Pulse Asia Survey: Top 2013 Senatorial Candidates

The latest survey conducted by Pulse Asia from February 26 to March 9, 2012 revealed the frontrunners in the 2013 Philippine Senatorial elections.

Image Courtesy of Pulse Asia

1. Loren Legarda – 58.5%
2. Francis “Chiz” Escudero – 52.7%
3. Mar Roxas – 41.8%
4. Alan Peter Cayetano 41.6%
5. Juan Ponce Enrile Jr. – 38.2%
6. Noli de Castro – 34.6%
7. Antonio Trillanes IV – 33.7%
8. Gregorio Honasan – 32.1%
9. Jose Victor Ejercito – 31.3%
10. Koko Pimentel – 29%
11. Ted Failon – 26.9%
12. Leila de Lima – 26.6%
13. Rodolfo Biazon – 22.5%
14. Juan Miguel Zubiri – 22.4%
15. Ana “Jamby” Madrigal – 21.8%
16. Michael Defensor – 21.5%
17. Kris Aquino – 20.7%
18. Richard Gordon – 20.3%
19. Willie Revillame – 20.2%
20. Juan Edgardo Angara – 18.1%
21. Sharon Cuneta – 17.0%
22. Grace Poe – 12.7%
23. Gilbert Teodoro – 11.8%
24. Mike Enriquez – 11.0%
25. Richard Gomez – 10.8%
26. Eduardo Manzano – 8.9%

Pulse Asia used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above.

Mar Roxas votes in Capiz

Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, Liberal Party vice presidential candidate, has voted in his precinct in Roxas City in Capiz, video on GMA Network showed.

Roxas, who was accompanied by his wife, broadcaster Korina Sanchez, cast his ballot in 22-A.

Also with Roxas was his mother Judy Araneta-Roxas and son Paolo, the television report said.

Roxas twits Escudero over Binay

Who needs the ‘B’ when you have the ‘K’?

Sen. Mar Roxas twitted a fellow senator’s endorsement of Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay as the vice president of Liberal Party standard bearer Sen. Benigno Aquino III.

“Wala akong ‘B’,” Roxas said in an interview on "Headstart with Karen Davila" over ANC. “Wala akong baho (I don’t have dirty secrets), wala akong bisyo (I don’t have vices),” the senator said, provoking laughter in the studio audience.

Roxas was obviously referring to incriminating photos of the Makati mayor with an unidentified woman, with whom Binay admitted having an affair, that were printed in major newspapers last week.

Binay has downplayed the pictures, saying the affair was over and not at all recent and that his wife, Elenita, and their children had already forgiven him.

In the television interview, host Davila asked Roxas for his reaction to the endorsement made by Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero of Binay as his preferred candidate for vice president opposite Aquino.

Escudero’s tv commercial calls Binay (May ‘B’) a man of the masses and describes him in adjectives apparently meant to distinguish him from the well-off Roxas.

“It’s okay with me. At least I have ‘K’,” Roxas said.

Roxas, vice presidential candidate of the Liberal Party, is newly married to broadcaster-on-leave Korina Sanchez, who used to host a magazine show titled “Balitang K”.

This early, observers are pitting Roxas and Escudero as potential rivals for the presidency in 2016.

Escudero’s endorsement of Binay is being read as a move to jeopardize Roxas’ future plans.

Mar Roxas is Noli's Vice President

Vice President Noli de Castro virtually relinquished his post to Senator Mar Roxas as he publicly endorsed the Liberal Party vice-presidential candidate over his radio dzMM program on Saturday morning.

"Vice President Mar Roxas," De Castro said before opening his radio dzMM program "Para Sa 'Yo Bayan."

Roxas was the lone guest at radio dzMM's "Magandang Morning" program and was about to leave the station when De Castro made the remark.

The incumbent vice-president said, while on air, that he was planning to include a portrait of Roxas in the vice presidents’ gallery.

"Ang gumawa kasi ng gallery sa Office of the Vice President, namatay na iyon eh. Pagagawan ko sana ng painting ito," De Castro announced, but jokingly added, "Hindi. Just in case lang."

Roxas was supposed to run for president under the Liberal Party ticket, but opt out of the race to give way to Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

Roxas was lagging behind pre-election surveys for presidentiables, but his voting preference went up when he declared his vice-presidential run.

