the presidency I won in 1992." In a letter to the Senate, Santiago said that more than 90% of the cancer cells have regressed.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Miriam Defensor Santiago
Santiago announced her candidacy for president in the launch of her book "Stupid is Forever" on October 13, 2015. She ran under the People's Reform Party, the same party in which she ran under during her 1992 and 1998 presidential campaigns. Days later, Santiago announced that Senator Bongbong Marcos would be her vice presidential running mate, a decision that largely earned criticism from progressives as Marcos is the son of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Miriam Defensor Santiago
Her platform stood on the effective and efficient upholding and implementation of national and state-recognized international laws, enhancement of the agriculture industry with a focus on irrigation and farm-to-market roads, enhancing all seaports and airports in the country, creating at least one major government project in all provinces and all regions in the Philippines, building and highlighting the country's diplomatic affairs in the international level while skyrocketing the country's defense capabilities, and eradicating graft and corruption, which she believes to be the cause of poverty and inefficiency in the country. Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte gave in an interview in November 2015 his comments on his fellow candidates' qualities, stating that "[i]f you want extraordinary competence and integrity, vote for Miriam."


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
Early in 2015, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte made hints to the media of his intent to run for the presidency come 2016, with a widely praised promise of abolishing Congress altogether in favor of a Parliament should he win. Earlier, in February 2014, Duterte was reportedly enjoying the support of several netizens lauding his performance as mayor of Davao City, especially in maintaining peace and order in the city, but he was quick to shrug off calls for him to run for president, saying he was not qualified for a higher public office.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
A year later, Duterte said in a Baguio federalism forum that he'll only run for president "if (it is) to save the republic." Duterte cited the need of about 10 to 15 billion pesos for a campaign war chest as what was keeping him from running. Days later, however, Duterte "re-entered" PDP–Laban; he maintained he never left the party, and only had to stand under a local party banner (Hugpong) in the 2013 local election in order to ensure his victory.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
PDP–Laban president Aquilino Pimentel III later said that Duterte was among his party's options for a presidential candidate for 2016, noting that the party's position on federalism coincides with Duterte's advocacy. A few days after reports came out saying incumbent Vice President Jejomar Binay (a presidential aspirant) was eyeing Duterte as his possible running mate, Duterte issued a statement saying he was not interested in running for a national post.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
In September 2014, Duterte already declined presidential aspirant and incumbent senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago's offer to be her running mate, saying that instead of picking him as the senator's running mate, she could ask former defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. instead. However, in October 2015, Santiago chose Bongbong Marcos as her running mate.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
Later, during the June 21, 2015 airing of his weekly program in a local channel (Gikan Sa Masa, Para Sa Masa), Duterte stated that he was considering suggestions from his friends and supporters to run for president. He also added that he will stop expressing non-interest in starting a presidential campaign.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
On September 7, 2015, in a press conference held at Davao City, Duterte officially declared he will not be running for president in 2016 and apologized to all of his supporters on the decision. He additionally stated that he might retire from politics after his term as mayor of Davao City ends in 2016 and his daughter runs for the office. Other factors he states of his possible retirement included age, health concerns and his family's objections. Mixed reactions erupted in social media hours after the declaration and several supporters still continued to petition online, urging the mayor to revert his decision.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
On September 26, 2015, a large number of supporters gathered at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, Manila to urge Duterte to officially run for the presidency in 2016. Despite being an undeclared candidate, Pulse Asia Research Director Ana Tabunda still considered Duterte "a serious contender" as he was already ranked 4th in a presidential survey done by Pulse Asia from late August to early September, as well as in a Social Weather Stations survey.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
Duterte's long-time political rival and critic, former House Speaker Prospero Nograles, also expressed his support for Duterte if ever the latter decided to run for the presidency. On September 29, incumbent Senator Alan Peter Cayetano declared his intention to run for the 2016 vice presidential post in a press event held in Davao City and considered Duterte his first choice as running mate for the presidential post; this eventually led to a meeting between the two parties.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
A day after meeting with Cayetano, Duterte met with another incumbent senator, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., who also went to Davao City to personally talk to Duterte. Marcos was reportedly considering running for the vice presidential post as well; Marcos had not yet made any formal proclamation at that time. As with the Cayetano meeting, Duterte still declared that he was not running for president.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
On October 13, 2015, in a press conference held at a local hotel in Davao City, Duterte finalized his decision not to run for the presidency, with daughter Sara's objection being pointed out as one of the main contributors.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
On October 15, 2015, Duterte, through a representative, filed his candidacy for Mayor of Davao City at the local elections office. A day later, Duterte's daughter Sara, posted on her Instagram account a photo of her candidacy as mayor of Davao City, while hinting that her father would seek a higher post and withdraw his mayoral re-election bid. However, it was not received by the commission in Davao City. Duterte's possibility of substitution until December 10 was opened after Martin Diño, father of celebrity Liza Diño, chairman of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, and former barangay captain of Brgy.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
San Antonio, Quezon City, filed his candidacy for president on the last minute. Diño is a member of PDP–Laban, the same party advocating the federalism system where Duterte belongs. Diño clarified that there was a "clerical error" on his submitted candidacy (running for Pasay mayor, instead of president). On their general meeting held in Pasay on October 26, members of PDP–Laban had expressed their support to Diño in his presidential bid. On October 21, Duterte told CNN Philippines' News.PH interview that there was still a chance he would change his mind. The decision, however, would have to be made by the PDP–Laban.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
On October 27, PDP–Laban confirmed that Duterte will substitute as the party's presidential bet if Diño withdraws or is disqualified by the Commission of Elections. Two days later, Diño withdrew his presidential bid and named Duterte as his substitute because of a possibility that Diño might be declared as a nuisance candidate by the commission.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
On November 21, in a gathering held in his alma mater San Beda College, Duterte formally announced his presidential bid and also finally accepted Alan Peter Cayetano's offer to be his running mate. Duterte said he was disappointed over the decision made by the Senate Electoral Tribunal regarding Grace Poe's citizenship as well as the current administration's handling of the 'laglag-bala' issue. Duterte further stated that he will file his candidacy immediately after he reached out to his party. However, the legality of Duterte's substitution for Diño was questioned by some electoral lawyers because of an error made in Diño's certificate of candidacy that made him a Pasay mayoral bet despite being a resident of Quezon City.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Rodrigo Duterte
Duterte topped all other candidates, including former front-runner Grace Poe, in a survey published November 25, 2015 and held by Pulse Asia. Poe said that the survey was 'inconclusive' and 'not reflective' and claimed it was made by Duterte's camp. The day after, Duterte filed his certificate of candidacy at the commission main office in Manila and withdrew his bid for Mayor of Davao City (for which he will be substituted to by his daughter, Sara).


