Bam back in ‘Magic 12’ of partial, official tally

MANILA, Philippines — Re-electionist Sen. Bam Aquino on Thursday returned to the top 12 of the Commission on Elections’ partial and official count of the May 2019 senatorial race.

Aquino, the lone senatorial candidate of Otso Diretso in the winning circle, made it back to the 12th spot with 11,001,047 votes.

The Liberal Party bet also managed to enter the so-called “magic 12” on Tuesday during the first session of the National Board of Canvassers. However, he slid to the 13th place on Wednesday.

READ: JV Ejercito kicks Bam Aquino out of ‘Magic 12’ in official, partial tally

As of Thursday, the Commission on Elections, sitting as the NBOC, canvassed a total of 129 certificates of canvass out of 167. The COCs canvassed are now at 77.25%.

In the latest partial and official tabulated rankings of the senatorial race, another re-electionist, Sen. Nancy Binay, climbed to rank 11th while her fellow incumbent Sen. JV Ejercito, who broke into the 11th place of the winners' circle yesterday, fell to the 14th spot.

Ejercito was followed by his brother former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada at the 15th rank with 8,654,021 votes.

Meanwhile, former Sen. Bong Revilla backed by administration party Hugpong ng Pagbabago rose to the 13th place. Revilla is consistently in the “Magic 12” of the Comelec’s partial and unofficial tally.

The partial and official tally of the NBOC also showed that incumbent Sens. Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe maintained their leads.

Villar garnered 19,383,224 votes while Poe had 17,043,889.

They are joined by the following HNP and independent candidates in the magic 12:

• Bong Go - 15,685,847

• Pia Cayetano - 15,330,363

• Bato dela Rosa - 14,529,585

• Sonny Angara - 14,023,811

• Lito Lapid - 12,628,054

• Imee Marcos - 12,618,428

• Francis Tolentino - 11,975,435

• Koko Pimentel - 11,283,357

• Nancy Binay - 11, 041,386

The NBOC adjourned its Thursday session and would resume tabulating the remaining COCs at 10 a.m. on Friday.