Revilla, Jinggoy top Senate poll

MANILA, Philippines - Senators Bong Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada topped the list of senatorial candidates in the latest survey of voter preferences conducted by independent pollster Pulse Asia.

Pulse Asia’s January 2010 Pre-Election Survey showed that Revilla and Estrada are in a virtual tie for first place among 12 other candidates who have a statistical chance of winning if elections were held in the latter part of January.

The two senators also topped the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) on senatorial bets released last Tuesday.

Revilla’s overall voter preference of 51.9 percent translates to a statistical ranking of first to second places, putting him in a virtual tie with Estrada (50.4 percent), who is ranked first to third places, Pulse Asia said.

Estrada said the boost in Revilla’s ranking may have been brought about by the strong showing of his recent film “Ang Panday” during the Metro Manila Film Festival last December.

The non-commissioned survey was conducted from Jan. 22 to 26, using face-to-face interviews of 1,800 representative adults aged 18 and above.

Sen. Pia Cayetano (46.8 percent) is ranked second to fourth, slightly ahead of former Senate President Franklin Drilon (43.2 percent) who ranks third to sixth.

Tied from fourth to sixth places are Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago (41.2 percent) and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (39.7 percent).

Completing the list of probable winners are former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general Ralph Recto (34.4 percent), former senators Sergio Osmeña III (31.6 percent) and Vicente Sotto III (30.5 percent), Sen. Manuel Lapid (29.7 percent), Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (26.3 percent), and NBN-ZTE scandal whistleblower Jose de Venecia III (24 percent).

Other candidates who are closely contesting the 12th slot are Muntinlupa Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon (19.8 percent), Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto Guingona III (19.7 percent), and Alexander Lacson (19.1 percent) - all of whom are ranked 13th to 15th.

Lacson, author of the book “12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country,” is in the running despite a very low awareness level (33 percent), Pulse Asia said.

Pulse Asia said only two senatorial candidates enjoyed improvements in their voter preference from December 2009 to January 2010. They are Lapid (+6.6 percentage points) and Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel (+6.2 percentage points).

“Hontiveros-Baraquel, who is currently ranked 17th to 25th with an overall voter preference of 11.0 percent, appears to have benefited from being included in this survey with the addition of ‘Hontiveros’ to her name, an electoral privilege she had to gain from the Comelec (Commission on Elections),” the pollster said.

In contrast, support levels for several senatorial candidates declined during this period, with the biggest drop recorded by Defensor-Santiago (-10.2 percentage points), possibly due to the use of a sample ballot, Pulse Asia explained.

The other candidates who experienced a decline in voter preference between December 2009 and January 2010 were Drilon (-5.2 percentage points), former senator Francisco Tatad (-6.5), Gwendolyn Pimentel (-6.5), Osmeña (-8.6), Recto (-8.7), Guingona (-8.8), and Sotto (-9.7).

Pulse Asia said several changes in statistical ranking were also recorded between December 2009 and January 2010.

Among the probable winners, Lapid registered the biggest improvement as he now ranks eighth to 11th, up from 12th to 14th in January 2010.

Others whose statistical ranking improved during this period are Revilla (from first-fourth to first-second), Cayetano (from fifth-ninth to second-fourth), Enrile (from fifth-ninth to fourth-sixth), and De Venecia (from 12th-14th to 11th-12th).

On the other hand, the most pronounced decline in statistical ranking is recorded by Defensor-Santiago - from first to fourth in December 2009 to fourth to sixth at present.

Additionally, the statistical rankings of the following also declined during this period - Drilon (from second-fourth to third-sixth), Recto (from fifth-ninth to seventh-ninth), and Osmeña and Sotto (from fifth-ninth to seventh-10th).

Trending in surveys

Santiago called on the media yesterday to report survey results “in perspective” as these could be used to follow a certain trend for a favored candidate.

Santiago said the period covered and events that took place within that period must always be emphasized in reporting survey results.

“The question can be phrased in such a way as to lead a respondent to a certain result,” she said.

Santiago said that if poll watchdogs were not vigilant, the survey firms could already start so-called trending.

