Comelec proclaims 6 GO, 2 TU, 2 indie bets as senators

The Commission on Elections proclaimed Wednesday night 10 winning senatorial candidates, including six from the Genuine Opposition, two from the administration’s Team Unity, and two independents. Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos presided over the proclamation held at the Philippine International Convention Center, CCP Complex on Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City. The ten proclaimed as senators, based on ranking, are Loren Legarda (GO), Francis “Chiz" Escudero (GO), Panfilo “Ping" Lacson (GO), Manuel Villar (GO), Francis “Kiko" Pangilinan (ind.), Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III (GO), Edgardo Angara (TU), Alan Cayetano (GO), Joker Arroyo (TU), and Gregorio “Gringo" Honasan (ind.). Twelve Senate seats were at stake in the May elections. All the winning senatorial candidates except Arroyo were present at the proclamation. Lacson, Villar, Pangilinan, Angara, and Arroyo succeeded in their reelection bids. Escudero, Aquino, and Cayetano are former members of the House of Representatives. Legarda and Honasan had also previously served as senators. They will begin their six-year term at noon of June 30. The Comelec has set aside the proclamation of the last two spots, saying it has yet to canvass 1.17 million votes from four provinces in Mindanao. On Wednesday, the poll body reset to Friday the canvassing of votes from Basilan, Lanao del Sur, and Surigao del Norte. It also declared a failure of elections in Maguindanao. At the 11th and 12th places are GO bets Antonio Trillanes IV (10,922,184 votes, as of Monday) and Aquilino “Koko" Pimentel (10,638,186), respectively. Ranked 13th is TU’s Juan Miguel Zubiri (10,510,573). Another TU bet, Ralph Recto (10,228,204), ranked 14th, has conceded defeat. Ten senators Legarda (18,069,466 votes), 47, is a former broadcast journalist who also placed first in the 1998 senatorial race. In 2004, at the end of her six-year term as senator, she unsuccessfully ran as Vice-President alongside the late presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr, an action star more popularly called “FPJ" and dubbed “The King of Philippine Movies" who was President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s closest rival. Legarda protested her loss to another former broadcast journalist, Noli de Castro, who was Mrs Arroyo’s running-mate. Escudero (17,858,416), 38, is outgoing Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. He was on his third and last three-year term as Representative of the 1st District of Sorsogon province. He is a son of Salvador Escudero, who served as Agriculture Secretary under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Lacson (15,261,999), 59, was first elected to the Senate in 2001, ranking 10th. Former President Joseph Estrada, shortly after his election in 1998, appointed Lacson to head the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (Paoctf) and later in 2001, as chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP). Lacson is a member of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1971, which has gained some notoriety for producing several officers who took part in the 1986 EDSA “people power" uprising but later led coup attempts against former President Corazon Aquino in the late 1980s. Villar (15,004,714), 58, is a reelectionist senator. Chosen Senate President in 2006, Villar has said he wants to retain the Senate presidency but may be challenged by other senators. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1998-2001. He served three consecutive terms as Representative of Las Piñas City from 1992-2001. At the start of his third term in 1998, he was elected Speaker, coinciding with the term of former President Joseph Estrada. Pangilinan (14,229,449), 43, won a fresh six-year term after first being elected to the the Senate in 2001. He ran as an independent. Although he was initially included as a “guest candidate" of the Genuine Opposition but was dropped after failing to appear in its campaign sorties. GO went on to back just 11 candidates for the 12 available Senate seats. A former broadcast journalist, he is married to Sharon Cuneta, probably the country’s most popular actress. Aquino (14,052,166), 47, served three consecutive terms as Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province from 1998-2007. He is a son of former President Corazon Aquino. Angara (12,187,255), 73, won a fresh six-year term. He joined the opposition coalition in the Senate when he was elected in 2001 but bolted to run under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration’s Team Unity ticket, He ran as Vice-President alongside Estrada in 1998 but lost to then vice-presidential candidate Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Angara again successfully ran for the Senate in 2001. He had previously served two terms as senator in 1987-1998, which included being Senate President in 1993-95. Cayetano (11,560,083), 36, served three consecutive terms as Representative of Taguig-Pateros from 1998-2007. He is probably best known as a vocal critic of First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike" Arroyo, whom he accused of stashing hundreds of millions of dollars in bank accounts overseas. Arroyo has vehemently denied the accusation. Cayetano becomes the country’s youngest senator and joins his elder sister, Pia, in the Senate, who ran under the administration coalition in 2004. Their father is the late politician Rene Cayetano, who had also been a senator. Arroyo (11,381,206), 80, is a reelectionist senator. Although a senator allied with the administration, he fiercely Mrs Arroyo’s controversial edicts last year, including the calibrated preemptive response (CPR) policy against street protesters and Executive Order 464, which barred government officials from appearing in legislative inquiries without the President’s consent. He did not attend the proclamation ceremony. (Arroyo is not related to the President’s husband.) Honasan (11,343,606), 59, is out on bail while facing coup d’etat charges before a Makati court over his alleged involvement in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny. He was previously elected senator in 1995. A former Army colonel who played a key role in the 1986 EDSA “people power" uprising, he later led several coup attempts against former President Corazon Aquino in the late 1980s. He is probably the most famous member of the PMA Class of 1971. Renegade military forces led by Honasan later signed a peace accord with the government of former President Fidel Ramos and were granted amnesty. The ten newly proclaimed senators will join 11 incumbents, namely, Rodolfo Biazon, Pilar Juliana "Pia" Cayetano, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Richard "Dick" Gordon, Manuel "Lito" Lapid, Ma. Ana Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal, Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr, Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr, and Manuel "Mar" Roxas II. Alfredo Lim, who is supposed to be only midway in his six-year term as senator, will leave the Senate after he was elected Mayor of Manila. Lim's departure means that even after all 12 vacant Senate seats are filled, the chamber would have only 23 members. -GMANews.TV