SEN. Bam Aquino topped PUBLiCUS Asia’s end-of-year survey with a 54 percent net favorability rating, followed by Kiko Pangilinan (47 percent) and Risa Hontiveros (46 percent). Returning to the Senate with 20.8 million votes, Aquino’s high rating reflects a focus on education reform and transparency.
As chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Aquino slammed the slow pace of classroom construction, noting only 22 units were built this year against a 145,000-unit backlog. To address this, he is pushing the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council-priority Classroom-Building Acceleration Program Act to decentralize construction. He also championed the Cadena Act, a blockchain-based platform for real-time tracking of government contracts. Looking toward 2026, Aquino plans to push for higher teacher salaries and expanded digital learning access. / ABC