“If no significant events occurred concerning a certain candidate, but that candidate rises or falls in the polls, then it would appear that there is no basis for the results announced,” she said.

Villar: No alliance with GMA

Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar yesterday denied forging an alliance with President Arroyo purportedly in an effort to derail the presidential bid of Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III of the Liberal Party.

“There’s no truth to such allegations. My rivals are just trying to destroy the credibility of my presidential campaign,” said Villar who, based on the latest Pulse Asia Presidential survey, is now statistically tied in the lead with Aquino.

Villar, along with NP senatorial bets former Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla, lawyer Gwen Pimentel and labor leader Susan Ople, was in Nueva Vizcaya yesterday as speaker in the opening of the Cagayan Valley Regional Athletic Association’s weeklong sports fest.

“How can I ever think of forging an alliance with the administration when I have been known to be with the opposition through and through? (Our rivals) are doing all the dirty tricks to ruin me,” he said.

Villar’s statement came as the Aquino camp accused him of forging a “strange alliance” with the administration in an attempt to spoil Aquino’s presidential bid, even dragging the name of his mother, the late former President Cory Aquino, into the issue of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway project.

“The sleaze is now oozing out of the Villar camp. In their desperate bid to overhaul the lead of Noynoy, they are seeking help from President Arroyo to destroy President Cory’s name and boost Villar’s stock,” said Aquino spokesman Edwin Lacierda.

“Villar’s allies seem to have taken the habit of using innocent people to attack their opponents,” added Rep. Erin Tañada.

The Aquino camp accused Villar’s political ally, Cavite Rep. Crispin Remulla, brother of Gilbert Remulla, of implicating President Cory by alleging that she called Mrs. Arroyo to ensure that the expressway project would traverse Hacienda Luisita’s industrial zone.

But the NP has branded as an “act of desperation” the recent attacks by Aquino that Villar has allied with the Palace in his bid to win in the May elections.

“Sen. Noynoy Aquino and the Liberal Party (LP) should be the ones to explain their closeness with Malacañang. He has close relatives in the Arroyo administration. If there is any candidate who should be suspected of being in cahoots with Malacañang, it should be Sen. Aquino,” Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico said in a statement.

An open issue

Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday stressed that the committee report on the C-5 road project is not yet dead and that Villar can still be charged with graft and corruption. 

“Actually, the report of the Senate Committee of the Whole is still an open issue. It has not been closed. It has not been disposed of,” Enrile said, adding that “(this) could (still) be taken up when Congress convenes on May 31.”

Enrile also disclosed that Villar’s allies had threatened to unseat him at the time when the committee report on the C-5 road extension controversy was being circulated among senators for signature. The report has recommended that Villar be censured and be asked to return the money spent for the extension. 

Still No. 1

In a related development, Aquino said he still tops the political surveys and Villar is still behind him in the rankings.

“As far as the catching up is concerned, we are almost neck-and-neck. But we are not even. I am still No. 1,” said Aquino, who arrived in Davao City yesterday morning on a brief stopover before proceeding to Kidapawan City in North Cotabato.

Aquino said he considers Villar as his main opponent because the latter used to be No. 1 in the surveys.

“Before I entered the picture he (Villar) was the frontrunner but when I got into the picture in the last four months, I have been the frontrunner,” Aquino added.

Legarda victory

The leadership of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, for its part, vowed that it will leave nothing to chance in the vice presidential race between Loren Legarda and Mar Roxas, saying it will do everything it can to ensure a Legarda victory in the May 10 polls.

NPC spokesman Rex Gatchalian said they are completely behind Legarda, the party’s candidate for vice president, and that they have “unflinching support” for her, amid the latest surveys showing her second to Roxas.

“We stand solidly behind Senator Loren in her bid to capture the vice presidency in the May elections. The NPC is working very hard and leaving nothing to chance in the coming elections,” the Valenzuela congressman said.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey last January, Roxas enjoyed a 47 percent rating while Legarda only managed to obtain a 28 percent rating. The two were in a statistical tie last December, with Roxas at 39 and Legarda at 37. - With Delon Porcalla, Edith Regalado, Christina Mendez, Aurea Calica and Charlie Lagasca