ILOILO CITY, Philippines – The Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial candidates kicked off their campaign in the Visayas in the City of Love, Iloilo City, on Thursday, February 13. It was two days after a “show of force” in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s home province, Ilocos Norte.
Many supporters and allies joined the Visayas campaign kickoff at the Vera Park in the Gaisano Capitol Grounds, mostly clad in red, white, and blue, which the Marcos senatorial bets have also adopted in their campaign paraphernalia.
The entire province of Iloilo holds a very important share of the Western Visayas vote — 1.6 million voters, based on 2022 data estimates from the Commission on Elections, ranked second most vote-rich province in the region after Negros Occidental, and eighth nationwide.
The choice of Iloilo for the administration coalition’s Visayas campaign kickoff is not just to woo voters favors in a vote-rich area but is also a nod to filial roots.
We have history
The father of First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos father, Olympian basketballer Manuel Ledesma Araneta Jr., hails from Iloilo City. His parents, Manuel S. Araneta and Rosario Ledesma, belong to influential families who originate from the Jaro district in Iloilo and parts of Negros Occidental.
Prior to competing in the 1948 Summer Olympics in England’s capital, London, he played for Mapua Institute of Technology, Far Eastern University, De La Salle University, and later for Philippine Air Lines, according to records from the Philippine Olympians Association (POA).
“He was a player of the Colegio de San Agustin in Iloilo before the outbreak of World War II,” the POA’s website read.
Araneta is a first cousin of Judy Araneta-Roxas, the mother of Mar Roxas, the 2016 Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer and former Capiz 1st District congressman. As such, the First Lady and Mar are second cousins.
As for the First Lady, she teaches at the West Visayas State University (WVSU) College of Law where she was conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in June 2024.
One member of Marcos’ Senate slate, Camille Villar also has an Ilonggo connection, from the paternal side of her clan.
“Ang aking lolo na si Manuel Montalban Villar ay isang fisherman mula sa Cabatuan at sa Miagao (My grandfather, Manuel Montalban Villar, is a fisherman from Cabatuan from Miagao),” Villar said in her campaign speech.
Cabatuan is a town in the 3rd District of Iloilo, while Miagao is in the 1st District.
According to a 2009 Philstar report quoting Villar’s grandmother, Curita Villar, her grandfather was an inspector at the Bureau of Fisheries. Former House Speaker Manuel Villar’s website confirms that his father was a government employee.
Even with her familial ties to Iloilo, Villar’s family has spent over P1.25 million from November 2024 to January 2025 alone on Facebook advertisements targetting Western Visayas votes.
The payer of these ads is identified to be real estate investment company Fine Properties Incorporated, chaired by Manny Villar.
Wooing the pinks
In the 2022 national elections, the tandem of Leni Robredo and Kiko Pangilinan, carrying the Liberal Party banner, topped the presidential and vice presidential races in the province.
Robredo received 579,525 votes over Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s 374,144 votes while Pangilinan got 448,171 votes over Sara Duterte’s 364,898 votes. In Iloilo City, in particular, Robredo got 149,256 votes and Pangilinan, 107,465 votes. Marcos got 85,117 votes and Duterte, 92,946 votes.
In the 2022 campaign, Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. and Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas sided with Robredo. The Ledesmas and Aranetas also campaigned for the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem.
But after the falling-out between Sara Duterte and the First Lady in early 2024, Iloilo and Bacolod mayors, including Treñas empathized with the President’s wife who expressed disappointment over the Vice President’s attendance in rallies critical of the Marcos.
On the campaign again trail three years later, Treñas joined the Alyansa kickoff rally in his city with local party Team Uswag.
Prior to the rally, Treñas told reporters on Monday, February 10, that he believed there were sufficient grounds to impeach the Vice President. Iloilo 3rd District Representative Lorenz Defensor, the Iloilo governor’s son, is one of the prosecutors in Duterte’s impeachment trial.
While it seems that Marcos and his slate have garnered the support of some of Iloilo’s public officials, there’s still the question of how they will woo voters who had thumbed down Marcos in the 2022 race.
Asked about their strategy, ACT-CIS Representative Erwin Tulfo told Rappler that administration coalition would present themselves as “additional options” to the incomplete slates of other parties like the Liberal Party.
“There’s an option to add one of our own,” Tulfo said in a mix of English and Tagalog.
“Just look at the individual candidates, the line-up, not exactly the whole Alyansa…did they perform? Did this one hit back at the LP back then or were they quiet when Manang Leni was the VP or was this candidate supportive?” he added. – Rappler.com