Only 38% of voters have 12 Senate picks

MANILA, Philippines — With only two months left before the May 12 elections, a majority of Filipino voters still have not come up with a complete Senate slate, a recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia showed.

The survey, conducted from Feb. 20 to 26 and released last Thursday, showed that only 38 percent of the respondents have already selected 12 Senate candidates.

It was down from 50 percent in January who said they already have a complete slate.

In the latest poll, four percent of the respondents said they have 11 candidates, while eight percent said they have decided on 10 names.

Those who already have one to nine bets range from two to eight percent.

Meanwhile, eight percent of the respondents said they still have not selected any senatorial candidate to support.

The February poll, conducted a few weeks after the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte but before the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte, saw reelectionist Sen. Bong Go surging past ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo, the perennial frontrunner in previous polls.

Go obtained the support of 58.1 percent of the respondents and was statistically tied with Tulfo, who had the support of 56.6 percent.

They were followed by former Senate president Vicente Sotto III (49 percent), Sen. Bong Revilla (49 percent), Sen. Ronald dela Rosa (44.3 percent), television host Willie Revillame (42.3 percent), media personality Ben Tulfo (40.7 percent), former senator Manny Pacquiao (39.9 percent), Sen. Lito Lapid (39.4 percent), outgoing Makati Mayor Abby Binay (37.6 percent), Sen. Pia Cayetano (37.5 percent) and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar (36.6 percent).

Outside the so-called Magic 12 but within statistical chances of winning is former senator Panfilo Lacson, who obtained the support of 35.8 percent of the survey respondents.

Trailing them are Sen. Imee Marcos (30.9 percent), former senators Bam Aquino (26.4 percent) and Francis Pangilinan (25 percent), former interior secretary Benhur Abalos (23 percent), actor Phillip Salvador (20.7 percent), former senator Gregorio Honasan (19.7 percent) and Sen. Francis Tolentino (18 percent).

The survey had 2,400 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus two percent.