Aquino, Pangilinan ride a 2025 pink wave in the Solid North

Bam Aquino, poised to win as senator in a surprise Top 2 spot, also sweeps vote-rich Central Luzon

MANILA, Philippines – Comebacking senators Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino and Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, key figures of the Leni Robredo pink movement, saw a pink wave surge across the Solid North, or the bastion of the Marcoses.

Solid North is the Ilocos, Cordillera and Cagayan regions, made up collectively of 15 provinces with 6.67 million registered voters in 2025.

The wave was particularly notable for Aquino, who after struggling there in 2019, ranked in 14 out of 15 provinces in 2025.

In 2019, a race that he lost and one that wiped out the political opposition, Aquino entered the Magic 12 in only three provinces — Pangasinan (No. 12), Ifugao (No. 12), and the tiny island of Batanes where he placed number 3.

But in a stunning comeback in 2025, Aquino missed the Magic 12 only in Abra. Aquino, who is poised to finish the 2025 Senate race at number 2, said he was “very, very surprised” with the turnout.

Pangilinan, cozy at Number 5 based on a partial unofficial count, also entered the Magic 12 of Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, Benguet, Isabela, and Batanes.

Ilocos region

In Pangasinan, a province of two million voters, Aquino went from Number 12 to Number 1. Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, and Ilocos Norte make up the Ilocos region, the bailiwick of the Marcoses, where Aquino finished strong.

Aquino even placed sixth in Ilocos Norte, hometown of the Marcoses. Pangilinan placed 13th in the province.

“This is an ultimate flex,” said Ilocos Norte-Tropang Angat on Instagram, or the Kiko-Bam volunteer group in the province, the same group that campaigned there for the presidential run of Leni Robredo in 2022. The Robredo campaign color then was pink; Aquino was her campaign manager, and Pangilinan her vice presidential running mate. Pangilinan lost the 2022 vice presidential elections.

In 2019, Aquino got only 23,665 votes in Ilocos Norte, but in 2025 he got 81,792. Although a little bit more complicated to compare to Pangilinan’s case because he was running for a single vice presidential spot in 2022, it’s also worth noting that back then, he got only 7,973 votes in the province, whereas this time he got 62,784.

“Ito ba ‘yung sinasabi nilang malayo pa pero malayo na?” said the group. (Is this what they mean when they say we have a long way to go, but we’ve already gone so far?)

In Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Marcos’ estranged cousin Michael Marcos Keon, the incumbent mayor before being unseated in 2025, joined the house-to-house campaign of Tropang Angat.

Before the campaign came to an end the weekend before May 12, Pangilinan barnstormed the Ilocos region.

Central Luzon

Aquino swept Central Luzon, the second most vote rich region in the country with more than 7 million registered voters. Aquino ranked 1st in Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Zambales; 2nd in Pampanga and Bataan; and 3rd in Aurora.

This is also where Pangilinan joined the wave more prominently, ranking 3rd in Tarlac, 4th in Bulacan, 5th in Pampanga, 7th in Zambles, 8th in Nueva Ecija and 11th in Aurora.

Surveys showed that Central Luzon was a swing vote because only 20% of the voters there had completed their Magic 12 before they headed to the polls. In Bulacan, second most vote rich province in the Philippines, kakampink ally Heidi Mendoza even placed 11th.

Both Aquino and Pangilinan credited local government support in the unexpected surge of their numbers.

Data shows that Central Luzon and Solid North areas were key to the surprise victories of not just Aquino and Pangilinan, but also Rodante Marcoleta of the so-called Duter10, or the 10 senatorial bets of detained former president Rodrigo Duterte.

Central Luzon and Solid North voted Uniteam in 2022, of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte, before their bitter split heading into the midterms.

The 2025 elections is ripe with analysis points where Marcos and Duterte hold base, and where the political opposition can penetrate. – Rappler.com