How Top 15 senatorial candidates performed in INC provinces

MANILA, Philippines – The two million-strong religious group Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) is known, among other things, for its practice of bloc voting during elections. (READ: OPINION: Voting for plunderers and murderers because the church says so)

In 2016, the INC endorsed Rodrigo Duterte and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr as president and vice president, respectively. In the 2019 midterm elections, the INC called on its members to vote for 9 administration-backed bets and 3 others. ABS-CBN News reported the list as follows: 

• Sonny Angara
• Nancy Binay
• Pia Cayetano
• Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa
• Jinggoy Estrada
• Bong Go
• Lito Lapid
• Imee Marcos
• Grace Poe
• Bong Revilla
• Francis Tolentino
• Cynthia Villar

Rappler breaks down how the Top 15 senatorial candidates performed in the 10 provinces with the largest number of INC members based on a 2010 census by the National Statistics Office (NSO). Most of the provinces are from Central Luzon and Calabarzon. All 10 provinces are in Luzon, where INC’s central church is located. (READ: MAP: Iglesia ni Cristo in the Philippines)

This is based on 94.94% of precincts having transmitted results.

Did the INC’s endorsed candidates succeed in these places? Which 5 candidates did each province choose? 

Look at the tables below to see how they performed in the 10 provinces. Also included in this list are Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, and Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino – senatorial candidates not endorsed by the INC but who still landed in the Top 15.

The shaded cells show the Top 5 candidates per province. The darker the shade, the higher the rank in a province.

Consistently landing in the Top 5 in all 10 provinces are Villar and Poe, often switching with each other for the top and second spots. Villar topped Pangasinan, despite it being a Poe bailiwick; Poe’s father Fernando Poe Jr is from Pangasinan.

Cayetano – former senator and sister of Alan Peter, Duterte’s running mate in 2016 – and Lapid also managed to be in the Top 5 for 7 out of the 10 provinces. Lapid, a former movie actor, topped in Pampanga, his home province. 

Tarlac and Quezon are the only provinces where Aquino, an opposition bet, managed to enter the Top 5; Tarlac is a bailiwick of the Aquinos. 

Also among the Top 5, Marcos ranked only in Isabela, Pangasinan, and Nueva Ecija. Tolentino ranked only in Cavite, Ejercito in Laguna, Angara in Laguna and Quezon, and Binay in Isabela.

Almost all of the INC-endorsed candidates made it to the Top 15 in the 10 provinces.

Never dropping from the Top 15 were Villar, Poe, Cayetano, Go, Dela Rosa, Angara, Lapid, Tolentino, Revilla, Binay, Ejercito, and Aquino. Among these candidates, only Ejercito and Aquino were not endorsed by Iglesia. – Rappler.com