A bloodbath for celebrities.
This is how a political scientist summed up the poor showing of TV host Willie Revillame in the senatorial race based on the partial, unofficial results aggregated from the Commission on Elections.
Prof. Cleve Arguelles of WR Numero Research said the results of the senatorial race showed frontrunner Sen. Bong Go winning big in Duterte bailiwicks, particularly in Regions 7 to 13.
On the other hand, Bam Aquino, who has ranked second, performed well in the Lingayen-Lucena corridor, garnering huge tallies in the vote-rich regions, while also topping the vote tallies in the National Capital Region, Region 3, Region 4-a, and Bicol region.
“He received 10 million votes in these vote-rich regions,” he said, adding that Aquino got the youth vote including millennials and Gen Z voters.
Arguelles said independent-minded voters in traditional Duterte and Marcos bailiwicks such as Ilocos Norte and Region 1 also carried Aquino and former senator Kiko Pangilinan.
“The infighting in the Solid North and Solid South made a pathway for them,” he said.
Erwin Tulfo and Bong Go, meanwhile, topped Region 2 and Region IV-B, followed by Aquino.
Arguelles said the survey results could be seen as a “protest vote” since only 5 administration candidates are seen as possibly winning the race.
He said Willie Revillame’s weak showing despite getting high marks in pre-election surveys was a surprising turn of events, which could mean that voters chose reformists instead of celebrities for this election.
The analyst said Revillame is not like Rodante Marcoleta who benefited from both political machinery and pro-Duterte votes.
“Hindi mo siya (Revillame) mailalagay sa progressive votes. Neither Marcos nor Duterte (or the youth vote). Mas nag re-rely siya sa celebrity. E mukhang bloodbath sa ating mga artista ‘yung elections na ito,” he said.