Nancy Binay vs Grace Poe-Llamanzares: Will They Square Off for the Presidency After 20 Years?

All eyes are on the controversial Nancy Binay, the 40-year-old daughter of the Philippine vice president who got the fifth highest number of votes in the May 13 mid-term election despite her lack of political experience.

The controversy caused by her high finish, slammed by a satire of Time magazine as an indicator of the country's stupidity, stole the thunder from the number one ranking of another female senatorial candidate, Grace Poe-Llamanzares.

Ms Poe-Llamanzares, the adopted daughter of deceased actor Fernando Poe Jr - who unsuccessfully run for the presidency in 2004 - and 1960s movie queen Susan Roces, was another surprise that Filipino voters got on Monday.

The former Movies and Television Review and Classification Board chairman topped the polls for senators even if pre-election surveys were not favourable, getting so far 14.6 million votes. What was impressive about her win is she officially ran as an independent candidate after the opposition, headed by Ms Binay's father, removed her from their slate and replaced Ms Poe-Llamanzares with the VP's eldest daughter.

Political pundits too are surprised with her strong finish, prompting political analyst Malou Tiquia to call Ms Poe-Llamanzares the story of 2013.

"This is the first time that survey firms failed in No. 1. If one views her survey results, one would feel the 'dizzy effect' of traveling through zigzag roads. Indeed, it has been a bumpy ride for the daughter of the King," ABS-CBN quoted Ms Tiquia's Facebook News Feed.

This early, the strong showing of both women, along with two other more older female senatorial candidates, Loren Legarda and Cynthia Villar, could lay the ground for more political battles between the two forty-something neophyte politicians.

It would not be farfetched to foresee the two women running against each other for the vice presidency in 10 years' time and the presidency in 15 to 20 years' time.

With Ms Binay's father declaring that he will run for president in 2016 - and he has good chances winning since he overtook Ms Legarda and then VP candidate Mar Roxas at the last minute in 2010 - it would facilitate strengthening further the Binay political dynasty started by the patriarch in 1986 when he was appointed officer-in-charge of Makati.

With the sure win of Nancy, plus the proclamation of younger siblings Abigail and Junjun in local posts, that would place four Binays in power for the next three years and pave the way for higher national posts for all of the Binay family members who are not shy about favouring political dynasties.

In the run-up to the Monday election, Nancy Binay was often compared to administration candidate Risa Hontiveros, and was often derided for appearing to be inferior when placed beside the former partylist representative in terms of beauty and brain.

However, it turned out that Ms Hontiveros was no match to the political machinery of the Binays since she is languishing at 17^th place with just less than 8 million votes while her dark-skinned rival is laughing her way to the Senate.

Given her strong showing, it would therefore not be surprising that after a few years, it would be Nancy's turn to shine further just as what other presidential children did before them.

For those short of memory, the current president, Benigno Aquino III, is the son of former President Corazon Aquino, and his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is the daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal.

Given the chance, two children of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Imee Marcos and Bongbong Marcos, would likely also want a shot at the presidency as would TV host Kris Aquino, the sister of the president who has announced plans to also seek a public office in 2016.

The coming years would likely see potential catfights for the top 2 posts as these women loom to be future national leaders. Would it be a Poe vs Binay contest or a Binay vs Aquino match?

The latter would surely be the more exciting match because skin colour would be used again to identify the contenders, reducing the presidential or vice presidential derby to a black vs white bout.

Whoever would be the winner would likely also raise the hackles of the international community for Filipino voters' propensity to pick glitter or substance. I wonder then what Time magazine or BBC, satire or real edition, would call the Philippines.