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Grace Poe
Grace Poe's surprising first-place finish in the 2013 Senate election as an independent made her a likely contender for the presidency but she dismissed any plans of running in April 2014, saying she was not considering "anything higher at this point" and even declaring that Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago was the most qualified to run as president.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Grace Poe
On President Aquino's state visit to Canada in May 2015, the president disclosed that he had met with Poe prior to the trip, although he didn't say what the meeting was for. A couple of days later, Poe confirmed that she did meet with Aquino. Poe said that they "discussed his intention to choose a candidate who, first and foremost, has the trust of the nation, and, secondly, has the potential to win in the election, in order to sustain the reforms especially against corruption and the pro-poor programs of the government." Poe expected more meetings with Aquino in June.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Grace Poe
On June 2, UNA interim president Toby Tiangco, responding to calls for Jejomar Binay to "come clean" on his corruption allegations, said in a press conference that Poe is not qualified to run either for president or vice president after citing her certificate of candidacy in the 2013 Senate election, which stated that she is a resident for six years and six months; adding three years for the 2016 election, nine years and six months or six months short mandated by the constitution.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Grace Poe
Two days later, before a Senate session, Poe said that she wrote "six years and six months" because it was in April 2006 that her home in the United States was sold. Poe, who had been a resident of the United States for 13 years, returned to the Philippines after her father Fernando Poe, Jr., a presidential candidate in the 2004 elections, died in December 2004. She said that she had proof that she has been living in the Philippines since February 2005.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Grace Poe
She said, that despite being a congressman for Navotas, Tiangco lives elsewhere, and that her decision on whether to run in 2016 is "50%" sure. Poe also observed that the attacks from UNA only began after she signed the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee report recommending plunder and graft cases against Binay.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Grace Poe
On September 16, at a gathering at the University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City, Poe announced her intention to seek the presidency, saying that "no one person or group has a monopoly on a straight path advocacy" of President Aquino, a shot against the Aquino party's nominee Roxas, who was advocating for continuation of the "Daang Matuwid" (straight path) advocacy of Aquino; while also hitting the Administration programs. This resulted in the Palace questioning their Daang Matuwid advocacy contrary to their speeches.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Grace Poe
On December 1, the commission's second division had formally disqualified Poe from running as president in the 2016 elections and cancelled her filed Certificate of Candidacy for not failing to meet with citizenship and residency requirements. The division voted 3–0 in favor of the petition filed by Attorney Estrella Elamparo to disqualify Poe. The decision stated that Poe had failed to comply with the 10-year residency requirement, mandatory for a presidential candidate.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Grace Poe
On December 23, 2015, the commission en banc disqualified Poe from running as president in the 2016 elections for failing to meet the 10-year residency requirement. Poe said she would appeal the disqualification to the Supreme Court. On December 28, 2015, the Supreme Court issued two temporary restraining orders against the decision of the commission en banc.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Grace Poe
On March 8, 2016, voting 9–6, the Supreme Court voted to affirm Poe's natural-born status and 10-year residency. On April 9, 2016, the Supreme Court declared their ruling as final and executory.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Mar Roxas
Senate President Franklin Drilon, when describing the Liberal Party's plans for Interior Secretary Mar Roxas' in 2016, told the media in January 2013 that "so far as the LP is concerned, [and] in so far as I am concerned, we believe that he is best qualified for 2016." Two years later, Drilon told DZIQ AM radio that Roxas had expressed his interest internally within the party. Several Liberal Party stalwarts had by then expressed that Roxas should declare his intentions at that time, with some such as Budget Secretary Florencio Abad suggesting that Roxas may slide down to run for the vice presidency again.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Mar Roxas
Aquino had a series of meetings between Roxas, Grace Poe and Francis Escudero from prior to Aquino's state visit to Canada in May, until days before his final State of the Nation Address in July, including a July dinner with all three of them at the Bahay Pangarap, Aquino's official residence at the Malacañang Palace complex. While Roxas was seen as Aquino's choice to succeed him, another question was who would be Roxas' running mate, as Poe had earlier said that she'd rather run with Escudero as her running mate.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For president, Mar Roxas
On July 31, 2015, at an event dubbed as "A Gathering of Friends", Roxas formally accepted the Liberal Party's nomination after he was officially endorsed by President Benigno Aquino III in the presence of their political allies at the Club Filipino, San Juan, where Roxas had announced his decision to withdraw from the 2010 presidential election and give way to Aquino's presidential bid. Aquino also announced his candidacy there on September 9, 2009. On the same day, Roxas formally launched his campaign website.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Alan Peter Cayetano
In a March 2013 interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano (Nacionalista Party), said that "I want to be president of this country." In September 2015, after several surveys saw him trailing in the presidential race, said that he is withdrawing from the presidential election, and would instead focus for the vice presidency, preferably as the running mate of either Mar Roxas or Rodrigo Duterte.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Alan Peter Cayetano
A few days later in a Davao City meeting, Cayetano announced that he will seek candidacy for running as vice president. Cayetano, who he is the member of Nacionalista Party, did not mention his presidential running-mate as the Nacionalistas will meet in a few days, for their decision. On October 1, Duterte said that if he would ever run for president, he would prefer Cayetano to be his running mate. Days later, Duterte declined the offer to be Cayetano and Bongbong Marcos' offers to be their presidential running mate. However, during a phone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer In November 2015, Cayetano confirmed Duterte as his running mate if ever the latter confirms his candidacy for presidency.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Francis Escudero
Senator Francis Escudero (independent) said in a March 2012 Rappler interview that "Let me be honest, candid, yet factual about it. I would be very interested in seeking a higher office in 2016 for the simple reason that I'm halfway through my last term." By May 2015, Grace Poe told reporters that she would not run against Escudero.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Francis Escudero
On September 17 at the Club Filipino in San Juan, Escudero announced his vice presidential bid, becoming Poe's running mate.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Gringo Honasan
Senator Gregorio Honasan (United Nationalist Alliance) denied that he was going to be Jejomar Binay's running mate in September 2015. By the next month, however, he said that his team-up with Binay was possible. On October 12, 2015, Honasan announced that he will be running with Binay as the latter's vice president.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Bongbong Marcos
Asked on a November 2012 interview at DZBB on his plans to run in 2016, Senator Bongbong Marcos (Nacionalista Party) said "never say never." By March 2015, in another interview, this time at DZMM, he said that he "will thoroughly study everything." In August 2015, after reports surfaced of him being Jejomar Binay's running mate, Marcos clarified on an interview at the ABS-CBN News Channel that he is still undecided on what position to run for, but he would certainly not be defending his Senate seat. On October 5, 2015, Senator Bongbong Marcos announced his candidacy for vice president in the 2016 election, and would support the candidacy of Rodrigo Duterte if he ever does run. Days later, Duterte declined Cayetano's and Marcos' offers to be their presidential running mate.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Leni Robredo
In August 2015, Representative Leni Robredo, from Camarines Sur's third district (Liberal Party), said that talk of plans of her running in 2016 is "too soon", and that she'd only run if she's "indispensable".


