Bam Aquino on his resounding win: ‘Totally unexpected but we will take it!’

This was the reaction of newly proclaimed Sen. Bam Aquino when I congratulated him over the phone Tuesday, when 97 percent of election returns were already  in.

The results, which never wavered from the trend as early as 9 p.m. on Election Day, showed Bam in second place, after Sen. Bong Go, who surveys had all but predicted would be the topnotcher. And indeed he was, with, as of press time, a whopping 26.489 million votes and counting.

“Totally unexpected but we will take it!” he told me in an “ambush” phone interview.

His reaction is not unexpected. Bam, whose real name is Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, only placed second in one informal survey as far as I know — the Ateneo University-wide Mock Election. He placed second to come-backing senator Kiko Pangilinan.

In all other surveys, he was bringing up the rear in the winners’ column. In some surveys, he wasn’t even in the winners’ circle.

“We are overwhelmed and surprised,” he added.

He credits his stunning victory to “the youth.”

“They didn’t only vote for me, they campaigned heavily (for me),” said Bam.

Who was the first person he thanked when he realized he was winning?

His mother, Melanie.

“She’s my best campaigner,” he revealed. Bam once told me, “My parents (his father is Ninoy Aquino’s youngest brother Paul) are also achievers in their own way. But they never really pressured me. It’s just that in our house, striving hard was valued. Doing good in school was valued.”

Family friend chef Jessie Sincioco told me that on May 7, Bam’s birthday, he surprised Melanie by visiting her at a gathering she was hosting for supporters of Bam even if it was crunch time for the campaign.

“I was praying he’d get the 12th slot,” said his ate Ballsy Aquino Cruz, oldest daughter of his Uncle Ninoy. She’s the oldest of the Aquino cousins and Bam is the youngest.

“What a major bonus he got!” Ballsy added.

Bam’s aunt Babette Aquino Benoit, a tireless campaigner for her nephew, recalls that the hardest part for her was the start of the campaign.

“But Bam had clear plans on how to run his campaign,” Babette said. Eventually, she noted, contributions started to come in even when Bam was only number 15 in the surveys.” And the rest is history — the biggest election upset in recent history.

***

Sen. Kiko Pangilinan’s sister Angeli Valenciano, who was with her brother in Naga on the Saturday before elections, shared, “We just prayed for a miracle. Kiko never made it to the surveys’ Magic 12.”

But Kiko topped the surveys in all colleges and universities, together with Bam, she added.

When Kiko received a text message that he was in the Top 5 in the initial count (a position he held till the proverbial  fat lady sang), “He actually thought it was fake news!”

“The youth have spoken!” said Angeli.

“I am very happy with the results!” agreed Chesca Tuazon, a Gen Z. “Especially after the traumatic results of the 2022 elections. This election, we have big wins!”

She also quoted Rapunzel in the movie Tangled, “I see the light.”

***

In politics, power and popularity are ephemeral.

One minute, everybody wants to be associated with you, your party, and even your third cousin. The next minute, even your third cousin’s third cousin has distanced himself from you.

These realities did not bother Bam Aquino when I interviewed him in 2019, four months before the 2019 elections that Cynthia Villar topped. He didn’t make it.

Bam graduated valedictorian in grade school, high school and college at the Ateneo de Manila University. He also finished Management Engineering with summa cum laude honors.

His being in No. 14 in the pre-election SWS survey in  2019 did not dishearten him then.

“Miracles have happened many times in our country,” he said to me. “ We’re a land of miracles.” He eventually landed just as the surveys showed, in a heartbreaking spot — 14th place. So near and yet so far.

The miracle happened in 2025.

God willed it. People worked for it. The electorate realized it.

***

Bam is his own person even as he extols the Aquino name.

A former social entrepreneur, he continues to support Filipino entrepreneurs and the development of micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs.

If there are just two laws he wants his first term in the Senate to be remembered for, it would be the Free College Act and the Go Negosyo Act, he said.

Thanks to his first law — the Go Negosyo Act — there are over 580 Negosyo Centers across the Philippines providing training and mentorship, market linkage, and access to financing for Filipinos who wish to build a successful business.

A revolutionary reform principally sponsored by Bam in the Senate — the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act — made college education free in state universities and colleges (SUCs), local universities and colleges (LUCs), and TESDA-run tech-voc institutions (TVIs).

What he promised voters  in 2025 is basically what he promised them in 2013.  Trabaho, negosyo, edukasyon.

His wife Timi, who was once VP of marketing of Chowking, once described Bam as “always cheerful and happy to do anything for us, big and small. I especially love how attentive he is to his parents. Big things might include participating in the functions of their socio-civic organizations. Small things might include troubleshooting their  Netflix subscription himself or driving them to church. They are the people who’ve shown him what charity and courage look like.”

With this resounding, unexpected win in the 2025 senatorial elections and 19 laws under his belt from his past stint in the Senate, this Management Engineering summa cum laude is living up to the dignity of his name, and creating one for himself, too.

And the youth knows it. As Rapunzel said, they saw the light. *