MANILA—Former Sen. Ramon "Bong" Revilla on Friday credited his plunder acquittal and the "budots" television campaign for making it to the "Magic 12" in the midterm elections.

Revilla, who was detained for 4 years for allegedly embezzling P224 million while he was senator, placed 10th with 14,493,146 votes, based on 97.91 percent of partial and unofficial election returns as of 5:04 p.m. Friday.

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"Siguro malaking bagay dito ’yung paglabas ng katotohanan na si Bong Revilla ay walang kasalanan," he told radio DZMM.

"S’yempre malaking bagay din ’yung mga ad, ’yung budots malaking bagay din. Hindi ko malaman kung ’yun ba ay positive or negative. Hindi ko alam kung nakadagdag ba ’yun o nakatawag ng boto."

Revilla said his son Jolo urged him to dance in the television ad, which has gone viral on social media and spawned several memes.

"Actually wala naman talaga akong balak sumayaw, talagang pinush lang ako nila Jolo, ‘Papa tutal andyan ka na, sumayaw ka na.’ Tapos nu’ng nandu’n na, sumayaw tapos pinatayo ’yung mga apo ko, nagsayawan sila," he said.

Revilla, however, said that he was the one behind the concept, saying he needed another campaign tune like "Otso Otso" by Bayani Agbayani that he used in the 2010 elections, in which he ranked first.

"Kailangan ’yung name recall, ’yung number na matandaan nila tapos ’yung messaging mo na nandito na si Bong. Hindi ganu’n kababaw na tumugtog lang ’yun, kumbaga may laman from the part of marketing," he said.

"Du’n sa budots kinagat dahil syempre pagka magma-market ka, tulad ng pelikula, kailangan magugustuhan ng viewers kung ano ’yung gagamitin mo."

The actor-turned-politician acknowledged there was also negative feedback to his TV ad campaign and lamented severe criticisms on social media.

"Ito ang masakit sa social media, ’yung panggigiba ng kandidato, pangbabato ng fake news, masasakit na salita. Sana matigil na ’yun," he said.

"Tulad ngayon, tapos na ang halalan, after 90 days tama na, dapat lahat magtulong-tulong na. Walang dilaw, walang pula, walang puti, sama-sama tayong lahat para sa bayan."