Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has the Senate. The ongoing tally of yesterday’s midterm elections shows that a majority of those likely to win the 12 available national Senate seats are allied with the controversial head of state. This includes Cynthia Villar, who is currently number one in the polls, based on partial, unofficial results aggregated from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) data as of 9:16am today. She currently has 24,299,170 votes based on 93.91 percent of Election Returns, a report generated by vote-counting machines in polling precincts that show the counts for national and local elections. Duterte campaigned for Villar, who is a part of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) alliance formed by first daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. Senatorial candidates currently in the top 14 include: Cynthia Villar Grace Poe Bong Go Pia Cayetano Bato de la Rosa Sonny Angara Lito Lapid Imee Marcos Francis Tolentino Koko Pimentel Bong Revilla Nancy Binay JV Ejercito Bam Aquino Of the 14, 10 candidates are part of HNP. At the bottom of the list is Aquino, the only member of the opposition Liberal Party to rank in the top 14. Controversial figures likely to join the Senate are Imee Marcos, daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos; former police chief Bato de la Rosa, who launched the war on drugs; Duterte’s former aide Bong Go; and former Senator Bong Revilla, who was accused of stealing taxpayers’ money in the pork barrel scandal of 2013. With a landslide by the Duterte camp likely in this year’s polls, the president will soon have influence over all branches of the government. Of the 12 incumbent senators who did not have to run for re-election and will retain their seats until the next presidential elections in 2022, at least three openly support Duterte. This makes the majority of the Upper House Duterte allies now. Duterte gained control of the House of Representatives and the military soon after he became president in 2016. The ouster of Duterte critic and then-Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno last year was also seen as a way of gaining control of the Supreme Court (SC). Of the 14 SC justices today, seven were appointed by Duterte. The results from yesterday’s polls indicate that it’s about to get even easier for Duterte to execute his plans for the country, which include continuing the deadly drug war that has killed thousands, bringing back the death penalty, and changing the constitution. This article, Duterte allies win big in 2019 Philippine Senate race , originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters!<doc-sep>MANILA, Philippines — The 2019 midterm elections could be described as a “Duterte avalanche” based on how administration-backed senatorial bets fared in partial and unofficial results, reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara said Wednesday. “It’s kind of a Duterte avalanche. I think if you look at the results I think that would summarize it,” Angara said in an interview over ABS CBN News Channel when asked to share his thoughts on the 2019 polls. ADVERTISEMENT He noted how none of the opposition bets were able to enter the Magic 12, adding that those were not endorsed by the administration would likely be members of the Senate majority of the 18th Congress. READ: 8 bets in unofficial Magic 12 backed by PDP-Laban, HnP “If you look at the winners, the opposition did not produce a single candidate and the three non-members of the admin coalition, whether HNP and PDP-Laban, were also probably members of the majority,” the senator said. Angara himself, who is endorsed by the administration, placed sixth in the partial and unofficial results, garnering more than 17 million votes, based on the latest update of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV). Other candidates endorsed by President Rodrigo Duterte who were able to secure a spot in the Magic 12 were former presidential aide Bong Go, former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Bato dela Rosa, reelectionist senators Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Cynthia Villar, former presidential adviser for political affairs Francis Tolentino, Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, and former Ilocos Norte governor Imee Marcos. READ: https://www.inquirer.net/elections2019 Angara, however, dismissed the “balimbing” or turncoat tag against him, saying that he has been a member of the same party ever since. “They probably assumed I was member of Liberal Party because I was elected on the Noynoy coalition in 2013,” he said. “They tend to think simply in terms of admin and opposition. They don’t know that this is a multi-party system with six or seven parties and every three or six years, nira-rumble rumble yan and the coalition kind of disassemble and assemble again,” Angara explained. ADVERTISEMENT He also explained he sided with the administration during the 2019 elections because he wanted to “work constructively” with the Duterte administration since he “liked” what the government did in its first three years. Independent or ‘Yes’ Senate? It’s difficult to say that the 18th Congress would become a “Yes” Senate even as eight administration-backed candidates are poised to claim Senate seats, Angara said. He pointed out that the Duterte administration already has a “supermajority” of 17 senators, yet it hasn’t been “smooth sailing” for bills that is pushed by the administration. “No. It’s difficult to say that. Don’t forget, the President has already a supermajority of 17 senators,” the senator said when asked if the incoming 18th Congress senators will become “Yes” legislators to the President. “It