A radio listeners perspectives

National news featured the other day the latest poll survey covering the period April 26 to 29. Giant television network ABS-CBN revealed it. His Honor, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, continued to be at the top of the heap with a large share of 33 percent. He was followed, this time, by former secretary Mar Roxas at 22 percent, who registered an increase of about two percent and by the 21 percent of Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares, occupying the third spot.

Roxas and Llamanzares are considered be statistically tied at second place. What is remarkable though is that this is the first time that the former DILG secretary has overtaken the lady senator and this change of places appears to be significantly in favor of the administration candidate.

The survey results show that, for the second time, the Davao City mayor had not inched upward. In fact, in the immediately preceding survey, he suffered a decrease in his ratings from 34 percent to 33 percent. Homegrown analysts however claimed that the one percent reduction in Duterte's ratings was effectively equivalent to a loss of about five per cent. They explained that he failed to match his dramatic surge registered in the earlier surveys of about four percent per survey. To them, indeed, in contrast to the previous surveys where he galloped ahead of the other candidates in a seemingly phenomenal fashion, the rise of the Mindanao mayor somehow got stalled.

Let us note that the period covered by this survey included the days when the impact of the "rape joke" was supposed to be at its peak. The bashing Duterte received for his supposedly insensitive remark was incalculable. Many observers thought that the outrage felt by many quarters on the sick joke allegedly uttered by the Davao City mayor would have a huge negative effect on his acceptability. That he remained at 33 percent showed a form of resiliency, no matter the perceptible deceleration.

Locally, there was a radio survey conducted by Sir Leo Lastimosa of DyAB yesterday. Sir Leo did a tremendous job in ensuring fairness. In asking his listeners to send their preferences via text messages, his reach was wide. We may say that effort was not very scientific, but it showed undisputable individual perceptions from voters across Metro Cebu and some parts of Visayas and Mindanao.

When his tally was ended because the next radio program went on air, the results were different from the indications made by the national survey I mentioned above. They were not complete and in fact, the total number of respondents was not broadcasted anymore. Even then, the audience of Sir Leo showed Roxas as the preferred presidential candidate. Duterte trailed by a ratio of almost 2:1. While the tally for Roxas was at 123, Duterte got only 62. The numbers were small but they indications carried tremendous implications.     

What has impacted upon the ratings? Why was there a seeming turnaround of the preferences among, let's say Visayan electors who, early in April, aggressively appeared to be supporting Duterte? Why should Duterte suffer heavily?

Allow me to point out the difference between the survey I referred to in the first paragraph of this article today, and that of the radio survey of Sir Leo. The period covered tells it all. When the respondents of Sir Leo sent their replies, they must have already taken into account the expose of Sen. Trillanes, a subject that was not considered in the national survey.

To recall, it was the ex-rebel-turned-senator who claimed that Duterte had bank accounts that the mayor did not include in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth. The image of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona came back. We remember that Corona was impeached on a ground that had similar moorings with the failure of Duterte's SALN flaw.  

From the revelations made by Trillanes that there are hundreds of millions of pesos deposited in the depositary banks of Duterte, we began to look at the kind of governance of this presidential aspirant. How could he amass such wealth as a mayor of a city? It did not help the candidate that a one time, he claimed that the bank accounts mentioned by Trillanes were inexistent and yet at a later time he admitted that he had such deposits. In so flip-flopping, his honesty, or the lack of it, became a focus.

I have reason to believe that the results of the radio survey conducted by Sir Leo were influenced by the loss of our trust and confidence in the Davao City mayor.