MANILA - Votes from political bailiwicks propelled several party-lists groups to meet the 2-percent threshold needed to secure at least one seat in the House of Representatives, election data showed.

Some party-list groups have been counting on "bailiwick votes" to win the electoral race where hundreds of groups compete for at least 2 percent of votes, Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Manila-based Institute for Political and Electoral Reform said in an earlier interview.

Party-list bailiwicks were developed after some political clans realized that instead of backing sectoral groups, they can just create their own, Casiple said.

"If they can do it on their own, why not?” he said.

"Hindi lang theoretical ngayon, in practice, ganun na."

(It's no longer theoretical, it's a practice, that's how it is now.)

CIBAC

The Citizens' Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) is in 4th place in the party-list race with 921,600 votes as of May 17.

The group was founded by its 1st nominee and Jesus is Lord Movement leader Eduardo Villanueva, an evangelist born in Bocaue, Bulacan.

CIBAC got most of its votes from Metro Manila (168,000) where Villanueva's faith-based group has a strong following, followed by his hometown Bulacan, where the party-list garnered 134,000 votes.

Villanueva's daughter Joni won as Bocaue mayor in this year's polls, while his son Joel is a sitting senator.

PROBINSYANO AKO

The largest chunk of Probinsyano Ako Party-list's over 625,000 votes was from Ilocos Norte.

The party-list's first two nominees are Rudy Ceasar Fariñas and Lira Fuster-Fariñas, scions of the Fariñas clan that hails from Ilocos Norte.

The family's patriarch Rodolfo served as Ilocos Norte representative for multiple terms before filing his certificate of candidacy for governor in October last year.

The elder Fariñas withdrew his bid earlier this year, leaving Marcos scion Matthew Marcos Manotoc unopposed in the gubernatorial race.

AKO BICOL

As expected, provinces from the Bicol region delivered over half of Ako Bicol Party-list's 1 million votes.

The Bicolano-centered group ranked third in the party-list race as of May 17 with 97.6 percent of election returns transmitted.

Most of the party-list's votes came from Camarines Sur (265,000), followed by Albay (231,000), Sorsogon (99,000) and Camarines Norte (65,000).

Ako Bicol supporters from Metro Manila also delivered 111,000 votes for the party-list.

Some nominees of the group fielded their relatives to compete in local positions in different Bicolano towns.

Among these is Gertrudes Batocabe, the mother of 2nd nominee Justin Batocabe, who ran in the Daraga, Albay mayoralty race to replace her slain husband, former Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe.

The widow lost to PDP-Laban mayoral bet Vic Perete.

• EXCLUSIVE: Political clans flex bailiwick muscle to corner party-list seats