By Al S. Mendoza

 

OK, Robin Padilla topped the senatorial race.

Big deal?

Was that a surprise? Stunner?

Not that much, really.

Actors always finish well in our elections.

Rogelio dela Rosa was No. 1 senator in the Fifties.

In that same era, Dela Rosa, tinsel town’s hottest hot throb then, could have won the presidential derby had he not quit in favor of Diosdado Macapagal.

Macapagal, the father of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (president from 2001 to 2010), won in 1961, beating incumbent Carlos P. Garcia.

Macapagal lost in his re-election bid to Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1965.

After becoming the country’s first re-elected president in 1969 with his controversial victory over Sergio Osmena Jr., Marcos Sr. surreptitiously skirted the presidential two-term limit by declaring Martial Law in 1972 to install himself a dictator.

The rest, as we love to say, is history.

Before Robin Padilla’s first-place finish in the May 9 election, Bong Revilla did the trick in 2010.

Interestingly, Bong Revilla, the son of the departed former senator Ramon “Nardong Putik” Revilla, was first elected to the Senate as a non-topnotcher in 2004.

But unlike Robin Padilla, Bong Revilla, also a famous actor in the action film genre, had a political track record of being vice governor of Cavite (1995-1998) and later governor (1998-2001) before he got himself appointed by Macapagal-Arroyo as chairman of the Videogram Regulatory Board from 2002 to 2004.

Robin Padilla has zero political credentials.  Not even a barangay kagawad position before catapulting himself to No. 1 in the polls just two weeks ago.

And look, Padilla is not your idea of a model citizen.

He spent time in jail for illegal possession of firearms.

He gained freedom when he got a conditional presidential pardon from then President Ramos, whose 1992 candidacy Padilla had thoroughly pushed through in tandem then with Kris Aquino.

Robin and Kris being lovebirds was an open-book item in filmlandia in the Nineties.

When Rodrigo Roa Duterte became president in 2016, one of his first actions was to grant Padilla a complete presidential pardon.

Now, what could have triggered Robin’s No. 1 finish in the last election?

Note that Robin isn’t top-movie material anymore, age having caught up with him.

Born in Daet, Camarinest Norte, Robin, whose full name is Robinhood Ferdinand Carino Padilla, is 53 years old, turning 54 on Nov. 23.

His first marriage to Liezl Sicangco in 1996 ended in 2007.  His present partner is Mariel Rodriguez, whom he married in 2010.

A father of six—one of them is famous actress Kylie Padilla—Robin, I would say, was propelled to the top by three factors.

One, as a Muslim convert, Robin surely got a big chunk of the Muslim vote.

The last time a Muslim senatorial bet enjoyed solid Muslim support was Mamintal Tamano, who won as senator several times.

Despite being a Muslim, Robin was endorsed by the Iglesia ni Cristo.  Big deal.

Early survey front-runner Raffy Tulfo didn’t get the INC nod, a major reason why he ended up third behind the INC-backed Robin and Loren.

And, finally, unlike Tulfo, Robin had the massive machinery of the Bongbong-Sara tandem, which also helped sweep to the Magic 12 all but two of the UnityTeam senatorial slate.

Some guys have all the luck.

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