Senator-Elect Nancy Binay: I Am So Proud of My Colour

Rather than lose her cool over how many Filipinos made fun of her dark skin, Senator-elect Nancy Binay thanked people who engaged in black humour as she cemented her hold on the no 5 position.

"I'm just so proud of my colour. Kasi sa pag-iikot ko sa buong Pilipinas na-realize ko ang dami ko palang kamag-anak (Because when I went campaigning throughout the Philippines, I realized I have so many relatives [by skin colour]), Ms Binay told ABS-CBN's TV Patrol newscast on Thursday.

The mushrooming of jokes about the vice president's 40-year-old eldest daughter over her lack of qualification and comely looks has fueled more interest in the neophyte politician that even former critics now want to guest her.

One of them is popular gay comedian Vice Ganda who said on national television that he would not vote for Ms Binay because she is unqualified. In an unexpected twist, the comedian said he is willing to guest the senator-elect in his high-rating show Gandang Gabi, Vice.

He even called for a stop to the cruel jokes, saying, "Nanalo na siya so itigil na natin ang kapaitan. Kung nanalo na yung tao, ibigay na natin sa kanya yung tagumpay niya, di ba? (She clearly won so let us stop all bitterness. Since she won, let us allow her to enjoy her victory)."

Another Filipino celebrity-politician who openly supported Ms Binay is actress Vilma Santos, who also won her third and last term as governor of Batangas province. Ms Santos knows how being questioned over the capacity to govern feels since she was also subjected to similar treatment when she forayed from acting to politics, initially as mayor of the city of Lipa.

However, she was not teased for her skin colour because she had light complexion.

Ms Binay said she even became duskier due to the weeks of campaign under the hot summer sun.

"Akala ko wala nalong iitim, meron pa pala. Natuwa nga yung daddy ko after campaign mas maitin nako sakanya. (I thought I would not become darker further, but I was wrong. My daddy was so happy after the campaign because I am now several shades darker than him)," Ms Binay added.

Although there are now more tweets chiding Filipinos for being racist in joking about the skin tones of the incoming senator, others continue to tweet and retweet old and new dark skin jokes about Ms Binay.

In YouTube, a clip from a movie about German dictator Adolf Hitler used to parody other celebrities, was resurrected and made fun of Ms Binay's election, although there was significantly no dark skin jokes.

As of the latest count, Ms Binay is still on fifth place with 13.2 million votes. The Commission on Election (Comelec) has officially proclaimed on Thursday Ms Binay and the five other candidates who made it to the top 6 even if the final count is not yet finished. However, she did not show up in the proclamation because of a petition from her party, the United Nationalist Alliance, to postpone the proclamation but the party's motion was junked by the election body.

Comelec said she was technically proclaimed winner despite not showing up at the event.