Mayor Digong Duterte won by a landslide victory- riding on the backs of a population hungry for radical change in the way they have been living the past decades.
Unofficial but complete (more than 90%)results from the PPCRV showed Duterte getting  15,219,571 votes, followed by LP bet Mar Roxas ( 9,164,292 votes), senator Grace Poe ( 8,528,577 votes) , vice president Jojo Binay ( 5,054,862 votes) and senator Miriam Santiago ( 1,365,626 votes). This ranking tallied with the usually accurate “exit interview” conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
At the stroke of midnight last night ,senator Poe called Duterte to concede the fight and called a press conference in Quezon City. The rest are expected to do the same any time soon.
The winds of change came like a whirlwind with a city LGU executive from far away Mindanao sweeping the voter landscape with about 40% plurality vote against a formidable set of rivals made of a vice president, two senators and a former senator- cabinet secretary.
The results also showed that political machinery is not always the answer in a presidential fight since the PDP -Laban of Duterte had a miniscule organization compared to the LP and the NPC.
While the presumptive president had called for a “healing phase’- he has committed to smash criminality and corruption in six months before his people. The wave of rising expectation must be fulfilled or it can be Duterte’s undoing.
But he has to stay within the bounds of law or else the backlash from local and international parties can be more vicious than the strong medicine of Duterte.
The Vice- presidency,as the exit polls confirmed, is a tight race with senator Leni Robredo garnering ( 13.317Mvotes) and Sen Bongbong Marcos ( 13.161.M votes) as of the latest PPCRV results.
The scorching finale was due to the machinery of Leni’s LP versus a young voter profile half of which do not have an inkling about the ravages of Martial Law under the reign of Ferdinand Marcos.
Based on the last PPCRV results, 6 LPs, 3 independents, one NPC, one UNA and one Gabay Puso party are within the Winning 12 circle for senator.
The surprise second-placer is TESDA Man Joel Villanueva-enjoying the same smashing popularity of Grace Poe when she topped the 2013 senate race from nowhere. The other winners are: Drilon (1st place) Sotto, Lacson, Gordon, Zubiri, Hontiveros , Pangilinan, Pacquiao, Recto and Delima. Angling for the 12th slot are Osmena and Tolentino.
People are watching the newly -elected senators and congressmen whether they will stay within their parties or will jump over to the new PDP Laban administration party.
Computerized election, the fidelity of teachers to their duty and citizen vigilance had made the national elections truly representative of the people’s will.
Let’s make this nation go forward from here on- whoever the winners are.
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