Aquino on Senate return: I think we can do this
CONCEPCION, TARLAC—At the end of a grueling three-month campaign that saw him and fellow liberal opposition candidate former Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan going to every province to court voters, senatorial candidate Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV said he was optimistic about his chances of making a comeback to the chamber.
After casting his ballot around 9:30 a.m. on Election Day at Concepcion Elementary School, which is across the Aquino ancestral house, the former senator told reporters that he was “feeling very, very good …, I think we can do this.”
He refused, however, to answer more questions, except only to say that he would be monitoring the results from his house in Quezon City.
Aquino’s odds of making it into the winning circle have drastically improved, following a Pulse Asia survey conducted from April 20 to April 24 that showed him making it into the winning “Magic 12” circle by a razor-thin margin.
Close fight
But it will be a close fight for the last two spots among several candidates, including Pangilinan.
The last time Aquino was in the Senate was in 2019, the same year he ran for reelection but lost.
He and Pangilinan are hoping to return to the Senate by tapping former Vice President Leni Robredo’s “Kakampink” base, and on presenting themselves as alternative candidates to the infighting between the Marcoses and the Dutertes.
Just before Election Day, the bloc-voting sect Iglesia ni Cristo, which is estimated to command 2 million votes, said it would support Aquino and seven others in a shock endorsement that could boost his chances of snagging one of the 12 Senate seats available.
Since the campaign period began last March, he and Pangilinan have bagged endorsements from vote-rich provinces and cities that in 2022 were not as keen on supporting Robredo’s presidential run.
After casting his vote, Aquino visited the Aquino ancestral home, which has hosted several members of the family who shaped Philippine politics, including the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and his wife, former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino.
The mansion, a two-storey wooden house that sits on a one-hectare complex, is currently under the custody of the former senator’s father, Paul, brother of Ninoy. Completed in 1938, it was described by Tarlaqueño scholar Lino Dizon as the “lasting umbilical cord of the Aquino family” to Tarlac province.
The house’s caretaker, 82-year-old Lola Nena, said the last Aquino politician who lived in the house was former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, the only son of Ninoy and Cory.
