In Philippine elections, partylists play a critical role in democracy by representing marginalized sectors such as workers, farmers, teachers, women, youth, and indigenous communities in Congress. However, because they appear on the back of the ballot, they are often overlooked during elections, while the front is dominated by candidates for senator, congressman, and local government positions.
PattyLiz was created to improve partylist participation and increase the partylist fill-up rate in the May 2025 Philippine elections. It reminded voters to check the back of the ballot, and encouraged them to cast a valid party-list vote.
Ultimately, PattyLiz set out to turn a simple voting reminder into meaningful civic action, helping more Filipinos participate correctly in the democratic process and strengthening representation for sectors that are often ignored or overlooked.
Rather than relying on traditional voter education, we looked for a way to make the issue culturally relevant and fit to target a big number of voters in 2025 which are the new, fresh voters–Gen Z.
Filipino audiences are familiar with two-faced characters often seen in teleseryes, where dual identities drive the story. We adapted this trope to create PattyLiz—a character that physically represented the front and back of the ballot. The visual metaphor turned an often-overlooked voting issue into something people could instantly recognize and understand.
PattyLiz was brought to life through social content featuring Gen Z creators Kween Yasmin and Dan Budol. Through humor, memes, and relatable storytelling, the campaign reminded voters to check the back of the ballot and vote for only one partylist.
With only a few days before the elections, the campaign relied on a simple, scalable idea that could spread quickly across social media. Rather than presenting a formal civic message, PattyLiz turned an overlooked voting issue into a cultural conversation.
What made the work unique was how it combined voter education with entertainment. Instead of relying on instructions and information alone, PattyLiz used humor and pop culture to make a complex issue easier to engage with.
Across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, the campaign generated 167,673 engagements in just 3 days before the elections, proving that voter education could compete with entertainment content when delivered in a culturally relevant way.
More importantly, the campaign helped drive real-world participation. In the 2025 elections, 41 million Filipinos voted for a partylist—5 million more than in 2022. The partylist fill-up rate also increased from 65.61% to 73.14%, indicating that more voters remembered to check the back of the ballot and cast a valid partylist vote.
These results directly supported the campaign's objective of improving awareness and participation in the partylist system. Through helping more Filipinos vote correctly, PattyLiz strengthened representation for marginalized sectors such as workers, farmers, women, youth, and indigenous communities.
The campaign demonstrated how social media, humor, and pop culture can drive meaningful civic action and contribute to a more inclusive democratic process.
