An Action Star outvoting a Lawyer in the 2022 Senate elections

Courtesy of Inquirer - Bandera

The senatorial elections are finally over. Robin Padilla led the 'Magic 12,' but there is one candidate who was sadly overlooked by the majority, and that is the so-called 'Woke Lolo' and youth favorite Atty. Chel Diokno.

For this article, we would be running a comparison within the two.

Chel Diokno graduated from the University of the Philippines with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy. He also graduated magna cum laude from Northern Illinois University College of Law with a Juris Doctor of Laws.

As a human rights lawyer, he is best known for being the director of the Diokno Law Center and chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG).

Diokno is running for senator in the same party with Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan.

While Robin Padilla, on the other hand, holds a bachelor's degree in Criminology from the Philippine College of Criminology, which he attained after serving time in prison.

He is mostly well-known as an action actor and that runs for the PDP-Laban Partylist, encouraging voters to elect a Muslim senator for the first time since 1995.

On May 18, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) proclaimed 12 newly-elected senators who won seats in the 19th Congress at a proclamation event in Pasay City. Actor Robin Padilla topped the Magic 12 list with 26,612,434 votes, while Chel Diokno ranked 19th with 9,812,369 votes.

After the proclamation event, netizens, especially Diokno supporters, debated whether Padilla can live up to the responsibilities of being a lawmaker or if he simply led the list due to his fame or so-called celebrity power.

Celebrities running for political office in the Philippines is nothing new, with 29 candidates winning both national and local offices just in the 2022 elections, it is evident that many Filipinos vote with “star factor” added to their criteria in voting.

In an article by Joyce Ilas, she indicated - campaign strategist Malou Tiquia said 60% of voters are from socio-economic classes D and E, who, most of the time, vote based on personality and popularity.

Although voting while evaluating a candidate's platform and track record is preferable. According to Sorita "due to economic reasons, many voters don't have time to research about candidates – and end up voting based on name recall,"

Following the loss, Diokno reassured his supporters during a thanksgiving celebration in Quezon City,

"I promise you I will never give up. This fight will never end until we win,” he quoted.