Philippine Senator Cynthia Villar finished the midterm elections in first place, based on the final tally of votes released by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) at 1:20am today.
Villar was predicted to top the senate race by a Pulse Asia survey released two days before the May 13 elections. She received 25,283,727 votes — that’s 3,253,939 more than the votes received by her Senate colleague Grace Poe, who came in at second.
In May last year, Villar was declared the Philippines’ richest senator based on her statement of assets and liabilities. A senator since 2013, she is the wife of former senator and billionaire Manuel Villar who has a net worth of US$6.2 billion (PHP325.137 billion) according to Forbes.
The COMELEC’s canvassing of votes ended after they counted the last certificate of canvas that arrived from Washington D.C., which included votes from Filipinos in the United States, reported GMA News.
Below is the final official tally of the COMELEC. Nine of the 12 of those who won are known allies of President Rodrigo Duterte.
- Villar – 25,283,727
- Poe – 22,029,788
- Christopher “Bong” Go – 20,657,702
- Pia Cayetano – 19,789,019
- Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa – 19,004,225
- Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara – 18,161,862
- Lito Lapid – 16,965,464
- Imee Marcos – 15,882,628
- Francis Tolentino – 15,510,026
- Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III – 14,668,665
- Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. – 14,624,445
- Nancy Binay – 14,504,936
The proclamation of new senators will be held today at 10am at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, reported ABS-CBN News. The COMELEC originally scheduled the proclamation yesterday but postponed it because it had to wait for election returns from overseas.
According to incoming senator Go, Duterte’s former special assistant, the president will not attend today’s proclamation, reported The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Go said Duterte will spend the day attending meetings at the Malacañang Palace.
