MANILA, Philippines – Barely any opposition candidate entered the top 12 spots in the 2022 Senate race, failing to leave the shadow of crushing defeat it saw after Duterte-allied candidates dominated the 2019 midterm polls. 

Reelectionst senator Risa Hontiveros was the lone opposition bet who managed to capture a seat in the upper chamber, after partial and unofficial results from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) transparency server as of Tuesday, May 9, 3:16 pm showed she garnered 15,212,781 votes, ranking her 11th among 63 candidates. Only 12 winners will be proclaimed.

Action star and pardoned ex-convict Robin Padilla was the top victor, with a total of 26,308,470 votes, based on the latest partial and unofficial results. The actor bested longtime politicians on his first run for the Senate.

In second place was former senator Loren Legarda, who previously served three terms in the Senate and ran with the Marcos-Duterte Uniteam slate and the Nationalist People’s Coalition in the 2022 elections. 

Completing the 12 spots were: 

• Raffy Tulfo
• Win Gatchalian
• Chiz Escudero
• Mark Villar
• Alan Peter Cayetano
• Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri
• Joel Villanueva
• JV Ejercito
• Jinggoy Estrada

The outcome will see a Senate dominated by allies of presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the incumbent Duterte administration. Majority of the candidates who made it into the 12 spots were either shared candidates of several presidential-vice presidential tandems or belonged to the Uniteam slate. 

Except for Hontiveros who was part of the opposition slate, Cayetano ran as an independent, while Villanueva was endorsed by Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Senators Panfilo Lacson and Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, as well as Senator Manny Pacquiao and Buhay Representative Lito Atienza. 

Zubiri had initially been a shared candidate of the Robredo-Pangilinan and Lacson-Sotto tandems, though he was eventually kicked out by both after openly endorsing Marcos Jr. Early on the campaign trail, Lacson and Sotto also cut Gatchalian from their list, after he broke an agreement to refrain from endorsing their rivals. 

Long-shot

For the core candidates of the opposition slate, it was always an uphill battle for the Senate. 

Next to Hontiveros, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno ranked in the 19th spot, with unofficial and partial results showing he garnered 9,812,369 votes

Detained opposition Senator Leila de Lima had been the subject of intense disinformation campaigns and attacks from President Rodrigo Duterte, no less, whose insults against the sitting senator were mirrored by misogynistic and sexist discussions on social media. De Lima has been jailed for five years now, mounting her campaign from Camp Crame. 

She has so far been acquitted in one of the three cases filed against her, while two star witnesses presented hearings and cases in Congress and by the Department of Justice, respectively, have since retracted their statements, saying they had been coerced to invent false testimonies.

De Lima landed in the 23rd spot in the Senate race as of Tuesday morning, based on partial and unofficial results from the Comelec transparency server.

Like De Lima, former senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV had borne the weight of Duterte’s ire when the President tried, but failed, to unilaterally revoke his amnesty in 2018. Trillanes was one of the most vocal critics of Duterte, repeatedly questioning his policies, seeking a Senate probe into alleged ill-gotten wealth, and filing a plunder complaint against him months ahead of the 2016 presidential elections for alleged undeclared wealth.

Unofficial and partial results saw Trillanes rank in the 21st spot.

Pre-election surveys had also illustrated the tough task for former Ifugao congressman Teddy Baguilat, labor leader and lawyer Sonny Matula, and author Alex Lacson. After election day on May 9, unofficial and partial results had Lacson ranked in the 25th spot, Baguilat in 28th, and Matula in 36th as of Tueday.

Unlike in 2019 when few to zero politicians and donors were willing to endorse them publicly, opposition candidates were supported by millions of volunteers who mobilized for the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem. The 2022 race, however, continued to see victory for political dynasties and personalities. 

The opposition’s performance in the 2022 polls is only slightly better from the results of the Senate midterm polls, where not a single one of its eight candidates managed to make it into the Senate’s Magic 12. This was unusual even in Philippine politics, as the last time prior to 2019 that the opposition failed to win a single legislative seat was in 1938, during the time of then-president Manuel L. Quezon, in the unicameral National Assembly.

In the incoming 19th Congress, Hontiveros will be the only opposition senator left in the upper chamber, after Senator Kiko Pangilinan ran for vice president, reelectionist and detained Senator Leila de Lima appeared headed for loss in the 2022 polls, and outgoing Senator Franklin Drilon retires from politics. – with reports from Mara Cepeda/Rappler.com