By Ellson Quismorio
Reelectionist Senator Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV did respectably well in the top five provinces with the largest recorded voting populations, partial and unofficial results from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) showed.
Sen. Bam Aquino (RIO DELUVIO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Out of these five vote-rich provinces in the Philippines--Cebu (voting population: 3,082,621$, Cavite (2,148,899), Pangasinan (1,946,682), Laguna (1,903,107), and Negros Occidental (1,889,200)--Aquino only missed finishing in the Magic 12 in Cavite's Senate race.
In that province, the Otso Diretso member ended up at 13th place with 194,903 votes.
The top three senatorial bets in Cavite were his fellow reelectionist senators Cynthia Villar (898,346), Grace Poe (815,347); and former presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino (755,596).
From there, Aquino's performance in the polls would get better.
Aquino's 662,682 votes were good for 12th place in Cebu, where the Liberal Party (LP) stalwart beat out the likes of reelectionist Senator Nancy Binay and former senator and movie actor Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr.
The top three vote-getters in the Region VII province were Villar (1,328,500), former Special Assistant to the President Bong Go (1,287,449), and House Deputy Speaker Pia Cayetano (1,205,605).
Aquino was again no.12 in Pangasinan where he garnered 498,155 votes. His total was more than the votes collected by Tolentino and another reelectionist in Senator Koko Pimentel.
Pangasinan's top three were Villar (978,034), Poe (929,369), and former senator-movie actor Lito Lapid (781,723).
The LP lawmaker would have more impressive performances in Laguna and Negros Occidental as far as the electronically-transmitted poll results reaching the PPCRV were concerned.
Aquino was ninth place in Laguna's senatorial contest, with 195,278 votes garnered. The female triumvirate of Villar (815,118), Poe (784,819), and Cayetano (664,099) served as the province's top three.
Over in the Region VI province of Negros Occidental, Aquino finished an impressive third place with 561,106 votes, only behind heavyweights Villar (712,514) and Poe (630,507).
Aquino, the cousin of former president Benigno S. Aquino III, was the top finisher from the opposition slate in all five vote-rich areas.
PPCRV's partial and unofficial results of the nationwide Senate race as of 5:04 PM Friday, with a total of 86,014 clustered precinct counted showed Aquino at 14th place with 14,057,042 votes.
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