The Philippines: Barely any opposition makes Senate ‘Magic 12’

• Barely any opposition candidate entered the top 12 spots in the 2022 Senate race, failing to leave the shadow of crushing defeat it saw after Duterte-allied candidates dominated the 2019 midterm polls.
• Reelectionst senator Risa Hontiveros was the lone opposition bet who managed to capture a seat in the upper chamber, after partial and unofficial results from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) transparency server as of 9 May 22 3:16 pm showed she garnered 15,212,781 votes, ranking her 11th among 63 candidates.
• The outcome will see a Senate dominated by allies of presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the incumbent Duterte administration.
• Majority of the candidates who made it into the 12 spots were either shared candidates of several presidential-vice presidential tandems or belonged to the Uniteam slate.
• Next to Hontiveros, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno ranked in the 19th spot, with unofficial and partial results showing he garnered 9,812,369 votes while detained opposition Senator Leila de Lima landed in the 23rd spot in the Senate race.
• Former senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV, who repeatedly clashed with the Duterte administration, rank in the 21st spot.
• The opposition’s performance in the 2022 polls is only slightly better from the results of the Senate midterm polls, where not a single one of its eight candidates managed to make it into the Senate’s Magic 12.
• This was unusual even in Philippine politics, as the last time prior to 2019 that the opposition failed to win a single legislative seat was in 1938, during the time of then-president Manuel L. Quezon, in the unicameral National Assembly.
• In the incoming 19th Congress, Hontiveros will be the only opposition senator left in the upper chamber, after Senator Kiko Pangilinan ran for vice president, reelectionist and detained Senator Leila de Lima appeared headed for loss in the 2022 polls, and outgoing Senator Franklin Drilon retires from politics.
• For her second term, Hontiveros said among her priorities is the consolidation of the universal healthcare system under the Universal Healthcare law.

External Link : https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/results-opposition-bets-senate-magic-12-2022/

External Link : https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/hontiveros-lone-opposition-bet-enter-senate-2022/