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Leni Robredo
After the initial objections of her daughters, Robredo decided to run for vice president, accepting the offers of President Aquino and Mar Roxas. She officially announced her candidacy for the office on October 5, 2015, at the Club Filipino.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Antonio Trillanes
In the news program Bandila's May 30, 2014 segment where a guest is asked to answer only "yes" or "no," Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (Nacionalista Party) was asked if he would run for vice president in 2016 and responded by saying "Let's just say yes, I will run. As for what position, I will abide by the Nacionalista Party."


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Antonio Trillanes
By August 2015, Trillanes revealed his plans of running as an independent vice presidential candidate, saying that the Nacionalistas would not endorse a candidate if more than one of them ran for the vice presidency. Trillanes' own group, Magdalo, backed his vice presidential bid.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Antonio Trillanes
In a general assembly of MAGDALO coalition members, Trillanes announced that he will run for vice president as an Independent, but will support the presidential bid of Senator Grace Poe.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Candidates, For vice president, Antonio Trillanes
Trillanes questioned the presidential bid of Rodrigo Duterte, saying that if Duterte wins, his presidency will be a disaster to the Philippines.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Debates
The Commission on Elections confirmed that they will organize three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate. This was the first time that the commission organized debates since the 1992 presidential election. The debates were dubbed as PiliPinas Debates 2016 (transl. The Philippines Chooses).


2016 Philippine presidential election, Debates
A separate debate, Harapan ng Bise (transl. Face-off of the Vice [Presidents]), was organized and hosted by ABS-CBN. Not all vice presidential candidates attended.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Opinion polling
Opinion polling in Philippines is conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS), Pulse Asia and other pollsters.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Opinion polling
Only polls conducted after February 9, 2016, the start of the election period, are included. The front-runner is in bold. Those that are within the margin of error are in italics.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign
While the campaign period as set by law started on February 9, 2016, candidates had earlier started campaigning as early as late 2015, as the courts have struck the ban on premature campaigning as unconstitutional.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Issues
The continuation of outgoing president Benigno Aquino III's policies is seen to be the main theme for the election. Former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas promises the continuation of the "Daang Matuwid" ("straight path") anti-corruption drive, which is appealing among the elites. Roxas's base was mostly middle-class Filipinos.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Issues
Vice President Jejomar Binay's policies is seen to be opposite of Aquino's, such as the former's opposition to the enactment of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, and on how to approach China concerning the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, while presenting himself as a man of the people, and fighting out allegations of corruption while serving as mayor of Makati, the country's financial hub.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Issues
Senator Grace Poe's campaign is seen to be an alternative to Roxas and Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte; her image as untarnished by corruption is liked by the elite, while she sends messages that are pro-poor. Duterte is banking on a law and order platform, which includes the proposals concerning federalism in the Philippines. Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, who almost won the presidency in 1992, insists that she has recovered from cancer.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for national positions
Proclamation rallies were held by all five presidential tickets at the start of campaigning on February 9. The Jejomar Binay and Gregorio Honasan ticket started their campaign at a slum in Mandaluyong, to "be with the Filipino poor". Rodrigo Duterte and Alan Peter Cayetano started campaigning at Tondo, Manila. Roxas City, the hometown of Mar Roxas, was the host of the Roxas and Leni Robredo tandem's proclamation rally. Grace Poe and Francis Escudero had their proclamation rally at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila. Miriam Defensor Santiago held their proclamation rally at her running mate's Bongbong Marcos' hometown of Batac, Ilocos Norte. Antonio Trillanes kicked off his campaign at General Santos.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for national positions
On the first presidential debate since 1992 on February 21 in Cagayan de Oro hosted by GMA Network, the candidates commented that they were not given enough time to express their views. The Binay campaign lamented that the question on political dynasties was asked on him at a round where supposedly issues about Mindanao were the topics. Several weeks later, on March 8, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the commission to disqualify Poe, thereby allowing her to run.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for national positions
In the Visayas leg of the presidential debate held in Cebu City hosted by TV5, the respective campaigns were generally more receptive of the conduct of the debate. The debate proper though was delayed due to a misunderstanding of the rules: Binay was informed by debate moderator Luchi Cruz-Valdez that bringing of notes was allowed, but the commission ruled it out when the Roxas camp objected to it.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for local positions
Candidates started gaining endorsements from local politicians when campaigning for local positions started just right before Easter. Poe got the endorsement of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada over Binay, who was Estrada's running mate in 2010. One Cebu abandoned their original support for Binay to Duterte, vowing to deliver one million votes. Binay also lost the support of the Remullas of Cavite of which Cavite Governor Jonvic is his spokesperson, to Duterte.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for local positions
On an April 17 campaign rally, Duterte said on an Australian rape victim that "Was I mad because she was raped? Yes, that's one of the reasons. But she really was beautiful. The mayor should have been first." This was met by condemnation both from his opponents, and other sectors of society, including the Australian ambassador to Manila. Duterte apologized for the incident, blamed his "gutter language", but did not apologize for his remarks.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for local positions
The third leg of the presidential debate was held in Pangasinan on April 24. When asked about the ongoing South China Sea dispute, Duterte said he will abide the decision of the arbitral tribunal in the Philippines v. China case, and if tribunal rules in favor of the Philippines and China refuses to honor the decision, he will ride a jetski to the disputed islands to plant a Philippine flag.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for local positions
On April 26, Antonio Trillanes claims that Duterte has a bank account worth ₱211 million that wasn't declared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. On the same day, Duterte denied the existence of the bank accounts, which were supposedly in a Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) branch in Julia Vargas Avenue in Pasig, and was jointly held with his daughter Sara. A day later, Duterte acknowledged the existence of the bank account at the BPI branch in Julia Vargas, but it had "only thousands" in funds.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for local positions
Duterte later challenged Trillanes to execute an affidavit stating how he got the information, and he'd promise to open the account. On May 2, Trillanes and Duterte's lawyer met at the BPI Julia Vargas branch. Duterte's lawyer brought with him a special power of attorney requesting BPI to certify the existence of Duterte's account. In the end, no bank records were released, as the bank asked for more time to accede to the request. Trillanes expressed disappointment, as the special power of attorney invoked on whether the bank account asked for the current balance of the account, not the transaction history that he wanted.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for local positions
A week before the election, an anti-Duterte advertisement began appearing on television; it was already on rotation in radio stations. Paid for by Trillanes, the commercial features children reacting to Duterte's controversial remarks. The video shows several children remarking Duterte's controversial remarks and acts, including his cursing of Pope Francis and the comments about the rape-slay on the Australian missionary. It was widely disapproved at social media. ABS-CBN defended their decision to air the ad, saying that "We are duty-bound to air a legitimate ad." A similar ad also aired on GMA Network.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for local positions
Alan Peter Cayetano said that the ad had been rejected by other TV networks, but was "blindly approved" by ABS-CBN's ethics committee. He also accused President Benigno Aquino III and two other rivals such as Mar Roxas and Grace Poe and ABS-CBN of making the ad. A Taguig court later disallowed the commercial to be aired, saying that "These advertisements do manifestly oppose a candidate and thus the court cannot allow minor children to be used in such black propaganda."