The senator has been leading vice-presidential surveys.

Nacionalista Party's guest vice-presidential candidate, Sen. Loren Legarda, who is consistently placed 2nd in vice-presidential surveys, is Roxas's and De Castro's common denominator.

Legarda actively pursued an election protest against De Castro after losing in the 2004 vice-presidential race.

Almost confident

Despite his wide lead in the surveys, Roxas said he and LP presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who has also been leading the surveys, could not relax in the campaign.

He said they would still go around the country to lay down their platform of government to the voters.

The tandem is advocating change and a corrupt-free government.

“No. Actually last night [we went around Quezon and Laguna], presenting our platform of government to the people,” Roxas said.

The senator said that people have been warmly welcoming them wherever they went.

He urged their supporters to be vigilant during the May 10 elections.

Aquino, Roxas still lead presidential, VP race—poll s

With a little more than a month before the national elections, Senator Benigno Aquino III continues to lead the candidates for president, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

Aquino, standard-bearer of the Liberal Party, got 37 percent of the 3,000 respondents who, in the survey from March 21-28, said they would vote for him if elections were held last month. Closest rival, Senator Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party, is at second with 25 percent. Former president Joseph Estrada is third with 18 percent, former defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro, fourth, with seven percent; Senator Richard Gordon of Bagumbayan and Brother Eddie Villanueva of Bangon Pilipinas, with two percent each.

Other presidential candidates had voter preferences of below one percent: Nicanor Perlas, 0.3 percent; John Carlos “JC” de los Reyes, 0.2 percent; and Senator Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, 0.1 percent.

About one in every 10 (9 percent) refused to name or remained undecided as to their presidential preference.

The survey used a multistage probability sample of 3,000 adults and had an error margin of plus-or-minus two percentage points.

For vice president, Aquino's runningmate, Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas, leads the pack with 43 percent. Senator Loren Legarda is second with 23 percent and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, third with 19 percent.

The other contenders received three percent or less: former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando, two percent; Lakas-Kampi CMD’s Edu Manzano, two percent; Perfecto Yasay, one percent; and broadcaster Jay Sonza, 0.5 percent; and Dominador Chipeco, 0.1 percent.

Aquino, Roxas: We have trust of most Filipinos

Liberal Party standard bearers Senators Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and Manuel "Mar" Roxas II received the highest public trust ratings in a Pulse Asia survey in late February.

The Pulse Asia survey conducted from February 21 to 25 among 1,800 respondents, also showed Aquino and Roxas topping voters’ preferences for President and Vice President if elections were held during that time, a statement from Roxas' office said.

"In contrast, voters’ trust for their rivals Senator Manuel Villar and Sen. Loren Legarda declined, with Villar suffering a double-digit drop despite the more than P1 billion he had spent on TV and radio advertisements since last year," the Liberal Party statement said.

It said Pulse Asia found out that Aquino enjoyed the “big trust” of 64 percent of respondents, "making him the most trusted candidate for President." Only 14 percent of voters said they had “small/no trust” for Aquino, with the rest undecided.

On the other hand, Roxas had 70 percent of the respondents saying they had “big trust” in him, with only 10 percent having “small/no trust” and the rest undecided, the statement said.

"Aquino’s high trust ratings is in contrast to Filipino voters’ perception of his main rival Villar, whose trust ratings dipped to 59 percent due to an 11-point drop among Filipinos with ”big trust” in him," it added.

The statement said Legarda’s trust rating likewise went down to 58 percent, or a drop of three percent from her January trust rating.

Among the presidential candidates, former president Joseph Estrada came third, with 40 percent, followed by administration standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro with 29 percent. Senator Dick Gordon came next with a 25 percent rating, the statement said.

In the vice presidential race, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay came third, with only 45 percent; former MMDA chief Bayani Fernando with 22 percent and by actor Edu Manzano, 19 percent.

"The Pulse Asia trust survey validates results of recent pre-election preference surveys conducted by independents pollsters, where Aquino and Roxas thumped their rivals with wide margins," the statement said.

"Aquino and Roxas are campaigning on a platform of good governance and transformational leadership and have repeatedly vowed to make themselves examples that could be emulated by the rest in government, including a promise to open their bank accounts to public scrutiny to stress their commitment to wipe out graft and corruption in government," it added.

