EDITORIAL - Does the Senate result still matter?

It is not going to be a 12-0 sweep in favor of Team PNoy in the senatorial race despite the relentless personal campaign waged by President Aquino and there are strong indications why it is not going to be so.

For one, survey after survey shows a 12-0 sweep is not going to happen. Anywhere from three to five from the opposition UNA slate have consistently made the magic 12. A shut-out is therefore no longer the question but whether the opposition numbers can go higher or lower.

Second, the fact that presidential sister Kris Aquino has been openly endorsing at least three candidates from the opposition suggests that even in his own house the president cannot count on unanimity.

Third, while the president is publicly endorsing all the members of his Senate team and continues to ask for a 12-0 outcome, what he is not saying is nevertheless just as instructive and interesting.

For example, in the 2010 elections when he ran for president, Aquino threatened to mount a people power sort of protest if the results were not to his liking. He is not making similar threats with regard to these elections.

Does this mean that he was more sure of winning in 2010 than he is now of ensuring that all of his 12 candidates for the Senate can make it through? Or is the president simply being more realistic and knows that a 12-0 shut-out is a very difficult proposition to attain?

So, if a 12-0 is not possible, what is it going to be? Actually, what it is going to be is important only to the effect that the incoming political landscape will depend largely on the outcome of the May 13 elections.

Who the next Senate president is going to be will depend on the new composition that will emerge in the upper chamber. So will the legislative agenda of the president. Even more crucial is how the new composition will affect the chances of those eyeing the presidency in 2016.

But for the rest of the nation, it really does not matter who make it and who don't. Beyond the obligatory compliance of voting, most people no longer care what emerges from the political exercise. As they say in their dining rooms, one senator is just like the other.