Social media personality Diwata, or Deo Balbuena in real life, is the 4th nominee of Vendors party-list. Jauhn Etienne Villaruel, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — With many influencers filing certificates of candidacies for the 2025 midterm elections, the question now is whether or not they can translate this popularity into votes.

Political analyst Dennis Coronacion floated this question, amid the "growing" number of influencers and celebrities vying for public office. 

“Hindi ko rin maipaliwanag kung bakit parang napakarami nila (social media influencers) ngayon. Ang katanungan diyan ay gusto ba nilang subukan kung yung kanilang popularidad sa social media ay pwedeng mag translate into votes sa darating na 2025 midterm elections,” he said in an interview with Teleradyo Serbisyo. 

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(I can’t explain why there seems to be so many of them now. The question here is, do they want to test if their popularity on social media can translate into votes in the upcoming 2025 midterm elections?)

Viral sensations such as entrepreneur Rosmar Tan, and pares eatery owner Diwata are setting their sights on public seats. 

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While this will be Rosmar Tan's second attempt at a councilor seat in Manila, this will be Diwata's first time running for public office although only as fourth nominee for Vendors Party-list.

A party-list can get a maximum of three seats, depending on the number of votes. That means Diwata will only get a seat in case a nominees pulls out or is disqualified.

Notably, actor-host Luis Manzano also filed for candidacy in Batangas as vice governor, paired with his mother, Vilma Santos-Recto.

Coronacion noted there are more social media influencers aspiring for public office than before.

"We see the same familiar faces, yung mga reeletionist and then yung mga returnees. If there's anything different yung filing ngayon is that merong maraming mga social media personalities ang nakita natin nag-file... compared to COC filing last time," Coronacion remarked.

(We see the same familiar faces, the reelectionists and returnees. If there’s anything different in the filing this time, it’s that we’ve seen a lot of social media personalities file... compared to the previous COC filing.")

He added that many of these influencers are linked to prominent political families, with some coming from well-known showbiz backgrounds. 

"Andiyan yung mga I think most of them are members of political dynasties meron ngang isa na medyo nag-viral yung pamilya, buong pamilya, nandun na nagpa-photo op during the filing of the certificate of candidacy and then nag comment ang mga tao bakit di niyo pa sinama yung mga kasambahay niyo," Coronacion said. 

(Many of them, I think, are members of political dynasties. One family, in particular, went viral for a photo op during the filing of the certificate of candidacy, and people commented, 'you might as well include your kasambahays in the picture')