Bieber, Keys are Cebuanos’ choices for president, VP

CEBU, Philippines - Who would Cebuanos vote for if celebrities were to run for public office here?

During yesterday’s mock polls initiated by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), at least, Justin Bieber emerged as the Cebuanos’ choice for President of the Philippines, beating other big names industry like Kelly Clarkson, Selena Gomez, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Adam Levine, Katie Perry, and Taylor Swift.

The 21-year-old singer of “Love Yourself” got 30 votes (33.70 percent) in Cebu City and 52 votes (32.70 percent) in Cebu Province.

For vice president, Cebuanos voted for Alicia Keys with 27 votes (29.67 percent) in Cebu City and 39 votes (24.84 percent) in Cebu Province. Keys bested Zach Efron, Ariana Grande, Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Nicki Minaj, and Ashley Tisdale.

Voters in Cebu City cast their ballots at the Mabolo Elementary School while those in Cebu province cast theirs in Santander town.

The Comelec used the names of the popular stars for the nationwide synchronized mock polls to test its equipment for the real deal on May 9.

“We don’t use the actual names (of the political aspirants) and that is what we do usually during mock elections. We don’t want to create the so-called trending especially now that we draw near on the Election Day,” Castillano said yesterday.

Cebu Provincial Election Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said Comelec wanted to test the accuracy of the new vote counting machines, the transmission of the vote results, and the whole system of the electoral procedure, in general.

A major glitch in the system was the failure of the machine to transmit the results from the local board of canvassers to the central server in Manila even with a global satellite internet network or Broadband Global Area Network.

Overall, however, Castillano said the activity was satisfactory.

So how did the other stars fare in the ballot?

In Cebu City, the senatorial candidates who got the vote of Cebuanos – highest to lowest number – include Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion, David Cook, Bon Jovi, Carly Rae Jepsen, Vanessa Hudgens, Joe Jones, Demi Lovato, Beyonce Knowles, David Archuleta, and Britney Spears.

For voters in Cebu Province, the top 12 are Bon Jovi, Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Carly Rae Jepsen, Demi Lovato, Beyonce Knowles, Vanessa Hudgens, David Archuleta, David Cook, Joe Jonas, and David Craig.

Cebu City chose actress Susan Roces as their new representative to Congress 35 votes (38.88 percent) while Cebu Province voted for actor Edgar Allan Guzman with 72 votes (45.56 percent).

Cebu City voters must prefer the cerebral with 33 votes (37.50 percent) for renowned genius Albert Einstein as mayor. For balance, voters chose American actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson as vice mayor with 31 votes (34.44 percent).

Meanwhile, voters from Cebu Province put premium on energy and youth with 45 votes (27.27 percent) for actor and model Andre Paras for governor. Singer and actress Yeng Constantino took the vice gubernatorial post with 85 votes (51.89 percent). — /JMO  (FREEMAN)