MANILA, Philippines – Old-timers continued to dominate the senatorial race based on the latest Pulse Asia survey commissioned by ABS-CBN.
In the so-called Magic 12 were Senate President Franklin Drilon, Sen. Vicente Sotto III, former senators Francis Pangilinan, Juan Miguel Zubiri and Panfilo Lacson, Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, former Akbayan representative Risa Hontiveros, former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chief Joel Villanueva, Sen. Serge Osmeña III, former senator Richard Gordon, former justice secretary Leila de Lima, Sen. Ralph Recto and Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian.
The survey was conducted from April 26 to 29, using face-to-face interviews of 4,000 validated voters nationwide. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.
According to Pulse Asia, the same names were present in the previous survey, although there were changes in ranking.
The April 19 to 24 survey ranked the senatorial candidates in this order: Sotto, Drilon, Pangilinan, Lacson, Pacquiao, Zubiri, Hontiveros, De Lima, Osmeña, Villanueva, Gordon, Recto and Gatchalian.
If elected, only Pacquiao, Hontiveros, Villanueva, De Lima and Gatchalian would be the first timers in the Senate. Of the five, only De Lima has no prior experience as a legislator.