Well, this isn’t surprising.
Google released its Year in Search report yesterday and it found that in the Philippines, two of the most searched terms were “lotto results” and “NBA Playoffs 2018.”
Google broke down the top searches in several categories, such as News, Events, TV Shows, and Movies, among others. “Lotto results” topped the searches for News while “NBA Playoffs 2018” topped Events.
“Lotto results” probably came out on number one because a few months ago almost everyone in the country went crazy after the grand prize for UltraLotto reached more than PHP1.18 billion (more than US$19.344 million), the highest pot money to date.
People kept regular tabs on what the winning numbers were every time there was a draw — which explains why so many people were Googling for updates.
The popularity of “NBA Playoffs 2018” isn’t surprising either. The Philippines is a basketball-loving country and the NBA playoffs and finals were two of biggest sporting events of the year. In fact, “NBA Finals” was the third most-searched under the Events category after “World Cup,” which happened this year.
Meanwhile, other highly-searched terms under News included “DFA online appointment,” “SONA 2018,” and the phrase “walang pasok” (“no classes”).
If you’re wondering what “DFA online appointment” is about, it’s a website where people register for their passport application.
DFA stands for Department of Foreign Affairs, the government agency responsible for giving and renewing passports. Earlier this year, people were unable to secure appointments for their applications, allegedly due to extremely high demand.
“SONA” stands for State of the Nation Address, the president’s annual speech before a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Philippines.
People were probably searching for “walang pasok” because classes are often suspended in the wake of floodings and typhoons, which happens pretty often in all parts of the country.
Other search terms which topped Google’s list were the television shows “Meteor Garden 2018,” “Halik” (“Kiss”), and movies Bohemian Rhapsody and The Nun.
Google also released a really cool video showcasing the most important events and personalities of 2018. Watch it below.
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