Roxas biggest ad spender

To veterans in political circles, the 2010 presidential campaign started 3 years ago. In November 2007, in a huge event at the historic Club Filipino, Senator Manuel Roxas II assumed presidency of the Liberal Party (LP) and vowed to bring the party to victory in 2010.

Roxas’s presidential ambitions, like Manuel Villar Jr.’s, have been an open secret as far back as 2004. Until Benigno Aquino III entered the picture in August 2009, the country was gearing for a battle royal between the top campaign spenders of the 2001 (Villar) and 2004 (Roxas) senatorial elections.
In a shocking announcement in September—before crying supporters, also in Club Filipino—Roxas said he would just seek the vice presidency to give way to Aquino, his party mate who now wanted to be the Liberal standard bearer.

It was a big decision for Roxas, who had spent a lot on his preparations for the presidential campaign. On political advertising alone, he spent a total of P575.39 million on TV, radio, and print from January to August 2009, based on data from the media monitoring firm AGB Nielsen Media Research.
Roxas was prepared to match Villar’s advertising spending. The LP bet was even outspending his NP rival from January to April 2009, when Roxas spent a total of P268 million versus Villar’s P179 million.

It was old money versus new money. Roxas comes from the old-rich Araneta clan that owns vast tracts of land, more prominently the Araneta Center, a prime property in Cubao, Quezon City. Villar, on the other hand, became a billionaire through his real estate business.

By May 2009, however, Villar beat Roxas’s spending. In the 8-month period from January to August, Villar spent P790 million, which is P215 million more than Roxas’s spending.
The amounts are based on rate cards. The actual cost may be lower. Villar earlier claimed that he got a 66% discount on ad placements because he bought the spots early.

The pioneers
Villar and Roxas may be considered the pioneers of political advertising in the Philippines.
In the 2001 senatorial elections, Villar was the first politician to maximize political advertising. To the tune of Tom Jones’ “Sex Bomb,” a hit song at that time, he introduced his ST slogan (Sipag at Tiyaga, or industry and perseverance), relating those traits to his success in business and politics. He was also endorsed by popular sexy actress Rosanna Roces.

Villar’s ads were credited for his rise from No. 14 in the January 2004 surveys to No. 7 in the official election results. The political ad ban was only lifted in January 2001. Villar was among the few who were prepared to use the new campaign tool. (He won a re-election in 2007 elections, when he was the 3rd biggest spender.)

It was Roxas who pushed the limits of political advertising in the 2004 elections.
In January 2003, or 14 months before Election Day, Roxas introduced himself as “Mr. Palengke” in radio ads. In April 2003, he launched his TV ads, where the Wharton graduate sashayed to the popular tune of “Mr. Suave” by the band Parokya ni Edgar band.
Based on rate cards, then AC Nielsen data shows that Roxas spent P80.9 million in the pre-election year.

DTI ads
That amount, however, is questionable. The whole 2003, when he was launching several advertisements, Roxas was the secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry. He resigned only on December 10.

So like President Arroyo, who was a sitting president before the 2004 polls, Roxas could have also gotten a free ride on advertisements placed by his agency.

A Commission on Audit report shows that the DTI spent P26 million for ads in 2003. This amount is almost 10 times more than the agency’s advertising expenses the following year, P3 million in 2004, when Roxas had left the agency.

The amount of ads put out by DTI under Roxas in 2003 was equivalent to close to half (41%) of what 5 other government agencies and corporations combined spent on ads featuring President Arroyo that year (P63.16 million).

From January to May 2004, when Roxas was no longer with DTI, he spent P96.3 million on his campaign ads.

Roxas topped the 2004 elections with nearly 19 million votes, beating popular movie action star Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., who ranked 2nd. It was a big showing for a relatively unknown Cabinet secretary who ranked 22nd among senatorial hopefuls 8 months before elections. His ads were largely credited for his success.

The VP race
The presidential race was not encouraging for Roxas, however. Even as he battled Villar in the airwaves last year, he was trailing behind in the surveys.