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Start of campaign period for local positions
A few days before the election, Roxas called for Poe to back out, in order to defeat Duterte. Poe rebuffed Roxas' offer, saying that she would never withdraw from the presidential race. Meanwhile, President Aquino also called on Poe, Binay and Santiago to unite against Duterte. A Binay spokesperson retorted that instead of the president calling for unity against a specific candidate, Aquino should've just insured of clean elections.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Miting de avance
A tradition of Philippine politics, the "miting de avance" is the final political rally before the election itself. For the Duterte campaign, the miting de avance was held at Rizal Park in Manila; however, his campaign pointed to the Liberal Party of sabotaging the rally, as backhoes dug up holes in the park. The administrators of the park countered that they were only removing the asphalt from the Burnham green of the park.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Campaign, Miting de avance
Two days before the election, all mitings de avance were held in Metro Manila. The Santiago campaign held their "youth supporters rally" at West Triangle, Quezon City. The Roxas campaign held theirs at the Quezon Memorial Circle in the same city, while the Binay campaign held it at the corner of Kalayaan Avenue and Lawton Avenue in Makati. Grace Poe held her miting de avance at Plaza Miranda in Manila. The Duterte campaign pushed through with their rally at Rizal Park.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results
Congress canvassed the results in record time of three days. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Representative from Camarines Sur Leni Robredo were proclaimed president and vice president on May 30, in front of a joint session, at the Batasang Pambansa Complex. Duterte notably skipped his proclamation, as he has consistently skipped his prior proclamations.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For president
All candidates except for Poe and Santiago carried their respective hometowns. Duterte carried the majority of Mindanao, the so-called "Mega Manila" (except Makati where Binay won), and the Cebuano-speaking provinces in the Visayas, except Negros Oriental. Roxas carried the Ilonggo speaking provinces, the Waray speaking provinces, Negros Oriental, his running mate's province of Camarines Sur and neighboring Albay in Bicol, and Mimaropa. Poe carried most of the Ilocos Region, except Ilocos Norte, including her father's home province of Pangasinan. Binay carried his parents' home region of Cagayan Valley, and his hometown of Makati, where he served as mayor for several decades. Santiago didn't win in any province.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president
Robredo carried the Bicol Region, except for Sorsogon, Escudero's home province, Roxas' stronghold of Western Visayas and Negros, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Northern Mindanao, the entire Mimaropa region, majority of provinces in Eastern Visayas, majority of Caraga region, majority of Zamboanga region, Quezon province, Central Visayas less Cebu City, almost half of Soccsksargen, and President Aquino's home province of Tarlac. Marcos won the so-called "Solid North", the National Capital Region (except Taguig, where Cayetano won), his mother's home province of Leyte, and all provinces of Soccsksargen. Cayetano won in his hometown of Taguig, and in Duterte's home region in the Davao Region.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president
Robredo's winning margin of 0.61% is the closest margin since Fernando Lopez's victory in the 1965 vice presidential election. Marcos subsequently protested the results, which was unanimously struck down by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal on February 16, 2021.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president, Electoral protest
On the evening of May 10, Leni Robredo took first place on the unofficial vote count led by the Parish Pastoral Council on Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and Bongbong Marcos suspected that the Liberal Party manipulated the vice presidential votes in favor of Robredo. Marcos soon ordered the Commission on Elections to stop the unofficial count by the PPCRV, and he stated that no one has been aware that his lead on the unofficial vote count fell down.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president, Electoral protest
Marcos then filed an election protest to the Presidential Electoral Tribunal on June 29, 2016, the eve of the oath-taking of the newly elected officials. Marcos wanted a recount in 27 provinces and cities, in 36,000 precincts. Marcos sought for the explanation of supposed 3 million undervotes which were allegedly "unaccounted for", which the Robredo camp said that is "normal". Robredo filed a counter-protest, which the tribunal rejected in September 2017. The tribunal also denied Marcos' first cause of action to nullify the result of the vice presidential election, because even if it is nullified, the tribunal ruled that it doesn't mean that he won.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president, Electoral protest
On April 2, 2018, the manual recount of votes cast in Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental, the results of the election which were contested by former senator Bongbong Marcos, started. The recount was originally scheduled for February but was postponed to March 19, and then moved again to April 2. The first day was plagued with issues of some ballots from Bato, Camarines Sur being drenched wet causing these to be intelligible, and missing audit cards.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president, Electoral protest
The Robredo camp said that these may have been damaged from previous floods and typhoons, and that the tribunal can go over to the ballot images, and reprint the audit logs from the records of the commission, while Marcos' lawyers said that it was recently doused over. Caguioa along with Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio were the only dissenters in a new resolution by the court ordering the parties to comment on the results of a recount of votes from Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president, Electoral protest
In October 2019, a resolution by the Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal confirmed that Vice President Leni Robredo's lead over former senator Bongbong Marcos increased by 15,000 votes after it conducted a recount in three provinces chosen by Marcos. SC Associate Justice Benjamin Caguioa questioned the PET why it has not dismissed former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr.'s election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo despite its "clear and unmistakable lack of basis."


