The year 2023 was arguably one of the most challenging for Filipinos, particularly as the country continued to struggle to recover from the impact of a global pandemic. This is the first full year of the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who was elected president in a landslide victory in the May 2022 national elections. By the middle of 2023, an end to the pandemic was announced in the country through a presidential proclamation lifting the state of public health emergency resulting from Covid-19. It was expected, therefore, that the Philippines would bounce back from the gruelling effects of the pandemic on the economy. In 2022, a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported that 45 per cent of the adult population of the country were optimistic that the quality of their lives would improve in the next twelve months, while 39 per cent believed there would be no change. A year later, the optimism remains at the same level of 46 per cent. This is despite the high prices of basic commodities—including rice—a soaring inflation rate, and more than two million Filipinos being unemployed.

In the political realm, observations of a crack within the ruling political alliance that enabled the electoral victory of President Marcos and Vice-President Sara Duterte, the daughter of the former president, became more pronounced. Talk of the disintegration of President Marcos and Vice-President Duterte's UniTeam alliance abounded as conflicts among personalities associated with both leaders began to emerge. This was accompanied by the emergence of controversial proposals such as the establishment of the Maharlika Investment Fund and the huge allocation of confidential funds for the use of the Office of the Vice-President and the Department of Education headed by the current vice-president.

Interestingly, the trust and approval ratings of the two highest officials of the country remained relatively high. Although there was a double-digit drop in the approval ratings of both leaders by the third quarter of 2023, such ratings still indicate a majority approval of their leadership. According to a Pulse Asia survey conducted in September 2023, the approval rating of Marcos dropped to 65 per cent from 80 per cent in June 2023, while Sara Duterte's approval rating moved downwards from 84 per cent to 73 per cent. The Pulse Asia survey was conducted from 10 to 14 September 2023, when deliberations for the 2024 budget were ongoing in the Philippine Congress and when rice price caps were imposed through the issuance of Executive Order No. 39.