PULSE ASIA SURVEY: VILLAR MOST TRUSTED PRESIDENTIAL BET
MANILA, FEBRUARY 25, 2010 (STAR) By Helen Flores - Sen. Manny Villar Jr. is the most trusted presidential candidate in the May 10 elections, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.Villar received a 70-percent majority trust rating in Pulse Asia’s January 2010 Pre-Election Survey conducted from Jan. 22 to 26, while Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was a close second with 64 percent.
Former President Joseph Estrada posted practically the same trust and distrust ratings (33 percent versus 37 percent) while public assessment of the trustworthiness of former Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. - the administration bet - is divided, with 36 percent of Filipinos ambivalent on the matter, 32 percent trusting him, and 31 percent distrusting him.
Sen. Richard Gordon had a 26-percent trust rating against 32 percent who distrusted him.
Other presidential aspirants posted “near to small majority” distrust ratings – Sen. Jamby Madrigal (47 percent), Olongapo City Councilor JC de los Reyes (50 percent), Kilusang Bagong Lipunan bet Vetallano Acosta (51 percent), evangelist Eddie Villanueva (53 percent), and environmentalist Nicanor Perlas (54 percent).
Sen. Manuel Roxas II took the top spot as far as those running for vice-president is concerned, with a 73-percent trust rating.
Sen. Loren Legarda lags behind at 61 percent, the Pulse Asia survey showed.
Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay received a “big plurality” with 44 percent.
On the other hand, “big pluralities to small majorities” distrust the other vice-presidential candidates in the May 2010 elections - former Optical Media Board (OMB) chairman Edu Manzano (45 percent), former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando (46 percent), Ang Kapatiran bet Dominador Chipeco Jr. (52 percent), broadcaster Jay Sonza (57 percent), and former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairperson Perfecto Yasay Jr. (58 percent).
Pulse Asia said not one of the 13 presidential and vice-presidential candidates trust-rated in Pulse Asia’s December 2009 and January 2010 pre-election surveys experienced an improvement in his/her overall trust rating.
Instead, public trust in three candidates became less pronounced during this period - Legarda (-6 percentage points), Manzano (-7 percentage points), and Aquino (-8 percentage points).
Four candidates recorded higher distrust ratings in January 2010 compared to the previous month. They were Legarda, (17 percent versus 11 percent), Binay (26 percent versus 21 percent), Manzano, (45 percent versus 36 percent), and Villanueva (53 percent versus 47 percent).
GMA’s endorsement is kiss of death
The new survey also found that five in 10 Filipinos or 52 percent will certainly not elect a presidential candidate endorsed by President Arroyo.
A similar sentiment is expressed by 40 percent of Filipinos toward a candidate endorsed by former President Fidel Ramos.
Less than one in ten Filipinos (four to five percent), on the other hand, expresses certain electoral support for a presidential candidate endorsed by either Mrs. Arroyo or Ramos.
About the same percentages will either probably vote or probably not vote for a presidential bet endorsed by the former president (21 percent versus 25 percent) while 22 percent of Filipinos may not support a presidential candidate endorsed by Mrs. Arroyo and 12 percent may vote for such a candidate.
The non-commissioned survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,800 representative adults 18 years old and above.
Pulse Asia’s nationwide survey has a plus or minus two percentage points error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.
Winds of change
Villar was elated at the latest survey, but Aquino remained confident that he will be able to sustain his lead in the presidential race, citing the latest TNS survey where he was ahead by 11 points.
“I am grateful to the Filipino people for continuing to put their trust in me and our candidacy. It can be likened to a report card for public servants like us,” he said.
Villar said he will strive harder in making sure that the people’s trust in him will be reciprocated through action, particularly in his vision to steer the country out of poverty.
“The latest Pulse Asia survey strengthens our commitment to uplift the lives of the people and our resolve to wage an issues-based campaign leading to eventual victory in May,” he said.
Aquino, on the other hand, described the latest survey as an “installment” and explained that the survey was done when he had far less advertisements.
“There are 50 million voters. And in the absence of information or knowledge about the person, you rely on the ads,” he said.
Gibo: No effect
In contrast, Teodoro hit his political opponents for adopting survey results as part of their campaign strategy.
He, however, said that he continues to respect the freedom of expression of every survey firm and the rights of every politician, even if this would mean conditioning the minds of the voting public to bank on survey results.
“It is the right of every survey company to make public their survey results and it is also the right of a candidate to use these as part of their campaign strategies,” Teodoro said in a radio interview over dzRH yesterday morning.
He said he is not affected by the survey results and that he and his partymates continue to believe in the “Galing ng Filipino” of every Filipino to choose the country’s next leader.
He also pointed out that surveys being conducted by survey firms, apparently referring to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia, are totally different from the random surveys like phone-in calls, call-ins and exit polling in every forum he had attended.
“On my part I don’t feel the surveys because this is different from the random surveys where I am always number one,” he said, attributing his being new in the national political arena as a major factor in his slow public approval rating.
Palace to the rescue
Meanwhile, Malacañang reiterated its appeal to voters to judge Teodoro based on his own merits and what he has to offer the country and not the company that he keeps.
“Not that Teodoro is surrounded by bad company,” deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar was quick to clarify, in response to the perception that his association with President Arroyo is dragging him down in the surveys.
In fact, Olivar noted that this was actually the appeal of Teodoro who has received a lot of flak for being the choice of Mrs. Arroyo and her political party as their standard-bearer.
“The secretary has issued an appeal for him to be evaluated and hopefully supported by our voters, not based on the company he keeps, no matter how elevated that company might be, but based on the usual criteria that we are advancing - platform, performance, character and leadership,” Olivar said.
