Filipinos began voting on Monday morning to elect their next president and some 18,000 other officials at all levels of government.

A total of 37,211 polling centers across the country opened at 6 a.m. (2200 GMT Sunday) for the 65.7 million eligible voters and will close at 7 p.m.

Also to be elected are the vice president, 12 senators, more than 300 members of the House of Representatives and over 17,000 local officials.

The presidential candidate frontrunner is former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Junior. The 64-year-old son of former President Ferdinand Marcos will cast his ballot in his hometown of Ilocos in Norte province, north of main Luzon island.

His main rival, incumbent Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo, 57, will cast the ballot in her hometown of Naga City in the Bicol region, south of Luzon island.

Opinion polls put Marcos, popularly known as "Bongbong," leading his rival by over 30 percentage points, having topped every poll this year. 

The presidency of Marcos is expected to provide continuity from outgoing leader Rodrigo Duterte, whose ruthless, strongman approach proved popular and helped him to consolidate power rapidly.

Robredo has pledged to improve education and welfare, fight poverty and improve market competition if elected.

The vote also presents an opportunity for Marcos to avenge his loss to Robredo in the 2016 vice presidential election, a narrow defeat by just 200,000 votes that he sought unsuccessfully to overturn.

Marcos has steered clear of debates and has campaigned on a message of optimism and unity, on Saturday telling hundreds of thousands of supporters that he dreamed of a "victory of unity of the entire Philippines."

"Filipinos are starting to unite even before the election after heeding the message of our UniTeam," he told his supporters on Saturday – the last day of campaign period. 

A game-changer in the election could be vice presidential running mate Sara Duterte-Carpio, the incumbent president's popular daughter, who could transfer some of her father's huge support to Marcos. The president has not endorsed any candidate.

John Rex Laudiangco, acting spokesperson of the Commission on Elections, said it's "all systems go" before the start of the election, despite reports of two explosions in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Sunday night.

Laudiangco said the situation is under control. More security forces were sent to the area.

The Philippine constitution permits the president to serve a single six-year term. 

(With input from agencies)

(Cover: Workers prepare for the national elections at the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, a command center of the election watchdog in Manila, Philippines, May 8, 2022. /Reuters)