Pangilinan couldn’t believe poll results, thought it was ‘fake news’

Former Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan

MANILA, Philippines — Former Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Tuesday could not believe that he placed 5th in the partial and unofficial results of the 2025 elections.

According to Pangilinan, he even initially thought that the results he first saw regarding the number of votes he garnered was disinformation.

“I thought it was fake news. With all the fake news I received every day during the campaign, I said, ‘Is this true? Maybe it’s disinformation,’ but turned out to be true,” said Pangilinan in an online interview with reporters on Monday evening.

Pangilinan even tagged himself as the “summa cum laude” of disinformation during the campaign season, remembering the many times he was targeted with misinformation and disinformation tactics.

“When it came out I initially thought, I couldn’t believe it and confirmed when we saw it a few minutes later, the social media card that said No. 5 was legitimate,” he added.

As of 1:48 a.m. of May 13, Pangilinan remains in 5th place with 15,041,693 votes.

READ: 2025 Philippine Election Results: Partial and Unofficial Tally

These figures reflect the 79.48 percent election returns already transmitted by Comelec and of the 45,642,957 votes counted.

Pangilinan then expressed how grateful he was of his supporters, even while acknowledging that the results are not yet final.

“One hopeful outcome of how the results are turning out, The people saw the fake news spreading online but they themselves didn’t believe it.,” he added.

Plans once he’s senator

Meanwhile, Pangilinan then enumerated his priorities once he officially becomes a senator anew, starting with addressing the rising prices of food and commodities, as well as strengthening food security.

Pangilinan also vowed to ensure that the Sagip sa Saka act will be fully implemented.

“The national and local governments should be buying directly from our farmers, without public bidding. We see that many have not implemented this. So that is one, full implementation of direct purchases from our farmers and fishermen by the national and local governments so that they will raise their incomes,” said Pangilinan.

Another of his priorities, he said, is paving the way for “libreng almusal” or free breakfast—which will be done in phases from kindergarten to Grade 6 and Grade 7 to Grade 12.

“This will address hunger, it will address the quality of education and it will address income for our farmers and fisherfolks,” he said.

He also intends to increase the budget allocation for agriculture in the next few years.