The breakdown of the Marcos-Duterte alliance will give an opening for the 2025 Senate comeback bids of former senators Kiko Pangilinan and Bam Aquino.

Senatorial candidates Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan hold a press conference in Iloilo on Thursday, March 6, 2025. They are joined by former Senate president Franklin Drilon. (Screenshot from Bam Aquino Facebook page)

This was a claim made by Pangilinan and Aquino on Thursday, March 6, during a press conference held shortly before the volunteer campaign kick-off for the former senators at the Iloilo Sports Complex.

“One major difference (from) 2016 and 2022... but today 'yung unity nagka problema (the unity had a problem). That gives us an opening,” Pangilinan explained, referring to the UniTeam tandem of the Marcoses and Dutertes that led to the landslide wins of President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte in 2022.

He recalled being heavily trolled and bashed for six years, adding that he was turned into a “demon” through fake claims.

“Pero ngayon, surprisingly parang hindi ganun katindi (But now, it’s surprisingly not as intense), so that’s also good for us moving forward to 2025,” he shared, adding that there’s now a “one-third” chance.

Aquino agreed with Pangilinan, both of whom branded themselves as alternatives to the administration bets and Duterte-backed candidates for the coming May 2025 polls.

“This is a very, very different campaign, iba ‘yung dynamics (the dynamics are different) but we are hoping na ang (that) Iloilo will be there to support us like before,” he said.

“So, ang tingin namin (we think) this is not going to be difficult as 2022,” he added.

The former senator explained that the “mathematics” of the presidential and senatorial elections are “different” because of how polarized the country has become.

“Because it is not a presidential campaign, ang dami naming nakikita maraming tumutulong na hindi namin kasama nung 2022 (we are seeing many volunteers who were not with us in 2022),” Aquino explained.

“2022 was even harder. 2025, people are free to vote,” he stressed.

Kiko-Bam volunteers

But what remained for Aquino and Pangilinan was the strong volunteer network they formed back in 2022 when the latter ran as vice president and the former was the campaign manager.

“Kung hindi kami makasabay sa bilyon, hindi kami makasabay sa tarpaulin, sa volunteers po lamang na lamang kami. At sa mga taong gustong gumalaw para sa amin, lamang na lamang kami (We cannot keep up with the billions [in campaign funds], we cannot keep up with the tarpaulins, but when it comes to the volunteers, we’re ahead. We’re very much ahead of the volunteers who want to campaign for us),” Aquino said.

Pangilinan chimed in by saying that their volunteers are “masigasig (zealous)” and is the only volunteer network who conducts mural painting for their candidates.

“Ang aming request sa mga volunteers nagmamahal sa amin at gusto kaming manalo hindi lang bumoto, kundi mangampanya (Our only request to our volunteers who like us to win is not only to vote for us, but to campaign for us),” Aquino emphasized.

Iloilo ‘pink’ force

Iloilo province, a longtime bailiwick of the Liberal Party (LP) to which Aquino once belonged to and Pangilinan remains a member of, delivered votes to Aquino when he ran as senator in 2019.

While he failed to enter the Magic 12, he was ranked second in votes in Iloilo City and third in the whole province of Iloilo during the 2019 midterm polls.

Both Robredo and Pangilinan topped Marcos’ and Duterte’s votes during the 2022 elections. Robredo was also the landslide winner of the 2016 vice presidential race there.

“What we saw in 2022, for example, gumalaw ‘yung mga tao para kay Leni at Kiko (people came out for Leni and Kiko), especially here in Iloilo. We want to see people come out again,” Aquino said.