Villanueva, Hontiveros, Pacquiao seen to land in Senate Magic 12

MANILA, Philippines – Former Technical Education and Skills and Development Authority head Joel Villanueva, former representative Risa Hontiveros, boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian and former justice secretary Leila de Lima are likely to be elected as new senators and join the returning senators once the 17th Congress opens this July.

According to partial and unofficial results of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) canvass, as of 5:16 p.m. yesterday Villanueva garnered 17.637 million votes, placing second to re-electionist Senate President Franklin Drilon.

Hontiveros ranked seventh behind Sen. Vicente Sotto III and former senators Panfilo Lacson, Richard Gordon and Juan Miguel Zubiri.  

Pacquiao was at No. 8, followed by former senator Francis Pangilinan and Gatchalian to complete the top 10.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto and De Lima are holding on to the 11th and 12th slots.

Drilon, Sotto and Recto are re-electionist senators while others are old-timers.

For Hontiveros, her third run for the Senate proved to be the charm, while Villanueva deferred an earlier plan to run for senator after he got low ratings in surveys in 2013.

Pacquiao, Gatchalian and De Lima are first-timers in their Senate campaign.

Incidentally, Gatchalian, Sotto, Zubiri and Gordon campaigned under Partido Galing at Puso led by presidential bet Sen. Grace Poe and her runningmate Sen. Francis Escudero, who have both conceded.

Pacquiao ran under the United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay, who has been near the tailend of partial and unofficial poll results.

Drilon, Pangilinan, Lacson and Recto are all with the Liberal Party. Recto was also carried by Poe’s team but he never joined their sorties.