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president, Electoral protest
"Undoubtedly, protestant failed to make out his case. Why not apply Rule 65 now?" Caguioa said in a 7-page dissenting opinion. Rule 65 of the 2010 PET Rules allows a Protestant to choose not more than three provinces that "best exemplify" the fraud that he alleges happened in an election. Once ballots there are examined, the tribunal may dismiss the case if it is convinced that the Protestant will "most probably fail to make out his case."


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president, Electoral protest
Marcos filed an inhibition (recusal) plea earlier against Associate Justice Benjamin Caguioa. However, the Supreme Court junked the plea, issuing a "stern warning" against the former senator that any unfounded and inappropriate accusation will be dealt with in the future with more severity.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president, Electoral protest
The Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal also earlier upheld the 25-percent shading threshold, a main contention of Marcos's camp in their electoral protest.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, For vice president, Electoral protest
On February 16, 2021, the PET unanimously dismissed Bongbong Marcos' electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo. Media reports cited the reasons for the dismissal as: "failure to allege specific acts showing electoral fraud"; "allegations (which) were bare, laden with generic & repetitious allegations, no critical information as to time, place and manner of irregularities,” and "the absence of substantial recovery of votes in the 3 pilot provinces Marcos had chosen where Robredo actually gained additional votes with 1,510,718 against Marcos’ 204,512."


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Results per province
Each province and city that is independent of a province and is a legislative district by itself sends its certificates of canvass to Congress. Each diplomatic post, local absentee voters and detainee voters also send their respective certificates of canvass. From there, the results are tallied in a joint session of Congress.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Results per province
Notably, most candidates won in their home regions, provinces or cities. Duterte (Davao Region), Roxas (Western Visayas), Binay (Makati)  Robredo (Camarines Sur), Marcos (Ilocos Region), Cayetano (Taguig) and Escudero (Sorsogon) won in their respective strongholds. Roxas, Santiago, Cayetano and Robredo were also helped by votes from their respective running mates' strongholds (Camarines Sur, Ilocos Region, Davao Region and Western Visayas, respectively). Binay, Poe, Duterte and Marcos were also helped from votes from which their families originated (Cagayan Valley, Pangasinan, Cebu and Leyte, respectively). Duterte was particularly helped by his big winning margins in Mindanao, where he polled more than 60% of the vote in some places.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Results per province
For the presidential election, the following candidates won in these places:


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Results per province
For the vice presidential election, the following candidates won in these places:


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Results per province
Negros Oriental's winning streak of being the presidential bellwether that started in 1969 ended in this election, when Roxas won there, but Duterte won the national count. It was replaced by Basilan, which now has the longest winning streak, starting in 1981. Basilan also replaced Pangasinan's longest winning streak in the vice presidential election that started in 1992, when Marcos won there instead of Robredo.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Results per province, Close provinces and cities
Margin of victory is less than 5% for the presidential election:


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Results per province, Close provinces and cities
Margin of victory is less than 5% for the vice presidential election:


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Results per province, Landslides
Margin of victory is more than 50% for the presidential election:


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Results per province, Landslides
Margin of victory is more than 50% for the vice presidential election:


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Unofficial tallies
Prior to the canvassing by Congress, other groups such as the media and non-governmental organizations may issue their own separate tallies.


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Voter demographics
These were the results of the Social Weather Stations' exit poll:


2016 Philippine presidential election, Results, Voter demographics
According to Mahar Mangahas, the president of SWS, voters who belonged to a higher social class, was more educated, younger, Muslim, a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo, from urban areas, and men tended to support Duterte. Duterte had less support from Catholics, from rural voters, and from women. De La Salle University political science professor Julio Teehankee described it as the middle class' emergence of a "counter-elite challenging the old elite," with Duterte voters being seen as "who are taxed the most and financing Daang Matuwid. They are working hard for their families and the country and yet they are the ones who suffer from lack of public service, land and air traffic. Breakdown of peace and order corruption, laglag-bala. The poor have their conditional cash transfer fund. The rich have their PPPS."


2016 Philippine southwest monsoon floods
In August 2016, southwest monsoon has brought heavy rainfall and flooding in Metro Manila and nearby regions.


2016 Philippine southwest monsoon floods, Background
A low pressure area which barely entered the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR), which at one point was north of Batanes and exited the country by August 14, as well as tropical depression located in the Pacific Ocean outside the PAR enhanced the southwest monsoon.


2016 Philippine southwest monsoon floods, Impact
On August 14, 2016, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that about 70,000 people or 15,665 families were affected by the enhanced monsoon rains in the regions of Central Luzon (Region 3), Calabarzon (Region 4-A), Mimaropa (Region 4-B), Western Visayas (Region 6), Negros Island Region, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and the National Capital Region (NCR). Occasional rains were also experienced by residents in areas situated in the rest of Luzon and Visayas. The most affected provinces were reportedly Bataan, Bulacan, and Zambales.


2016 Philippine southwest monsoon floods, Impact
The enhanced monsoon caused a tornado to spawn in Manila's port area causing damages.


2016 Philippine southwest monsoon floods, Response
The Department of Social Welfare and Development has opened at least 79 evacuation centers across the island of Luzon. In Marikina, Metro Manila, where the Marikina River overflowed due to enhanced monsoon rains, 21 evacuation centers were set up where at least 9,152 people were housed.


2016 Philippine southwest monsoon floods, Response
Maynilad which serves significant portions of Metro Manila has reduced its water production due to sedimentation of raw water at the La Mesa watershed due to the monsoon rains causing soil erosion in the Angat watershed.


2016 Philippines men's national basketball team results
The Philippines national basketball team, led by head coach Tab Baldwin, participated at one of the three the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments which was hosted at home after failing to win the final against China at the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship where the champion automatically qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics.


2016 Philippines men's national basketball team results
The Gilas Cadets led by head coach Nash Racela participated at the regional 2016 SEABA Cup.


2016 Philippines men's national basketball team results, Rosters, SEABA Cup
The following was the roster for the 2016 SEABA Cup.


