Entrepreneurial Farmer

Ambrosio R. Villorente

Top Winning Senators 

Have Common Link With FPJ

The proclamation of the first six winning candidates in the 2013 Senate race was a victory not only for the senators-elect but also for the late action star Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ).

The five early victors in the May 13 senatorial polls had links with the actor-turned-politician who lost his Malacanang bid to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 2004 presidential election.

The link is obvious for former censors chief Grace Poe-Llamanzares, FPJ’s adopted daughter. She has been leading the race since official canvassing began until the Comelec declared her on top among the 12 winners. 

A nostalgic Poe attributed much of her victory to her father’s name. It’s as if FPJ himself wrote the screenplay for this,” Poe said.

Poe admitted many of those who voted for her were Filipinos who felt that FPJ was robbed of his rightful claim to the presidency in the 2004 election.

FPJ’s camp accused Arroyo of rigging the presidential elections in 2004 amid what was popularly dubbed the “Hello Garci” scandal.

But Poe was not the only candidate who basked in FPJ magic in the Senate race. Senator Loren Legarda, who won a third term in the May 13 election was FPJ’s running mate in the 2004 polls.

“It’s really a vindication for FPJ,” Legarda said after she was named one of the senators-elect.

The veteran senator, Loren Legarda, earlier congratulated Poe for winning the elections, adding that she will surely do good in the Senate.

The two other candidates who bagged sure seats in the Senate only three days after the polls are FPJ’s spokespersons when he ran for president.

These are Senators Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Alan Peter Cayetano, who both won second terms in the May 13 senatorial polls.

Escudero and Cayetano ran for senator in 2013 alongside FPJ’s daughter Grace under the administration-led slate Team PNoy.

Even Nancy Binay, the only candidate from the United Nationalist Alliance in the partial list of proclaimed winners, may be linked to FPJ.

Binay is the daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay, FPJ’s campaign manager during the 2004 elections.

Although not a winner in the Senate race, Comelec chief Sixto Brillantes Jr. was election lawyer to FPJ and Loren Legarda during the 2004 elections.

The sixth candidate whose early victory was announced by the poll body is Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara. 

Angara, A surprise Senate Winner

Team PNoy campaign manager Sen. Franklin Drilon admitted the administration coalition was surprised by the unexpected good performance of Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara in the recent senatorial election.

Drion expected Angara to be at No. 9 or 10 which exceeded his expectations.

Throughout the campaign period, the son of Senator Edgardo Angara usually placed from 8th to 10th in senatorial surveys conducted by Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia.

But in the Comelec official and final count, Angara is ranked 6th finally. Angara placed No. 6 also in Aklan Drilon commended the Harvard University graduate for projecting himself as “the one who will continuously work on policies to improve our education system.”

Drilon emphasized Angara’s rise in the senatorial count is more surprising than the good performance of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s daughter in the senatorial race. /MP