Sara vows ‘powerful opposition’ with PDP’s only 3 apparent Senate winners
Vice President Sara Duterte admitted being disheartened by the initial results of the May 12 senatorial elections, which showed only three of the 10 candidates fielded by her father’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) likely to make it to the Top 12.
But despite the weak showing, Duterte on Monday night called on the public, “regardless of background or past affiliation,” to “stand with us” in forming a strong opposition bloc in the last three years of the Marcos administration.
A partial and unofficial tally from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) transparency server showed three Duterte allies—reelectionists Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Sagip Party list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta—remaining in the so-called Magic 12 on Tuesday.
Leading all the candidates as of 3:16 p.m. was Go with 26,471,880 votes. At third place was Dela Rosa with 20,257,300 votes and Marcoleta ranked sixth with 14,900,558. The results are based on 97.28 percent of votes transmitted from various polling precincts nationwide.
PDP-Laban is chaired by former President Rodrigo Duterte, who was arrested on March 11 and handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague in the Netherlands on the charge of committing murder as a crime against humanity over the thousands killed during his six-year crackdown on illegal drugs.
Outside the Top 12 based on the PPCRV tally are the other PDP-Laban candidates: lawyers Jimmy Bondoc, Jayvee Hinlo, Raul Lambino; doctor Richard Mata; actor Phillip Salvador and detained televangelist Apollo Quiboloy.
Vice President Duterte said “this is not the end [but] a renewed beginning.”
The onetime Marcos ally and running mate in the 2022 presidential race, who now faces an impeachment trial in the Senate set to begin in July, vowed to put up a “powerful and principled opposition.”
“I acknowledge the results of the election and express my deep gratitude to all the supporters who stood with us throughout this journey,” she said in a statement issued on Monday night as the initial poll results came in.
Impeachment trial
“While the outcome was not what we had hoped for,” Duterte said, she would continue to push for her advocacies and be a part of a “strong and constructive” opposition.
Impeached by the House of Representatives in the 19th Congress in February, Duterte is facing a Senate impeachment court composed of a new set of senators under the 20th.
She was accused of bribery, graft and corruption and culpable violation of the Constitution in connection with the alleged misuse of confidential funds given to the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education (DepEd), the latter she headed as secretary from 2022 to 2024.
The composition of the incoming Senate is seen as crucial to her political future as an expected contender in the 2028 presidential race.
A two-thirds vote in the Senate serving as an impeachment court is required for a conviction, which would perpetually disqualify an official from holding public office.
Bato thanks ‘protest’ vote
A grateful Dela Rosa on Tuesday said he owed his good showing in the tally to voters who continued to protest the “kidnapping” of ex-President Duterte that led to his detention at the ICC.
“I thank our countrymen for helping me get back to the Senate. Thank you so much and I am so grateful that they supported us,” Dela Rosa said.
“Our rise in the election results truly came with a very heavy price and that is the freedom of [former] President Duterte; with this, we were really propelled in the surveys after they arrested and brought President Duterte to The Hague,” he added.
“With this high number of votes that we have received, these are protest votes coming from the people who are very much aggrieved about what happened to former President Duterte,” he said.
‘Guerrilla operations’
Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police chief before entering politics, was one of the ranking law enforcement officials also investigated by the ICC for the drug war killings.
He attributed his good showing in the polls to his “guerrilla-style” campaign, which had him touring the country amid reports that he would be arrested next by the ICC.
“It was so difficult to get support from (local government units) whose officials were worried about earning the ire of the administration, so I had to resort to guerrilla operations,” he said.
“It was difficult to borrow planes or helicopters to go around, so I had to ride my motorcycle as I went around the Philippines,” he said. “I am happy our guerrilla operations paid off.”
