HOW DID USWAG ILONGGO AND AAMBIS-OWA FARE IN THE POLLS?

ILOILO-based AAMBIS-OWA party-list appeared to have suffered albeit slightly in the recent elections due to the emergence of Uswag Ilonggo party-list. AAMBIS-OWA got 0.68 percent of the national vote, equivalent to 245,650 votes. Uswag Ilonggo, on the other hand, has 1.90 percent of the national vote, equivalent to 687,725 votes.

How did Uswag Ilonggo amass such a huge number of votes even if it is a neophyte in the party-list election? Its votes were almost three times the votes got by AAMBIS-OWA.

Noting that a voter is entitled to cast only a single vote for party-list, many political pundits believe that some voters likely changed their party-list preference and transferred their votes to Uswag Ilonggo.

As of this writing, Uswag Ilonggo ranks No. 8 among the 2022 elections partylists. AAMBIS-OWA, on the other hand, is No. 52. Pwerte ka layo!

In the 2019 elections, AAMBIS-OWA was No. 40, and it got 234,174 votes or 0.85 percent of the national vote.

Clearly, in this year’s polls, nanaog ranking sang AAMBIS-OWA. Be that as it may, AAMBIS-OWA is still sure to get one seat in the House of Representatives. How? Actually, party-lists that won at least two percent of the national vote are given one seat, with additional seats determined by a formula dependent on the number of votes garnered. No party-list wins more than three seats.

Here’s the clinch: If the number of sectoral representatives does not reach 20 percent of the total number of representatives in the House, parties that haven’t won seats but garnered enough votes to place them among the top sectoral parties, are given seats until all 57 seats reserved for party-lists in the House are filled. So, buenas gihapon ang AAMBIS-OWA. Congratulations! Say mo, Inday Sharon? Sir Jojo “dies-dies” laughing!