If the recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia regarding the coming senatorial election is a report card, opposition candidates led by the Liberal Party’s (LP) Manuel “Mar” Roxas II are flunking. The eight senatorial candidates endorsed by the LP leadership are not in the winning circle of 12.

Defeated presidential candidate Roxas placed 13th, incumbent Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino is at 15th. Far behind are ex-Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III at 26th place; lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno at 29th; and ex-military mutineer Gary Alejano at 33rd place. Statistically unlikely to win are Samira Tomawis at 38th place, and Romeo Macalintal at 55th place.

Their dismal showing underscores the unpopularity of the LP. It also shows that the public supports President Rodrigo Duterte, notwithstanding the criticism dished out against him by the LP, the clergy, biased foreigners and the anti-administration media.

At 13th place, Roxas may still have a chance to muscle his way to the winning circle if he is able to disqualify reelectionist Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Party, who made it to seventh place.

In 2007, Pimentel made his first bid for the Senate for the term for 2007 to 2013. When he initially lost the 12th place to Miguel Zubiri, Pimentel filed a protest with the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).

Years after that, when the SET was set to rule for Pimentel, Zubiri resigned from the Senate. Pimentel was thus installed senator for the 2007 to 2013 term, the term he ran for in 2007. Obviously, the SET could not have installed Pimentel to any other term than the one he ran for.

In 2013, Pimentel won reelection to the Senate for another six-year term, from 2013 to 2019. That means Pimentel had been elected to the Senate for two consecutive terms.

Under the Constitution, Pimentel is disqualified from running for a third consecutive term.

Pimentel insists that he can still run in 2019. He argues that although the Constitution provides that “no senator shall serve for more than two consecutive terms,” the Charter states that the term of office of a senator “shall be six years.”

That argument is specious and self-serving. When Pimentel won his protest against Zubiri in the SET, his election as senator for the 2007 to 2013 term was upheld. Evidently, Pimentel’s defiant insistence that he is qualified to run for senator in 2019 has no legal justification.

The operative consideration regarding term limitations imposed by the Constitution for senatorial candidates is not the number of consecutive years the senator has actually served, but the number of consecutive terms the senator was elected to. Having been elected to two consecutive terms ending in 2019, Pimentel cannot run for senator again in 2019.

If Pimentel wins, the 13th placer will surely protest Pimentel’s win before the SET. That 13th placer may be Roxas.

Equally unsettled like Roxas is Aquino. This traditional politician whose only accomplishment was to look like his uncle, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., has been a mediocre senator who only hitches his name to whatever piece of draft legislation has popular appeal.

In 2013, Aquino took advantage of his being the first cousin of the sitting President in 2013, Benigno Aquino III, and became a favored candidate of his cousin’s party, the LP. Aquino enjoyed the resources of the party in power and he knew he was creating an Aquino political dynasty.

His potential defeat in 2019 is sure to be welcomed by the many who have had enough of his abusive, incompetent family political dynasty.

The embarrassing showing of Tañada and Diokno in the survey reflects their lack of credibility, notwithstanding their relationship to past senators. Their only claim to fame is their dislike for President Duterte.

Alejano the ex-mutineer is headed for certain defeat. The voters have not forgotten that he once reneged on his oath as a soldier to defend the Constitution.

Candidates Tomawis and Macalintal will need a major miracle to win. Their alliance with the LP will not help them in any way.

The opposition only has eight candidates running for 12 seats in the Senate. Its inability to field a full slate confirms the LP’s lack of credibility.