Santiago says she tops Facebook, Twitter polls

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is arguably the most popular  senator in social media today.

Santiago, in a statement on Saturday, said that an online social media poll  showed  that she has the most number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers among her colleagues.

Santiago recorded  1.3 million Facebook fans and 649,000 followers on Twitter, a kilometric lead from her nearest competitor, Senator Francis ‘Chiz” Escudero, who has 463,699 fans on facebook and 176,118 Twitter followers.

The top  10 senators  with the most number of Facebook fans as of March 20 are:

1.                 Miriam Defensor-Santiago – 1.3 million fans

2.                 Francis “Chiz” Escudero –463,699 fans

3.                 Alan Peter Cayetano –382,480 fans

4.                 Loren Legarda –249,552 fans

5.                 Juan Ponce-Enrile –199,424 fans

6.                 Grace Poe –154,092 fans

7.                 Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III –135,019 fans

8.                 JV Ejercito –117,067 fans

9.                 Pia Cayetano –92,488 fans

10.              Cynthia Villar –92,122 fans

Santiago also dominated Twitter as the senator with the highest number of followers:

1.                 Miriam Defensor Santiago – 649,000 followers

2.                 Pia Cayetano  – 233, 000 followers

3.                 Francis “Chiz” Escudero – 176,118 followers

4.                 Bongbong Marcos – 82,918 followers

5.                 Loren Legarda – 39,841 followers

6.                 Sonny Angara– 36,914 followers

7.                 JV Ejercito – 26,728 followers

8.                 Juan Ponce Enrile – 25,972 followers

9.                 TG Guingona – 24,096 followers

10.                Bam Aquino – 23,217 followers

But Santiago noted that other senators like Senate President Franklin Drilon, Ralph Recto, Sergio Osmeña, Bam Aquino, and Juan Edgardo “Sonny”Angara did not have an official fan page but had personal Facebook pages.

Senators Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Manuel “Lito” Lapid, Ramon  Revilla Jr. , and Vicente Sotto III did not also have official or personal Facebook pages while Lapid does not have an official Twitter account.

Santiago, who is dubbed as the “social media superstar,”  has gained online popularity because of her witty pick-up lines  in delivering her fiery speeches.

After her statement on March 11  that a woman President should lead the country in 2016, an overwhelming support from netizens went her way.

In an online poll conducted by INQUIRER.net regarding her statement, Santiago ranked no. 1 with an overwhelming 83 percents of the votes, followed by Poe, with only eight percent. All the other competitiors shared a measly portion of the votes.

(Editor’s note: The list initially provided by the Office of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago did not include Senator Pia Cayetano as one of the senators with the most number of followers.  Cayetano has 233,000 Twitter followers as of March 24.)

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