‘Halalan 2022’ most searched by Pinoys this year – Google

MANILA, Philippines — Election-related topics were the most searched terms among Filipinos on Google this year, with “Halalan 2022” emerging on top of the search engine’s overall trending list in the Philippines.

Google released Wednesday night its Year in Search 2022, a compilation of lists that Filipinos looked up this year.

Aside from “Halalan 2022,” which was generally used to search for election-related information, “precinct finder” was also in third spot in the overall trending list – indicating the high number of Filipinos who used Google to find the Commission on Elections (Comelec) website and verify their election precincts.

Meanwhile, claiming the second spot from fourth last year was “VaxCertPh” or the country’s digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate, which has become a usual requirement for travel and many face-to-face engagements.

Following them in the overall trending list were web-based word game “Wordle,” Korean zombie-apocalypse series “All of Us Are Dead,” “Warriors vs Celtics,” “Ukraine,” Disney film “Encanto,” token-based online game “Axie Infinity” and American serial killer “Jeffrey Dahmer,” who was the subject of a series released on streaming platform Netflix.

In terms of news-related searches, following “Halalan 2022,” “VaxCertPh,” “precinct finder,” and “Ukraine” were “Monkeypox,” “NATO” – for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, “Gwyneth Chua,” “presidential race update,” “Ethylene Oxide,” and “Bagyong Karding update.”

Most searched male personalities were basketball player celebrity “Ricci Rivero,” American actor “Johnny Depp,” and South American actor “Park Solomon,” while the female personalities list was topped by American actress “Amber Heard,” television host and actress “Kris Aquino” and volleyball player “Deanna Wong.”

The most searched movies list was topped by “Encanto,” followed by “Incantation,” and “Eternals.” Korean series dominated the most searched television shows, with “All of Us Are Dead” on top, followed by “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” and “Business Proposal.”

“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto was the most searched song lyrics among Filipinos, followed by “Sun and Moon” and “Mahika.” Following “Wordle” and “Axie Infinity” in the most searched game-related terms was “Arceus X.”

Google also released a list of top searched losses this year, with “Queen Elizabeth II” followed by actresses “Cherie Gil” and “Susan Roces.”

According to Google, the lists were based on search terms that had the highest spike this year as compared with last year’s.

Globally, “Wordle” emerged as the most searched term, followed by “India vs England” (cricket game), “Ukraine,” “Queen Elizabeth,” “Ind vs SA,” “World Cup,” “India vs West Indies,” “iPhone 14,” “Jeffrey Dahmer” and “Indian Premier League.”

Overseas voter registration resumes

In another development, the Comelec resumes today the overseas voter registration that would allow Filipinos abroad to cast their ballots in the May 2025 midterm elections.

“All qualified Filipino citizens, who are not registered overseas voters, may file their applications for registration at any Post abroad, or at designated registration centers outside the Post, or at the designated registration centers in the Philippines,” the Comelec-Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV) said in a public post.

The OFOV said that the overseas voter registration period will run until Sept. 30, 2024.

Qualified overseas registrants are all Filipino citizens who are abroad or will be abroad during the 30-day voting period (from April 13, 2025 to May 12, 2025) and are at least 18 years old on election day.  –  Robertzon Ramirez