A last minute appeal by Megastar Sharon Cuneta for voters to pick her husband, reelectionist Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, could be one of the factors that pushed Pangilinan to the top 5 of the Senate race, a political analyst said Tuesday.

Edmund Tayao, president of the Political Economic Elemental Researchers and Strategists, said Cuneta’s appeal questioning the disinformation campaign against her husband resonated with voters who might have had second thoughts about choosing the former senator.

“Kay Kiko, medyo corny but ‘yung paglabas ni Sharon na: ‘Bakit ayaw niyo kay Kiko?’ It resonated,” he said in an ABS-CBN News interview.

Cuneta earlier lashed out at disinformation videos making fun of Pangilinan for eating rice on a pot lid. Pangilinan explained that in his father’s home province of Pampanga, rice is sometimes eaten with carabao’s milk and salt, which is what he was doing.

Tayao said the strong showing of opposition candidates Pangilinan and Bam Aquino could be a “correction” after populist candidates dominated the polls since 2016. He noted voting behavior has been consistent since the 1987 election, swinging from the well-educated candidates to celebrities and then back.

“If you look at voting behavior from the 1987 election, consistent. At first they vote for the well educated, lawyers, professionals and those who had a name during the EDSA Revolution. It continued in 1992. 1995 nagsawa na sila sa magagaling at nag-aral na kandidato. Nagsimula na pumasok ‘yung mga artista and the height was in 1998 for obvious reasons, because the president himself was an actor,” he said.

“[Joseph Estrada] being an actor was the [deciding] factor there. Atsaka hindi lang siya ang nanalo, hanggang baba halos lahat puro artista nanalo sila,” he added.

Tayao said there was a correction in the 2001 elections, with personalities connected to coup attempts winning the polls. “So naghahanap ‘yung mga tao ng iba na makikita nila. Kumbaga sa pagkain, ibang putahe naman, for them to be able to perhaps balance issues…So may correction na naman na nangyayari ngayon,” he said.

He added that voters who are given the right information will always make the right choice.

“Pag binigyan mo ng bala ang mga botante, in other words, reliable information that they can use, as much as possible, a barrage of such kind of information, they’d really be able to make the right choice.”

“Ang problema kasi nga ang tingin ng kandidato madalas [ang] masa payak o simple lang ang kanilang gusto. Mangyari, bigyan lang ng jacket ‘yan, ayos na. Akala nila sapat na iyan para makuha ang kanilang simpatya at suporta.”

BAM ON AN UPSWING SINCE FEB

For his part, Prof. Robin Garcia, founder and chairperson of WR Numero Research, said his firm was the first to see that Bam Aquino’s candidacy was on an upward trend as early as February.

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“In the last survey, there were signs Bam was going to win. He was number 5 in Metro Manila already, which is one of the top 3 vote-rich regions including Calabarzon and Region 3. He was already number 5 in Class D, one of the biggest sources of votes and it is tough to get in there,” he said.

“Nag re-resonate siya sa Class D. And of course the youth voters, the first time voters and millennials, which is about 60 percent of all possible votes.”

Garcia noted Aquino did well in areas where internet penetration was high, which is a possible lesson learned by the opposition in the 2016 elections when social media made a huge difference.