Abstract. This study was designed to examine political cynicism, political participation, and their interrelationship among voters in Negros Oriental, Philippines. An overall population of 400 registered voters participated in this study. The respondents’ skepticism or belief was that politicians were motivated or characterized purely by self-interest, dishonesty, untrustworthiness, being out-of-touch, incompetence, and immorality. There were two indicators of political participation: the first indicator of political participation was electoral, and the second was political voice. The first, electoral activity, “voting during elections” was highly prioritized by the respondents, having a 1.79 weighted mean. The second indicator of political participation was political voice. This indicator had a low priority to voters, with an aggregate mean of only 0.46, whose verbal description was ‘not applicable.’ There was an inverse relationship between the two factors investigated in this study. With elevated perceptions of political cynicism, marked by beliefs in dishonesty, incompetence, and detachment from the public, political engagement declined, especially in non-electoral activities. High political cynicism hurts participation and constitutes an important area of relationship with implications for political theory and practice. Measures like transparency and accountability will promote the people's involvement in more extensive issues since such policies will help restore confidence and reduce cynicism. Therefore, Policies are important, promoting ethical behavior amongst politicians to rebuild trust and evoke a more participating citizenry.

Keywords: Election; Negros Oriental; Political cynicism; Political participation; Voting