The Comelec did not proclaim winners for all twelve open Senate spots because there seem to be problems with the election results in Maguindanao, where a failure of elections has been declared because there seems to be no documentary or testimonial evidence that an election was held there!
Loren Legarda repeats her 1998 feat as Senate topnotcher.
Francis Escudero seems to be the real topnotcher with a strong finish at No. 2.
Panfilo Lacson put in a solid performance and polled higher than the Senate President.
Manuel Villar returns to the Senate with a fresh mandate and bright prospects for higher office.
Francis Pangilinan survives election as an independent, though the Party of Sharonians helped.
Noynoy Aquino finishes in the middle of the peloton, thanks in part to Kris and Cory Aquino.
Edgardo Angara survives the ASO jingle with a clear message of optimism and education. There is a definite message in the defeats of his fellow turncoats Tito Sotto and Tessie Oreta.
Alan Peter Cayetano survives the nuisance candidate put up by KBL and coddled by Comelec.
Joker Arroyo squeaks in as the lone true Administration candidate.
Gringo Honasan returns to the Senate, but Erap is pissed off at him.
Awaiting proclamation in the eleventh spot is Sonny Trillanes, leader of the Oakwood Mutiny, whose winning candidacy may be the most significant story of the midterm elections. I think his is a case of Trial by Election ("The spring cannot rise higher than the source."). The logic here is that the People have elected him Senator as a sign of disapproval of his long-running detention for his role in the Oakwood Mutiny. Four long years have passed and the Government has not convicted him of mutiny, rebellion or anything else. Now the people have apparently spoken.
In 12th place is Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III battling it out with Migs Zubiri, in thirteenth place and the last Administration candidate with a chance to be elected Senator. I heard Migs tell Pinky Webb on tv today that he thought Sonny Trillanes' 11th place win was secure, but felt that he could still overtake Koko Pimentel once the uncounted certificates of canvass are processed.
The pending 8-2-2 finish in favor of GO vs TU and Independents, was NOT predicted by the two major survey firms SWS and Pulse Asia, both of whom predicted a 6-4-2 finish. But neither Ralph Recto nor Tito Sotto won as predicted by the surveys and exit poll. The Trillanes victory came out of nowhere.
Interesting tally by Sen. Serge Osmena talking to Ricky Carandang is that there will be 15 Opposition senators in the 14th Congress. Out of 23, because incumbent Sen. Alfredo Lim will be taking over as Mayor of the City of Manila.
It looks like we have the "Hanging Senate."
4 comments:
Zubiri must be hoping that Gloria could do another "Hello" but this time to Abalos to finally "win" over Pimentel Jr.
Unwittingly, media has been softening the blow by going the way of Abalos, i.e., 2 million votes uncounted, uncanvassed or whatever for public to accept that Zubiri win is inevitable.
Call me an eternal cynic but I won't believe Comelec will be honest at all - they will give Gloria a Zubiri win; don't believe Abalos isn't up to something sinister.
The Pimentel-Zubiri toss-up is a very interesting scenario.
These young bright stars are both from and representing Mindanao, and both have very pretty wives.
And that is where the similarities probably end.
Koko was born in Cagayan de Oro as was his father. He still has a sibling there who I believe practices medicine. And maybe another sister. But beyond that his local connections are limited and as I understand it he has some difficulty speaking the dialect. But the Pimentel family is as Cagayanon or Mindanaoan as they come.
On the other hand, Zubiri's family comes from neighboring contiguous Bukidnon to the south. But as I understand it, the family started living in Bukidnon when their first sugar central was built there, sometime during the 70's if I recall cirrectly. The father is now still governor of the province. But where did Migs grow up and go to school? I do not know.
Correct me if I am wrong, but did not Migs Zubiri attend UP at Los Banos?
Not sure about Migs' educational background but it certainly makes for an exciting photo finish. One factoid is that he was the Congressman who passed the most bills during the 13th Congress. Koko appears to be a chip off the old block, something both good and bad.
MBW, Migs mentioned the results of the SWS and PUlse surveys which do show him leading over Koko in Mindanao polls.
That is not to say TU has not cheated in that area, but it may be a case where Migs could have have won honestly in this particular contest with Koko, but his fate is really all caught up with that of the rest of Team Unity.
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