The Genuine Opposition won nine Senate seats, while two independents also made it and only one candidate of the administration’s Team Unity (TU) won in the senatorial race in the opposition’s bailiwick in Makati City.
Results of the final tabulation conducted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Makati headed by Lawyer Shiela Rojas showed that GO bet Francis Escudero topped the Senate race in Makati garnering a total of 189,087 votes.
Former Sen. Loren Legarda was second with 166,855 votes, followed by re-electionist Senator Panfilo Lacson who got 166,167 votes.
The other senatorial candidates who made it to the Magic 12 include Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, Manuel Villar, Alan Peter Cayetano of GO, TU’s Joker Arroyo, Antonio Trillanes, Koko Pimentel, independent Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Sonia Roco of GO, and independent bet Gregorio Honasan.
The other senatorial candidates who made it to the top 20 include John Osmena, Edgardo Angara, Anna Dominique Coseteng, Ralph Recto, Miguel Zubiri, Michael Defensor, Vicente Sotto and Prospero Pichay.
Rojas said the results came from the final tabulation of votes in the 1,834 polling precincts in Makati.
Lito Anzures political adviser of Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, said that the 9-2-1 result in the senatorial race in Makati is a strong message to the Arroyo administration that the people no longer want the way President Arroyo is handling the government.
Anzures said Joker Arroyo made it to the magic 12 because of the fact that he had served as congressman of Makati for three consecutive terms.
“He (Arroyo) is really a homegrown talent in Makati having been served for three terms as congressman. We cannot feel his actions during the attempted suspension against Mayor Binay,” Anzures said.
Anzures said although Arroyo and his fellow candidates in TU, namely Angara and Zubiri belongs to the TU, they are not closely identified with the President.
In the final tally of the Comelec in Makati, Mayor Binay’s Performance Team posted a 20-0 win over the candidates fielded by the administration.
Binay has more than 170,000 vote leads against administration mayoral bet Sen. Lito Lapid.