2016 Philippines men's national basketball team results, Rosters, FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament
The following was the 12-man roster of the Philippines national team for the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament.


2016 Philippines men's national basketball team results, Rosters, FIBA Asia Challenge
This was the 12-man roster of the Philippines national team for the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge.


2016 Phillip Island Superbike World Championship round
The 2016 Phillip Island Superbike World Championship round was the first round of the 2016 Superbike World Championship. It took place over the weekend of 26–28 February 2016 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.


2016 Phoenix Mercury season
The 2016 WNBA season was the season for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA.


2016 Phoenix Mercury season, Regular season, Playoffs
The Phoenix Mercury finished eighth in the WNBA (with a record of 16–18), grabbing the final playoff spot. The Mercury advanced to the semifinal after dispatching the Indiana Fever in round one and the New York Liberty in round two. The Minnesota Lynx then swept the Mercury in the semifinal round, three games to none.


2016 Piala Belia
The 2016 Piala Belia (English: Youth Cup) is the Sixth season of the Piala Belia since its establishment in 2008. The league is currently the youth level (U19) football league in Malaysia. Selangor FA are the defending champions.


2016 Piala Belia, Teams
The following teams will be participate in the 2016 Piala Belia. In order by the number given by FAM:-


2016 Piala Belia, Team summaries, Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2016 Piala Belia, Knock-out stage, Quarterfinals, Second leg
Kelantan U19 won 1–0 on aggregate and advances to Semifinals


2016 Piala Belia, Knock-out stage, Quarterfinals, Second leg
Selangor U19 won 1–0 on aggregate and advances to Semifinals


2016 Piala Belia, Knock-out stage, Quarterfinals, Second leg
SSBJ U17 won 4–2 on Aggregate and advances to Semifinals


2016 Piala Belia, Knock-out stage, Quarterfinals, Second leg
Kedah U19 won 3–2 on aggregate and advances to Semifinals


2016 Piala Belia, Knock-out stage, Semifinals, Second Leg
Selangor U19 won 3–1 on aggregate and advances to Final


2016 Piala Belia, Knock-out stage, Semifinals, Second Leg
SSBJ U17 won 2–1 on aggregate and advances to Final


2016 Piala Presiden (Malaysia)
The 2015 Piala Presiden (referred to as the President's Cup) is the 32nd season of the Piala Presiden since its establishment in 1985. The league is currently the youth level (U21) football league in Malaysia. Kelantan U21 are the defending champions.


2016 Piala Presiden (Malaysia), Rule changes
The Piala Presiden is the amateur football competition in Malaysia for under-21 players. Since its inception in 1985, the Piala Presiden has been the major tournament for under-21 and under-23 players. In 2009, the format of the competition was changed with only under-20 players eligible to be fielded for the tournament. In 2015 the format of the competition reverted to the original format with under-21 players..


2016 Piala Presiden (Malaysia), Teams
The following teams will be participate in the 2016 Piala Presiden. In order by the number given by FAM:-


2016 Piala Presiden (Malaysia), Team summaries, Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2016 Piala Presiden (Malaysia), Knock-out stage, Bracket, Second leg
Kelantan U21 won 4–0 on aggregate and advances to Semifinals


2016 Piala Presiden (Malaysia), Knock-out stage, Bracket, Second leg
Selangor U21 won 4–3 on aggregate and advances to Semifinals


2016 Piala Presiden (Malaysia), Knock-out stage, Bracket, Second leg
Perak U21 won 2–1 on aggregate and advances to Semifinals


2016 Piala Presiden (Malaysia), Knock-out stage, Bracket, Second leg
T-Team U21 won 2–1 on aggregate and advances to Semifinals


2016 Piala Presiden (Malaysia), Knock-out stage, Semifinals, Second leg
Kelantan U21 won 3–1 on aggregate and advances to Final


2016 Piala Presiden (Malaysia), Knock-out stage, Semifinals, Second leg
T-Team U21 won 3–1 on aggregate and advances to Final


2016 Piala Sumbangsih
The 2016 Piala Sumbangsih was the 31st Piala Sumbangsih, an annual Malaysian football match played between the winners of the previous season's Malaysia Super League and Malaysia Cup. The game was played between the Selangor FA, winners of the 2015 Malaysia Cup, and Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C., champions of the 2015 Malaysia Super League.


2016 Piala Tun Sharifah Rodziah
The 2016 Piala Tun Sharifah Rodziah is the 29th edition of Piala Tun Sharifah Rodziah a women's football tournament organised by Football Association of Malaysia. Kedah was the host and it took place in the Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah. MISC-MIFA defeated Sabah in the final to retain their Piala Tun Sharifah Rodziah title after won the title for the first time in 2015.


2016 Piala Tun Sharifah Rodziah
The tournament offers prize money of RM20,000, a trophy and 25 gold medals to the winner, while the runner-up RM 10,000 and 25 silver medals and third place RM 5,000 and 25 bronze.


2016 Piala Tun Sharifah Rodziah, Teams
The draw for the group stage was held on 5 April 2017 at the Dewan Budi Siswa, Pusat Budaya dan Seni, Universiti Utara Malaysia. 12 teams participated in this edition where the teams were divided into two groups. The winners and runners-up advance to the semifinals.


2016 Pine Bowl
The 2016 Pine Bowl is a college football bowl game that will be played on Saturday, November 5, 2016 at the Sapporo Dome in Sapporo, Japan. The 29th annual Pine Bowl will have Hokkaido University representing the Hokkaido American Football Association playing host to a team from the Tohoku Collegiate American Football Association.


2016 Pinstripe Bowl
The 2016 Pinstripe Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 28, 2016 at Yankee Stadium in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The seventh edition of the Pinstripe Bowl featured the Pittsburgh Panthers of the Atlantic Coast Conference against the Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten Conference. It was one of the 2016–17 bowl games that concluded the 2016 FBS football season. Sponsored by the New Era Cap Company, the game was officially known as the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.


2016 Pinstripe Bowl, Teams selected
The game featured conference tie-ins from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten Conference.


2016 Pinstripe Bowl, Teams selected
This was the seventh meeting between the schools, with the series previously tied at 3–3. The previous meeting of the two teams was on September 29, 1973, where the Panthers defeated the Wildcats by a score of 21–14.


2016 Pinty's All-Star Curling Skins Game
The 2016 Pinty's All-Star Curling Skins Game was held from January 8 to 10 at The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre in Banff, Alberta.


