Binay tops SWS presidential survey anew; Chiz, Bongbong share VP top spot

MANILA, Philippines – United Nationalist Alliance’s standard bearer Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay retained the top spot in the latest pre-election survey of BusinessWorld-Social Weather Stations (BW-SWS) while contenders Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte and Sen. Grace Poe were tied for second.

Although Binay remained as the top contender in the preferential survey, his lead against his rivals slightly dropped from 31 percent in January to 29 percent in February. Binay was followed by Poe and Duterte with 24 percent.

The survey showed that Duterte jumped 4 percent from 20 percent in January while Poe’s score remained the same.

Liberal Party’s standard bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II placed third with 18 percent followed by Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago who got 4 percent.

The late Overseas Filipino Workers Partylist Rep. Roy Señeres, who died February 8 after backing out the presidential race got 0 percent  while Dante Valencia whose Certificate of Candidacy was denied by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc on January 28 also got 0 percent.

Meanwhile, for the vice presidential race, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and consistent topnotcher Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero were tied at 26 percent.

Rep. Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo obtained 19 percent, followed by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano at 16 percent, Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan at 6 percent, and Antonio Trillanes IV at 5 percent.

The remaining two percent of the respondents said they were still undecided of the vice presidential candidates.

The BW-SWS pre-election survey was conducted from February 5 to 7, days before the candidates officially launched their campaigns.

According to the report, the respondents were 1,200 validated voters nationwide. They were asked: “Kung ang eleksyon ay gaganapin ngayon, sino ang pinakamalamang ninyong iboboto bilang Presidente, Bise-Presidente, at mga Senador ng Pilipinas? Narito ang listahan ng mga kandidato” and were provided with an alphabetical list of candidates as practiced by the Comelec.

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