The Palace spokesman insisted that Teodoro would have performed better in the surveys had voters used capability and platform as their basis for choosing their candidates for the country’s next chief executive.
“If we follow this line of thinking and this spreads to more people, then we expect that Secretary Teodoro’s standing in the surveys would improve,” Olivar said in Filipino. - Evelyn Macairan, Delon Porcalla, Jaime Laude, Christina Mendez, Marvin Sy
Pacquiao to join Villar campaign sorties after match with Clottey By Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star) Updated February 25, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - World boxing champion Manny Pacquiao made a commitment yesterday to join Nacionalista Party presidential bet Sen. Manny Villar in campaign sorties after he returns from his bout with boxer Joshua Clottey of Ghana in Dallas, Texas this March.
“Soon after my return to the Philippines, I will join my beloved president Manny Villar so I can introduce him to our countrymen,” Pacquiao said in a videotaped message shown last Sunday night during the NP political rally in Mandaue City that capped the party’s two-day campaign in Cebu province.
“He’s (Villar) the only person who can help the poor because he defied poverty to become a successful businessman,” said Pacquiao.
“Let us support our beloved president, Manny Villar. All these years there was no change, more people became poor and have no job,” Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao said the country needs people who have experienced how to be poor.
“I myself come from that (poor) sector, and I feel the hurt when the poor cry for help from the government,” Pacquiao added.
Meanwhile, the Magdalo Para sa Pagbabago movement, formerly known as the Magdalo group of rebel soldiers, yesterday officially endorsed the presidential bid of NP standard-bearer Villar and Liberal Party vice-presidential bet Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.
In a statement read by spokesman former Air Force lieutenant Francisco Ashley Acedillo at a press conference in San Juan City, the Magdalo movement said it supports the candidacies of Villar and Roxas following a consultation involving leaders from 400 of its national and local chapters who represent their 55,000 members nationwide.
Members of Magdalo are facing rebellion charges stemming from the mutiny they staged in the then Oakwood Premier building (now Ascott Makati) at Ayala Center in Makati City in 2003. The group staged the siege to denounce alleged corruption of the Arroyo administration.
Acedillo said their endorsement of Villar is subject to three conditions: that Villar would not enter into an alliance with President Arroyo, that Villar would promote Magdalo’s advocacy, which includes the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, eradication of poverty and peace in Mindanao; and allow Magdalo members to again serve in the government, including Magdalo’s detained chairman, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
He said Villar was informed of the group’s support and the NP bet had agreed to all three conditions.
Magdalo said that despite its endorsement of Villar and Roxas, the group still considers LP presidential bet Sen. Benigno Aquino III, former President Joseph Estrada, NP vice presidential bet Sen. Loren Legarda and Partido ng Masang Pilipino vice presidential candidate Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay as friends of the movement.
Magdalo also expressed support for the senatorial bid of detained Marine Col. Ariel Querubin, Senators Pia Cayetano and Jinggoy Estrada, Ilocos Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Susan Ople, former Rep. Gilbert Remulla, Adel Tamano, detained Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon, former senator Tito Sotto, lawyer JV Bautista and national broadband network scam witness Jose “Joey” de Venecia Jr.
Lim said he couldn’t support Villar because he is a guest candidate of the LP.
Acedillo said Magdalo decided to support the bids of Villar and Roxas to ensure that there will be a system of check and balance at Malacañang because the two candidates belong to different political parties.
“As we expect teamwork, we also expect check and balance. If they are worth our votes, they should work for the benefit of the Filipinos,” he said.
He said Villar and several other presidential candidates had earlier solicited the support of the Magdalo.
Acedillo said that they are not asking for pardon or amnesty for detained Magdalo soldiers, including Trillanes, once Villar becomes president.
Aside from endorsing candidates in the May polls, Magdalo is also fielding its own members for various local posts as independent candidates.
Acedillo is running as representative in the first district of Cebu City, former Lt. Senior Grade James Layug and Capt. Dante Langkit are also eyeing House seats in Taguig City and Kalinga, respectively. Former captain Gary Alejano, is running for mayor of Sipalay City in Negros Occidental.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Party assailed the alliance forged by the NP and the Nationalist People’s Coalition, saying it was bogus and done as an “afterthought” apparently to steal from LP its right of being accredited as the dominant minority party in the May 10 national elections.
The LP, in a petition filed with the Commission on Elections, said that in trying to win the dominant minority status, “petitioner NP-NPC Coalition clearly is attempting not only to pull the rug from under LP’s feet but to circumvent the law and make a mockery of our democracy.”
“The out-of-order petition filed by this imaginary coalition scorns both the political party system and the electoral exercise, and sidelines the Filipino people’s rights,” LP stressed as it sought to dismiss the lumped petition for registration of the NP-NPC Coalition and its accreditation as the dominant minority party.
The LP said there was no formal coalition agreement between the NP and NPC and that the alleged NP-NPC coalition was formed only on Jan. 28 - a good six months after the Comelec-imposed deadline for registration of political parties. Comelec Resolution No. 8646 specified the deadline to be on Aug. 17, 2009.
NP senatorial bet former congressman Remulla said the LP should not act as if they are already the dominant minority because the Comelec has not issue a ruling yet. “The LP does not own the dominant minority status or the concept of democracy,” Remulla said.
Under the rules, the dominant minority party status is given to the political party that has the most number of incumbent elective officials and the most number of candidates for national and local positions. It is likewise given to the party which has the sufficient organizational strength to launch a nationwide campaign.
The dominant minority party will get a copy of the electronic returns once the automated canvassing of votes begins at the close of polls on May 10. - With Mike Frialde, Aurea Calica, Mayen Jaymalin, Alexis Romero
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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