Surigao del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers disagreed with the observation that administration-backed senatorial candidates in the 2025 midterm elections failed to perform well in Mindanao due to the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte. Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas campaign manager and Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco had claimed that the House’s decision to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate affected their senatorial bets’ chances of winning over voters in Mindanao. However, Barbers said this observation was “misleading and detached from the real sentiment of Mindanaoan voters,” citing that 36 out of 44 Mindanao lawmakers who signed the impeachment complaint were reelected with a clear 81.81% win rate. According to Barbers, Mindanao voters backed them because they had the spine to uphold the rule of law, and it was not a case of political suicide but rather leadership. He added that Senate campaigns are won with message, machinery, and momentum, not by shielding sacred cows from scrutiny, and if some candidates underperformed, it was because they didn’t connect enough at the national level, not because they fought for truth and transparency. Out of the 11 candidates that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. supported, six were able to secure Senate seats.
