Kiko

Fighting the trolls

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of former president Rodrigo Duterte's popularity, the slate faced a wipeout, with none of its eight candidates entering the winning circle. Pangilinan eventually resigned as president of the Liberal Party.

Two years later, when then-vice president Leni Robredo was looking for a running mate for the 2022 race, she set her sights on Pangilinan, abandoning his reelection bid to take a shot at the vice presidency. He got trounced by then-Davao City mayor Sara Duterte by a whopping 22 million votes.

As Pangilinan staged a comeback Senate bid with his ally, Bam Aquino, he had to "stay on message" and avoid being "hard-headed" to be more palatable to the electorate.

The result? He ranks No. 5, according to partial and unofficial results.

It was a "miracle" win for the former senator, who is outside the winning circle in most pre-election surveys. The final poll of Social Weather Stations, for instance, placed him at rank 15-16.