Roco: I don’t pay attention to surveys

Presidential aspirant Raul Roco remains unperturbed over the latest survey conducted by respected pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS) showing him in third place in the May 10 race.

"I don’t want to pay attention to surveys. I’d rather focus on the campaign," he told reporters.

Voters should not be swayed by surveys but by the candidates’ programs of government and track records, he said.

In the latest survey, President Arroyo overtook opposition front-runner Fernando Poe Jr., drawing support from 31.8 percent of 1,200 respondents as opposed to Poe’s 30.5 percent.

Roco stayed in third place with 17.9 percent, followed by opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson with 11.4 percent, Christian evangelist Eddie Villanueva with 1.8 percent and businessman Eddie Gil with no support at all. The remaining 6.6 percent of respondents were undecided.

Roco placed third in another survey, taken by Pulse Asia in mid-February, with 16.2 percent.

Mrs. Arroyo also overtook Poe in that survey, with 31.9 percent saying they would vote for her and 31.7 percent for Poe.

Roco had consistently topped opinion polls last year.

Although popular with students and the middle class, Roco’s sliding opinion poll ratings showed that he still faces a struggle to overcome his lack of a party machine.

Roco made a strong showing in the 1998 presidential polls, getting the women and youth votes and placing third despite the lack of a party machinery.

He ran for senator in 1992 and was re-elected in 1995.

Mrs. Arroyo appointed Roco education secretary shortly after she replaced Joseph Estrada as president.

But in August 2002, Roco stunned Malacañang when he resigned in a fit of anger after Mrs. Arroyo endorsed an investigation into his alleged improprieties for using Department of Education funds to publish posters bearing his photograph. He denied the accusation.

He complained that Mrs. Arroyo lacked basic courtesy in informing him about the probe. He rejected Malacañang’s explanation that Mrs. Arroyo’s endorsement was merely routine.

It was speculated that Mrs. Arroyo endorsed the investigation to decimate him in case he decided to bid for the presidency.

The speculation followed the results of an opinion poll by IBON Foundation — released on the same day that Mrs. Arroyo endorsed the probe — that showed that Roco would trounce her if an election were held at the time the survey was conducted.