ILOILO CITY, Philippines – This premier city of Western Visayas emerged as a major political battleground in the 2022 elections, with local leaders allied with presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowing to break the so-called “pink wave.”

In the end, Iloilo still held out for its favored candidate: Vice President Leni Robredo.

Robredo topped the presidential race in Iloilo with 728,781 or 54.81% of votes based on partial, unofficial results from the Commission on Elections server, trumping Marcos Jr. who got 459,261 or 34.54% of votes in the province.

Of the total Iloilo votes for Robredo, 149,256 are from Iloilo City. Her number of Iloilo votes in 2022 are higher than in the 2016 vice-presidential elections, when she also topped the province with a total of 711,391 votes, including 137,662 from Iloilo City.

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While Marcos Jr. is in second place in Iloilo, his numbers in 2022 are much higher than in the 2016 vice-presidential race, when he only got 128,189 votes (94,411 from Iloilo province and 33,778 from Iloilo City).

Robredo had secured the backing of top local chief executives Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas and Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. who actively campaigned for her.

Robredo led in 36 Iloilo towns:

• Ajuy
• Alimodian
• Badiangan
• Balasan
• Banate
• Barotac Viejo
• Batad
• Bingawan
• Cabatuan
• Calinog
• Carles
• Concepcion
• Dingle
• Dueñas
• Dumangas
• Igbaras
• Janiuay
• Lambunao
• Lemery
• Leon
• Maasin
• Miagao
• Mina
• New Lucena
• Oton
• Pavia
• Pototan
• San Dionisio
• San Enrique
• San Joaquin
• San Miguel
• San Rafael
• Santa Barbara
• Tigbauan
• Tubungan
• Zarraga

Marcos led in the towns of Anilao, Barotac Nuevo, Estancia, Guimbal, and Sara; and in Passi City.

In 2016, Robredo led in all 42 Iloilo towns and one component city.

Marcos Jr. is now the presumptive president with over 31 million votes based on partial, unofficial results from the Commission on Elections transparency server, with 98.31% of precincts reporting as of 5:56 pm, May 11. Robredo is a distant second with over 14.8 million votes. – Rappler.com

Joseph B.A. Marzan is a Visayas-based journalist and an awardee of the Aries Rufo Fellowship.