Back with a...Bam!

Sen. Bam Aquino: "This victory was really God’s grace."

- JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ

Sen. Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV's only big loss these days is the 20-plus pounds he has purposely shed these past few years, downsizing from an XL to an L.

Otherwise, he is seen to have posted the biggest win in the recent senatorial elections even at second place. Coming from 24th place in May 2024, he says he had realistically hoped for number 8. Landing in the top 5 never entered the conversation.

But by 10 p.m. on Election Day, he knew he was not only back in the Senate (he was first elected in 2013), he was back with a bang.

"This victory was really God's grace—there's no other way to characterize this fight. It was a leap of faith. I remember when I was in 24th place (in the 2024 surveys), I had a friend who's also a pastor who said, 'You know, sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith. And your leap of faith, it's not just faith in God, it's also faith in the people.' So I have to say now that this was really God-given. And it was so tremendous. The results were so incredible—walang ibang matingnan kung hindi iyon. So I hope I will live up to that."

With his numbers, some are already seeing him as presidential timber in 2028.

Bam quotes a poem he learned when he was still at the Ateneo de Manila.