In the end, Luis Manzano proved a tough sell to Batangueño voters

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

Acclaimed television host Luis Manzano, on paper, had the resources to win the 2025 vice gubernatorial race in Batangas.

He’s a household name, the son of screen legends, scion from a political family who has ruled the province, and a newbie politician with a highly capable machinery.

But all those assets were not enough, as he lost by double-digit percentage points to Governor Dodo Mandanas, Manzano’s main opponent for the province’s second top post.

Rappler lists the likely reasons why Manzano’s vice gubernatorial bid was unsuccessful.

ORGANIZED CAMPAIGN. From left to right: Jessy Mendiola, Luis Manzano, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, and Batangas Governor-elect Vilma Santos Recto in May 2025. Photo from One Batangas’ Facebook

Dynasty tag

While the Recto family has been a fixture in the Batangas political scene, the clan has not occupied multiple local posts simultaneously in the last two decades.

That changed this election cycle, when Star for All Seasons Vilma Santos-Recto and her son Manzano filed candidacies for governor and vice governor, respectively. Additionally, the film icon’s other son Ryan Christian Recto sought the congressional post in Lipa.

The family was unable to avoid criticisms of trying to establish a dynasty in the province. Santos-Recto tried to frame it as a positive thing, saying that having a mother-and-son duo in the capitol would fast-track the approval of ordinances.

The downside to that argument, however, is the reality of reduced checks and balances. Manzano — had he won — would have presided over the provincial board, the legislative body tasked to draft and pass measures that would be sent to Santos-Recto’s desk for her signature.

“Political dynasties are becoming more mainstream now, and the voting population is becoming wiser in weighing whether to vote for a dynasty,” said Neil Christian Marasigan, editor-in-chief of The Lathe, the official student publication of Batangas State University’s Pablo Borbon campus.

Questions on Batangueño identity

What makes someone a true Batangueño?

If residency were enough, then it should not have been an issue: Manzano’s candidacy papers say he has been living in Batangas for nearly three decades.

Yet Manzano had faced criticisms of supposedly being an outsider, having spent most of his schooling and professional career in Metro Manila. Even his mother, who was Batangas governor for nine years, wasn’t spared. Her critics claimed she hailed from Central Luzon and only became associated with the province through marriage into the Recto clan in the 1990s.

“Let’s admit it: when has Luis Manzano consistently appeared in the province? It’s really just during this campaign period, starting when he filed his certificate of candidacy. He hasn’t been that visible in Batangas, even when his mother was governor or Lipa mayor,” said Abvic Maghirang, a political science professor at the University of Batangas.

The political analyst added that speeches of Manzano’s actress-wife Jessy Mendiola in their campaign sorties, where she sported a Batangueño accent, came off as inauthentic.

“It didn’t feel natural. It looked like she was forcing herself to appear Batangueño, which came off as trying too hard. Instead of voters identifying with her, it ended up feeling like a movie. That worked to their disadvantage,” Maghirang also said.

SPOUSES. TV actress Jessy Mendiola joins her husband in most of the campaign sorties for the 2025 elections in Batangas. Photo from One Batangas’ Facebook

Underperformance by other Recto clan members

Santos-Recto and Manzano held large rallies across several localities in Batangas, and were welcomed by local slates. They had the machinery of the Nacionalista Party, and were also endorsed by Iglesia ni Cristo, a religious group known for bloc voting. But their election day numbers were underwhelming.

Santos-Recto garnered over 655,000 votes, accounting for 42% of the total. It’s the first gubernatorial race of her career that she had won by only a plurality. Two of her three opponents, former party-list congressman Mike Rivera and Mataas na Kahoy Vice Mayor Jay Ilagan, made decent showings, securing 34% and 17% vote-share, respectively.

“The ‘maiba naman (time for someone different)’ rhetoric was used as a campaign strategy by Rivera,” Marasigan pointed out, believing it may have persuaded voters who wanted new names to lead the capitol.

Even in Lipa, the Rectos’ bailiwick, Santos-Recto’s other son Ryan narrowly won his first election bid, garnering 45% of the vote against the 36% of his closest opponent, independent candidate Bernadette Sabili.

Lack of political experience, anti-celebrity wave

In campaign sorties, Santos-Recto pitched her son to voters as young blood who would introduce fresh ideas in local governance. But convincing Batangueños to back a candidate with zero experience in elective government proved to be a tough ask.

A vice governor sets the tone of the provincial board, and presides over rigorous sessions in which members debate over local policies and budget allocations. The vice governor must also be savvy enough to pacify Sangguniang Panlalawigan members with conflicting political ambitions. All of these roles would be new to Manzano had he won the vice gubernatorial race.

“Mandanas may have been viewed as a stabilizing force to complement Vilma Santos’ return, since both of them previously held the governor post. He also knows how the bureaucracy works and understands the political landscape well enough to keep the provincial board in order,” Marasigan told Rappler.

While Manzano has had philanthropic work, he is largely known as a showbiz personality. It didn’t help that the latest election cycle saw the electorate reject dozens of celebrities running from office, from local politicians to the ones gunning for senatorial posts, such as Bong Revilla and Willie Revillame.

“Manzano’s timing seemed very opportunistic. It may have been viewed as a celebrity trying to inherit political capital from (Finance Secretary) Ralph Recto and Vilma Santos,” he added.

Formidable opponent

All the above factors aside, Manzano’s competition may really just be tough.

Manzano went against Mandanas, a political veteran who hasn’t lost an election since 1995. He has been governor for a total of 18 years, and congressman for another nine.

“Governor Mandanas’ past performance was a major challenge for Luis Manzano’s campaign,” Maghirang told Rappler, citing Mandanas’ legacy infrastructure projects, his successful Supreme Court petition that increased LGU revenue allotments, and scholarship programs that benefited tens of thousands of students.

“Even if Governor Mandanas is already advanced in age, he’s always visible at the capitol,” Maghirang added.

It was a decisive win for Mandanas, who obtained 821,000 votes (54%) over Manzano’s 565,000 votes (37%).

Manzano won only three out of 34 localities, including Lipa, which he led by only over 2,000 votes.

“Even though we weren’t fortunate with the election results, I still consider myself a winner — because of you,” Manzano said a day after the elections. “Even if the election is over, this is only the beginning of a long journey we’ll be sharing together.”

Mandanas carried the remaining 31 localities except for one, notably his hometown of Bauan, where the vice gubernatorial race topnotcher was its outgoing mayor, Ryanh Dolor. – with reports from Dylan Salcedo/Rappler.com