hasn’t really been smooth sailing with all these bills which were initially pushed by the President because they’re tackled on their own merits and senators tend to have their own positions,” he added. (Editor: Jonathan P. Vicente) Read Next<doc-sep>MANILA, Philippines — Veteran election lawyer Romy Macalintal — who ran under the Otso Diretso slate — accepted defeat in the Senate race Tuesday, as his fellow opposition bets struggle to enter the Magic 12. With 93% of election returns counted, Macalintal ranked 26th as of 7:40 a.m. with 3.8 million votes, making him among the first senatorial candidates to concede defeat. “From the results coming from all the clustered precincts, it is clear that a great majority of our voters have chosen other candidates. And I respect their decision as I concede defeat in this senatorial race,” Macalintal said in a statement. “I sincerely congratulate all the winners who were so fortunate to get the trust and confidence of the people to serve for six years as their Senators,” he added. The lawyer represents Liberal Party stalwart and Vice President Leni Robredo in the electoral protest filed by defeated vice presidential candidate and former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. The Presidential Electoral Tribunal is conducting a ballot recount on Marcos' selected pilot provinces. Macalintal earlier said he would push for the rights of senior citizens and persons with disabilities if elected senator. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral RESULTS: The Senatorial Race<doc-sep>MANILA, Philippines — A tight race looms for the last three slots in the so-called Magic 12 of the senatorial elections, as shown by the latest Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) tally on its transparency server. In a PPCRV update on Tuesday morning, re-electionist Sen. Nancy Binay was at 10th place with 13,785,323 votes, while Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, or a total of 13,784,052, trailed her by a mere 1,271 votes. ADVERTISEMENT At 12th place was former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. with 13,729,911 votes — or 54,141 shy of Pimentel, while Sen. JV Ejercito is at the 13th spot with 13,541,625. He trailed Revilla by 188,286 votes. Sen. Bam Aquino, meanwhile, occupied the 14th slot, with 13,431,959 votes. Thes figures came from the second update after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) failed to transmit the tally of votes to the transparency server, mainly because of glitches. Earlier, it was reported that Sen. Nancy Villar was leading the race, followed by Sen. Grace Poe, former special presidential assistant Christopher “Bong” Go, Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, former Bureau of Corrections chief Ronald dela Rosa, Sen. Sonny Angara, former Sen. Lito Lapid, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, and former presidential political assistant Francis Tolentino. RELATED Villar leads Senate race – PPCRV partial unofficial results Comelec transparency server glitch delays release of partial poll results 80% of poll results are in, no issue with transmission – Jimenez (Editors: Alexander T. Magno, Abe Cerojano) Read Next<doc-sep>
Updated at 7:20 a.m., May 14, 2019, to reflect the latest tally Originally posted at 5:58 a.m., May 14, 2019 ADVERTISEMENT MANILA, Philippines — Senator Cynthia Villar remained on top of the unofficial and partial senatorial race tally on Tuesday, hours after the voting precincts closed at 6 p.m. on Monday, according to the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) transparency server. If no major shake-up happens in the remaining 6,244 polling precincts, then eight of the 12 winning candidates — including Villar — would be candidates endorsed by the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban, the party of President Rodrigo Duterte, and the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP), the regional party set up by presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. Besides Villar, other pro-administration bets who have made it so far to the Magic 12 are former special presidential assistant Christopher “Bong” Go, Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, former Bureau of Corrections chief Ronald dela Rosa, Sen. Sonny Angara, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, former presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino, and Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. HNP endorsed another candidate, former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., who is not, however, part of the President’s line-up. As of 5:48 a.m. Tuesday, Villar was still leading with 24,139,134 votes, followed by: Grace Poe (21,122,345) Bong Go (19,535,952) Pia Cayetano (18,877,343) Ronald dela Rosa (17,964,775) ADVERTISEMENT Sonny Angara (17,365,309) Lito Lapid (16,215,644) Imee Marcos (15,159,699) Francis Tolentino (14,728,081) Koko Pimentel (13,943,067) Nancy Binay (13,925,364) Bong Revilla (13,909,105) Voter turnout was 70 percent — that is, 44,822,648 voted out of 63,662,481 registered voters. These results came from 92.89 percent of the transmittals — that is, 81,607 out of 87,851 vote counting machines Race for last slots In the race for the last three spots, Revilla padded his lead over 13th placer JV Ejercito, getting ahead by 229,208 votes, from 209,663 as of 3:45 a.m. Revilla also trimmed Binay’s lead from 36,353 to 16,259. Pimentel maintained his hold at the 10th spot, leading Binay by 17,703 votes. RELATED PPCRV tally shows tight race for last 3 Senate seats Revilla slightly widens lead over Ejercito in battle for last Senate seat Villar leads Senate race – PPCRV partial unofficial results Read Next