Kiko, Chel: Surveys make campaign fund raising difficult

MANILA, Philippines — Surveys may be mere “snapshots” of voter preferences in a particular period, but they make it difficult to raise funds for those who rank low, according to two candidates who have achieved stunning wins in the midterm elections.

Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, who placed fifth in the Senate race, said campaign donors are typically “sigurista” or want sure winners, and place their bets on early frontrunners as shown in pre-election surveys.

Speaking to The Philippine STAR’s online show “Truth on the Line” last Thursday, Pangilinan said that with his surprise win, he has been approached with offers of help by some people who did not contribute to his campaign.

Chel Diokno, the first nominee of Akbayan party-list, which topped the party-list race confirmed the impact of surveys on campaign fund raising.

But Diokno told Truth on the Line yesterday that this behavior of campaign donors was expected and has been the norm in previous elections.

Both Pangilinan and Diokno urged pollsters to review what went wrong in their pre-election surveys, which showed Pangilinan and Akbayan outside the winning circles.

Because of the surveys, both candidates and their relatives and supporters were stunned by the outcome of the elections.

Both credited their surprise wins to young voters. The two said youth voters’ preferences appeared to have been missed by the pollsters.

The heads of Pulse Asia and OCTA Research have said they are reviewing what happened in their polling for the 2025 midterm elections.

They have described surveys as “snapshots” and refute criticism that the polls result in trending or mind conditioning of voters.

From nearly being removed from the ballot in 2022, Akbayan has completed a remarkable turnaround – emerging as the top-performing group in the 2025 party-list race.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) previously sought to delist Akbayan after its failure to secure a House seat in 2022.

However, a Supreme Court decision affirming the cancellation of An Waray’s registration allowed Akbayan to retain its status.

Three years later, it leapfrogged pre-election frontrunners such as ACT-CIS and 4Ps to claim the No. 1 spot in the official results.

In the final Social Weather Stations survey for the 2025 cycle, Akbayan landed at No. 16 – its highest position after languishing in the 33rd to 34th ranks in December 2024.

That rise, though statistically expected to yield only one seat, ultimately translated into three, following the group’s strong showing at the polls.

Human rights lawyer Diokno, the son of former senator Jose Diokno who failed in his 2019 and 2022 Senate bids, is now assured of being a congressman.

Akbayan, which was formed in 1998, anchored its campaign on messaging discipline, evidenced by the party-list’s viral tagline, “Pag mahal mo, Akbayan mo.”

“The tagline is very aligned with our track record at Akbayan,” Diokno told Truth on the Line.

“We have long embraced the Filipino people by legislating bills that promote justice and are humane,” the lawyer stressed.

Diokno, who served as the party’s first nominee to boost youth engagement, was joined by second nominee Rep. Perci Cendaña and third nominee Dadah Kiram Ismula, an indigenous people’s advocate.

All three are set to take office in the incoming Congress after Akbayan garnered 2,779,621 votes, according to official results from the Comelec.

“We became more active on social media. Our communications team had a fusion of different social media platforms. I also had a lot of engagements with the youth,” the lawyer shared.

With youth support playing a decisive role in the victory, Diokno said he would prioritize education reforms in the upcoming legislative session.

Among his priorities are increasing the education budget to six percent of the country’s gross domestic product, in line with United Nations recommendations, and addressing the nationwide shortage of classrooms and learning facilities.

However, Diokno’s first assignment in Congress delves into a politically sensitive issue – the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.

He and incoming representative Leila de Lima have been tapped by House Speaker Martin Romualdez to serve as prosecutors in Duterte’s Senate impeachment trial set for June.