For the third straight quarter, Senator Bam Aquino emerged as the most favorable senator in Publicus Asia’s PAHAYAG 2026 Second Quarter Survey.
The survey, conducted from June 28–30, 2026, with a sample size of 1,509 respondents, showed Sen. Bam posting a 57 percent net favorable rating, with 29 percent rating him very favorable and 28 percent rating him favorable.
Aquino also registered the lowest unfavorable rating among all senators at 19 percent, giving him a net gap of +37—the highest in the survey and more than double that of the next closest senator.
Sen. Bam’s role in passing the Free College Law and securing higher budgets for public education were identified by respondents as the top achievements positively affecting his image, with 30 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
As chairperson of the Committee on Basic Education, Sen. Bam helped secure the historic P1.34-trillion budget for education under the proposed 2026 national budget—the largest education budget in the country’s history.
The amount includes P67.9 billion for the construction of 25,000 classrooms to help address the country’s 166,000-classroom backlog, as well as P37 billion for the implementation of the Free College Law (RA 10931).
He is also working for the passage of his proposed School Safety Act, a measure that seeks to strengthen safety and security in schools following the series of violent incidents and bullying in educational institutions.
Aside from his legislative accomplishments, the survey found that 60 percent of voters consider Sen. Bam independent-minded, saying he is not easily swayed in making political decisions.
As a senator-judge in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, Sen. Bam asked for transparency by making public all the evidence presented by both the prosecution and defense.
He also questioned the slow rollout of the P67-billion allocation that he helped secure in the 2026 national budget for the construction of 25,000 classrooms.
Sen. Bam is also pushing measures to assist the working and middle classes through proposals to suspend the collection of excise tax on petroleum products and reduce the value-added tax (VAT) on goods and services from 12 percent to 10 percent.
As chairperson of the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship, Sen. Bam has committed to work for the welfare of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to help them expand their market and create more jobs.
The senator previously recorded a 59 percent net favorable rating in Publicus Asia’s PAHAYAG 2026 First Quarter Survey and a 54 percent net favorable rating in the PAHAYAG 2025 End-of-Year (PEOY-2025) Survey.
In the previous two surveys, Sen. Bam also posted the lowest unfavorable rating among all senators at 17 percent in the first quarter of 2026 and 22 percent in the 2025 End-of-Year Survey.
Publicus Asia was also the only survey firm that correctly predicted Aquino would finish second in the 2025 senatorial elections.
