What hurt 'Alyansa' Senate bets' chances in May polls?

House quad-committee (quad-comm) chairman Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (2nd District, Surigao del Norte) has described allegations that the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte doomed the administration senatorial bets' chances in Mindanao, describing it as misleading and detached from reality.

- By ELLSON QUISMORIO

"It's misleading and detached from the real sentiment of Mind-anaoan voters," Barbers, who hails from the region, said in a statement Saturday morning, May 17.

Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco has been asserting that Alyansa senatorial bets' chances were ad-versely affected by Duterte's impeachment.

But Barbers said the results of the May 12 midterm elections "speak for themselves." "Thirty-six out of 44 Mindanao lawmakers who signed the impeachment complaint were reelected.

That's a clear 81.81 percent win rate.

If the impeachment was such a political liability, we would've been wiped out in our own districts. But we were not-we were overwhelmingly returned to office," said Barbers.

Tiangco, the campaign manager of the administration-backed Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial ticket, wasn't mentioned in Barbers' statement but the Navotas solon has blamed the impeachment as the reason for the administration senatorial bets' poor performance in Mindanao.

A total of 215 House members signed Vice President Duterte's impeachment complaint last Feb. 5. Her home turf is Mindanao as she hails from Davao City.