2016 Pinty's All-Star Curling Skins Game, Men, Teams
Bally Haly Golf & Curling Club, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador


2016 Pinty's All-Star Curling Skins Game, Men, Teams
Skip : Brad JacobsThird: Ryan FrySecond: E. J. HarndenLead: Ryan Harnden


2016 Pinty's All-Star Curling Skins Game, Men, Teams
Skip : Mike McEwenThird: B. J. NeufeldSecond: Matt WozniakLead: Denni Neufeld


2016 Pirelli World Challenge
The 2016 Pirelli World Challenge was the 27th running of the Sports Car Club of America's World Challenge series. Johnny O'Connell was the defending champion in the highest class, the GT class.


2016 Pirelli World Challenge, Schedule
The final calendar was revealed on November 3, 2015. The season comprised 11 rounds, with several rounds in support of the IndyCar Series and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. All tracks from the previous season were returning except for the Belle Isle, which was replaced by Lime Rock Park. On May 4, 2016 WC Vision announced that the TC class races at Mid-Ohio would be replaced by races at Lime Rock Park to give the drivers more track time.


2016 Pirelli World Challenge, Championship standings, Drivers' championships
Points were awarded based on finishing positions as shown in the chart below. The driver had to complete at least 50% of the class winner's number of laps to receive points. The Pole position winner of every class received 7 points with the exception of the GTA class.


2016 Pirelli World Challenge, Championship standings, Drivers' championships, GT
. – GTA classBold – Pole positionItalics – Fastest Lap


2016 Pirelli World Challenge, Championship standings, Drivers' championships, TC
Drivers that were not able to attend the Lime Rock round of the championship, but competed in all other rounds of the full season, received double points in both races at Laguna Seca. Drivers that participated in the entire 2016 season and entered Lime Rock Park, were able to choose the better of one of the Lime Rock driver points results, or one of their Laguna Seca driver points results, and be given double points for just that round. The driver may drop driver points from one of the other weakest three races from Lime Rock or Laguna Seca only. Points for Pole position for these two rounds are included in the calculation. This applies only to driver points. Results dropped are denoted by parentheses. Results with double points are denoted by x2.


2016 Pirelli World Challenge, Championship standings, Drivers' championships, TCA
The rules about points received at Lime Rock and Laguna Seca applying to the TC class, applies to the TCA class too.


2016 Pirelli World Challenge, Championship standings, Drivers' championships, TCB
The rules about points received at Lime Rock and Laguna Seca applying to the TC class, applies to the TCB class too.


2016 Pirelli World Challenge, Championship standings, Manufacturers' championships
Only those manufacturers who are SCCA Pro Racing corporate members were eligible to receive points toward the Manufacturers' Championship. Points were awarded based on finishing positions as shown in the chart below. Only the highest finishing car of each eligible manufacturer earned points for its finishing position.


2016 Pitcairnese mayoral election
Mayoral elections were held in the Pitcairn Islands on 9 November 2016. Shawn Christian was re-elected as mayor, defeating Simon Young.


2016 Pittsburg State Gorillas football team
The 2016 Pittsburg State Gorillas football team represented Pittsburg State University in the 2016 NCAA Division II football season. The Gorillas played their home games on Brandenburg Field in Carnie Smith Stadium in Pittsburg, Kansas, as they have done since 1923. 2016 was the 109th season in school history. The Gorillas were led by seventh-year head coach, Tim Beck. Pittsburg State has been a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association since 1989.


2016 Pittsburg State Gorillas football team, Preseason
The Gorillas entered the 2016 season after finishing with a 6–5 record overall and in conference play, under Beck. On August 2, 2016 at the MIAA Football Media Day, the Gorillas were chosen to finish in 3rd place in both the Coaches Poll and in the Media Poll. In the Coaches Poll, Pittsburg State was tied with Emporia State for third.


