Senate bets in bottom of Magic 12 may still change

Senatorial candidates at the bottom of the "Magic 12" are still in danger of being pushed out of the senatorial race according to an expert.

According to a 24 Oras report by Mark Salazar on Tuesday, senatorial candidates at the bottom rung of the “Magic 12” list are still not certain of winning and may still be replaced as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is still waiting for over 1,000 election returns as of 4:30 p.m.

“In case magbabago, ang pwedeng gumalaw ay yung nasa 10, 11, 12, yung nasa ibaba… ‘Yun ang competitive area. Ibig sabihin, baka malaglag yung 12, may ibang pumasok. ‘Yung pwedeng mag change yung position ng 10 and 11,” said UP Diliman Doctor of Public Administration Dr. Edna Co.

(In case this changes, those in the positions 10, 11, 12 at the bottom may still change… That is the competitive area. This means, the one in 12 may be dropped and someone might come in. The positions of 10 and 11 may change.)

The bottom three positions are currently occupied by Camille Villar, Lito Lapid, and Imee Marcos, while the 13th and 14th spots are held by Ben Tulfo and Bong Revilla.

“Halos hindi naglalayo ang kanilang figures mula doon sa 10, 11, 12 so pwedeng gumalaw… Although, magkakadikit rin medyo yung nasa gitna, pero sila rin mismo yung pwedeng mag-change lang… Pero mukhang okay na sila yung 1 to 9. So yung 10, 11, 12 [ang] pwedeng gumalaw,” Co added.

(The figures from 10, 11, 12 of the "Magic 12" do not change and may still move… Although, it is a close fight in the middle but they might just change. It seems that 1 to 9 is okay. So 10, 11, 12 are the ones that may move.)

Meanwhile, Senator Bong Go at the top of the senatorial race said that he was still surprised at the results of the polls despite topping most pre-election surveys.

“Nasorpresa po tayo sa naging resulta. Referendum po ito sa amin bilang incumbent senators. Ito po yung performance rating namin kung nagtrabaho ba kami sa nagdaan na anim na taon,” said Go.

(We are surprised by the result. This is a referendum for us as incumbent senators. This is our performance rating if we really were working for the past 6 years.)

“[Salamat] sa lahat po ng sumusuporta at nagtitiwala sa akin, at of course, kay dating pangulong Duterte na naging mentor ko po sa pagseserbisyo. Itong pag-angat natin ngayon dito sa partial results, it came with a very heavy price… 'Yan 'yung freedom ni pangulong Duterte,” added Senator Bato dela Rosa, who currently places third in the polls.

([Thank you] to all the supporters that trusted me, and of course to former president Duterte who became my mentor in public service. Our current rise in the partial results came with a heavy price… This is the freedom of president Duterte.)

Bam Aquino, in second place, credited young voters for his surprising election performance.

“Very unexpected po ito… From the first day, until the last day, ang amin po talagang kabataan yung nangangampanya. First order of business, ibalik natin yung pondo para sa edukasyon,” he said.

(This is very unexpected… From the first day, until the last day, our youth really are the ones that are campaigning. First order of business, let us return the funds for education.) —Jiselle Anne Casucian/RF, GMA Integrated News

For more Eleksyon 2025 related content and updates, visit GMA News Online's Eleksyon 2025 microsite.