2016 Pittsburg State Gorillas football team, Preseason
On August 22, D2football.com released its Top 25 poll, ranking Pittsburg State 24th.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team
The 2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Panthers were led by second-year head coach Pat Narduzzi and played their home games at Heinz Field. They were a member of the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The season marked Pitt's fourth season as a member of the ACC. The Panthers finished the season 8–5, 5–3 in ACC play to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the Coastal Division. The Panthers received an invitation to the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium where they lost to Northwestern 31–24.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team
On September 10, 2016, the Panthers played their in-state rivals Penn State for the first time since 2000, where they were victorious, 42–39. Penn State had won seven of the previous eight games between the two schools.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Previous season
The Panthers finished the 2015 season 8–5, 6–2 in ACC play to finish in second place in the Coastal division. They were invited to play in the Military Bowl, where they were defeated by Navy 44–28.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Previous season
The Panthers saw success despite losing ACC Player of the Year James Conner early in the season to a torn MCL. Conner announced in December that he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer. On May 23, Conner announced on Twitter that he had been declared cancer-free. He had been participating in spring practices despite undergoing treatments for his condition.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Offseason, Injuries
It was announced that several players would be missing for the upcoming season due to injury. Sophomore tight end Chris Clark underwent knee surgery, while redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Mike Grimm underwent hip surgery; both missed the entire 2016 season. Junior defensive tackle Justin Moody was forced to retire due to a non-football-related cervical spine condition; he remained on the team as a student assistant. Additionally, incoming recruits Zack Gilbert and George Hill, both suffering from heart conditions, also missed the 2016 season.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Schedule
The Panthers schedule was released on January 26, 2016. The blue team defeated the gold team, 19–17, in the spring game on Saturday April 16, 2016 at Heinz Field.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Villanova
The Panthers opened the 2016 season against an FCS opponent in Villanova.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Villanova
The Wildcats controlled play for portions of the first half, but three straight drives into Pitt territory failed to produce any points, giving the Panthers time to get going. Running back James Conner, having missed the entire 2015 season due to a torn MCL and after having battled Hodgkin's lymphoma in the off-season, returned to the field and scored 2 touchdowns in the 2nd quarter. The first came on a 3-yard run; the second came on a 9-yard pass from Nathan Peterman. Quadree Henderson returned the second-half kickoff 96 yards for a score to break things open.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Villanova
Rob Rolle returned a Peterman fumble 3 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter for Villanova's only score. Peterman completed 19 of 32 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns, including a pretty 16-yard touchdown pass to Jester Weah in the 4th quarter. The Panthers managed just 261 total yards. Defensively, the Panthers only allowed 172 yards and forced 2 turnovers, including a Terrish Webb interception.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Villanova
Dewayne Hendrix and Elijah Zeise were injured during the game; their injuries were initially thought to be not serious, but it was later announced after the Penn State game the following week that both would miss the remainder of the season.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Penn State
Following their victory over Villanova, the Panthers would host in-state rival Penn State. The two schools hadn't played each other since the 2000 season, where Pitt shut out the Nittany Lions 12–0 at the old Three Rivers Stadium.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Penn State
The Panthers jumped out to a 28–7 lead in the first half behind a powerful rushing attack, spearheaded by James Conner. George Aston struck first with a 1-yard touchdown run to give Pitt the lead 7–0. The Panthers scored again on their very next possession on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Peterman to Quadree Henderson, swelling the lead to 14–0. A 3-yard Saquon Barkley touchdown run cut the Pitt lead to 7 before the end of the 1st quarter.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Penn State
The Panthers scored on the first possession of the 2nd quarter on a 2yard touchdown pass from Peterman to Scott Orndoff. They would add to their lead the very next drive with a George Aston 3-yard touchdown run, putting the lead at 28–7. Just before the end of the half, Saquon Barkley again scored a touchdown for the Nittany Lions, this time from 1 yard out, to pull Penn State within 2 scores at the half.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Penn State
Penn State would score on their first possession of the second half on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Trace McSorley to Saquon Barkley to cut the Pittsburgh lead to a touchdown, 28–21. The Panthers would respond with an 11 play, 75-yard drive, capped off with a 1-yard touchdown run from James Conner. On the following Penn State possession, Dennis Briggs would force Saquon Barkley to fumble the ball, which would be recovered by the Panthers at their own 35-yard line. The offense would fail to capitalize on the turnover, as Chris Blewitt would miss a 50-yard field goal.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Penn State
Following the missed field goal, the Nittany Lions went to work in the 4th quarter, scoring on the first possession on a Saquon Barkley 1-yard touchdown run, putting the score at 35–28, Pitt. The Panthers would shoot themselves in the foot on the next possession, as James Conner fumbled the ball deep in Pittsburgh territory, giving Penn State favorable field position at the PITT 11 yard line. However, the defense would hold strong in spite of this, holding Penn State to a field goal and not allowing them to tie the game.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Penn State
Early in the 4th quarter, Pitt clung to a 35–31 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Quadree Henderson would return the ball 84-yards to the Penn State 10-yard line, where a few plays later, Nathan Peterman would shovel pass the ball to James Conner, who would take it into the end zone from 12-yards out, giving the Panthers a 2 score lead once again, 42–31. After trading possessions, Penn State would close the gap to 3 when, again, Saquon Barkley scored on a 3-yard touchdown run.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Penn State
Trace McSorley would connect with DaeSean Hamilton on the 2-point conversion, put the score at 42–39, Pitt, with 5 minutes remaining in the game. After a Pittsburgh 3-and-out, Penn State would receive the ball with under 4 minutes left in the game at their own 29-yard line. They would drive the ball all the way to the PITT 31 yard line before Senior cornerback Ryan Lewis picked off Trace McSorley in the end zone with just over a minute to play, ensuring a 42–39 victory for Pitt.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Penn State
Saquon Barkley accounted for all 5 of Penn State's touchdowns and James Conner ran for 117 yards and a touchdown and caught another; as a team, the Panthers rushed for 359 yards. The game was also played in front of the largest crowd in the history of the city of Pittsburgh to watch a sporting event (69,983). The Panthers moved to 2–0 on the season, renewing a heated in-state rivalry in the process.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, at North Carolina
Mitchell Trubisky kept scanning the field, delivering the ball on target with a cool composure for North Carolina down to when he made the game's biggest play in the frantic final seconds. The junior threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Bug Howard with 2 seconds left to help the Tar Heels rally past Pittsburgh 37–36 on Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for two teams that finished 1–2 atop the Coastal Division last season. "We had talked about before the game that we had an opportunity to establish the identity of this football team", UNC coach Larry Fedora said.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, at North Carolina
And I can say there's a lot of grit in this football team for one, a lot of toughness all the intangibles that we need to be successful. Trubisky threw for career highs of 453 yards and five touchdowns for the Tar Heels (3–1, 1–0 ACC). His main target was Ryan Switzer, who tied a program record with 16 catches for 208 yards and a score.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, at North Carolina
The Tar Heels never led until the final play and trailed by 13 with 6 minutes left. But Trubisky led a 17-play, 63-yard drive that included three fourth-down conversions in a stunning finish, sending UNC's players running onto the field to celebrate once they stopped Pitt's final-play kick return. Everybody believed, man, Howard said. "We had some fans leaving and stuff, people was giving up on us after they scored that last touchdown. But the defense had our back, we had their back, we told them if they'd get one more stop, we're going to make it happen."


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, at North Carolina
Quadree Henderson ran for 107 yards to for the Panthers (2–2, 0–1), who ran for 281 yards but went three-and-out on their last two drives to give UNC its opening. "When something like that (comeback) happens, you have to look at yourself first: Did I do everything I needed to do to get us a victory?" Pitt defensive end Ejuan Price said. "I think that answer is no." Simply put, the Panthers have to get better against the pass.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, at North Carolina
Dating to last week's loss at Oklahoma State, Pitt has surrendered 993 yards through the air couldn't get a stop late, even as coach Pat Narduzzi said he thought the team was "a lot sounder" this week. "I thought our coaches did a great job putting them in position to make plays today," Narduzzi said. "It comes down to, `Is that going to be a catch at the end?"


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, at North Carolina
Pittsburgh averaged 5.1 yards per carry even after losing 28 yards on a bad first-quarter snap, with James Conner among four players to rush for TDs. The Panthers held the Tar Heels to 18 yards rushing. The Panthers step out of ACC play to host Marshall in the first meeting between the schools next week.


2016 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, Game summaries, Marshall
A once seemingly insurmountable four-touchdown lead gone against resilient Marshall on Saturday night, Pittsburgh could have played it safe and tried to hold on. Not this time. Up by just a field goal and facing third down near midfield, Pitt quarterback Nathan Peterman lobbed a deep ball to Jester Weah down the sideline. The junior wide receiver pulled it in over a defender and raced to the end zone for a 54-yard touchdown with 1:04 remaining and the Panthers pulled away late for a 43–27 win.