The highest rating Roxas got in 2009 was 13% in May 2009. He ranked 5th among rumored candidates, although at 3% margin of error they were all statistically tied at the top spot.
The other candidates were Vice President Noli De Castro (18%), Senator Francis Escudero (17%), former President Joseph Estrada (15%), and Villar (14%).

But Roxas failed to boost his numbers. In the following survey, conducted from July to August 2008, he lost 2 points. Villar topped this survey with 25%.

When the idea of Benigno Aquino III’s candidacy was broached after President Aquino’s death, LP stalwarts were split. Eventually, Roxas himself offered to slide down.

"Ito na ang pinakamabigat na desisyon sa buhay ko. Maniwala man kayo o hindi, ginagawa ko ito para sa bayan, para sa inyo (This is the hardest decision I had to make in my life. Believe it or not, I did this for the country, for you). I do this for unity in support of change. And if that means that somebody must make the sacrifice, it must be me. Ako na," Roxas told supporters in Club Filipino.

It’s a different story now in the vice presidential race, where it’s become a battle between the top senators of the 2004 (Roxas) and 2007 (Legarda) elections. Both had also aspired for the presidency.
In the Pulse Asia surveys of January and February 2010, Roxas maintained double-digit leads over Legarda. He enjoyed a rating of 47% and 43%, respectively, versus Legarda’s 28% and 27%.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay is a far 3rd—13% and 15%, respectively—in the vice presidential race.
Roxas has cut down on spending since he slid down to the vice presidential race. From September to December 2009, he was outspent 4 times by Legarda. The latter spent P178 million versus Roxas’s P42.62 million.

From January to August 2009, Roxas’s monthly average spending on ads was P72 million. In Septembers, when he declared that he would only be seeking the vice presidency, he only spent P5.24 million on ads. In October, Roxas stopped placing ads altogether.

He resumed his spending in November, starting at a meager P1.37 million. In December, he spent P36 million.

Noynoy Aquino Mar Roxas Campaign

The Liberals began their campaign with a Mass in Aquino country, in the town of Concepcion, Tarlac, where the late Benigno 'Ninoy' Aquino Jr. began his political career as the youngest mayor to be elected into office.

In his talk at the end of the Mass, Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Sen. Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III said Concepcion was also special to him for another reason.

He recalled that his first time to speak publicly was at the town plaza in 1976 when his father was given an award during martial law.

Aquino was accompanied by his running mate, Sen. Manuel 'Mar' Roxas II, and the LP senatorial candidates. They were blessed by 30 priests led by Tarlac Bishop Florentino Cinence.

In his homily, Fr. Mon Capuno, parish priest of La Paz, asked Aquino to open his palms and raise his hands saying in them were the heavy burden because they hold the hope of the nation.

Fr. Capuno then asked the audience to raise their hands as a symbol of the support they would give him in the challenge ahead.

Before the prayer of Our Father, a slight commotion was heard outside the church when actor Coco Martin arrived, momentarily disrupting the solemn Mass.

Corruption and integrity

On occasion, Aquino's campaign buddy and bodyguard, Fr. Arnold, would step in to keep people away from mobbing the presidential candidate.

The LP national slate then took a short walk to the Concepcion public market for a rally to introduce themselves.

Tarlaceños listened to the speeches from market stalls and the roadside, momentarily halting all business at the busy commercial center.

But the adoring crowd did not mind the heat, listening to candidates condemn corruption and promise to bring integrity back in governance.

From the market, the party walked to the town plaza to lay a wreath at the foot of a Ninoy Aquino statue fronting the town hall.

Concepcion mayor is with NP

Absent from the festivities were re-electionist Concepcion Mayor Noel Villanueva, who is running under the banner of Aquino's closest rival, Sen. Manuel Villar's Nacionalista Party.

The mayor prepared merienda for the visitors who chose not to drop by, but instead met their supporters in the home of their mayoralty candidate, board member Jay Castro.

From there, the LP slate moved to the Aquino ancestral home to break for lunch, followed by a press conference.

At the press conference, a host of statements from the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, beginning with Aquino's announcement that he aims to complete the distribution of over 1 million hectares of private lands during the 5-year extension period of the agrarian reform law.

Plans for Hacienda Luisita

As of Hacienda Luisita, Aquino says he has asked his extended family to find ways to transfer the assets to the farmer-beneficiaries debt-free.

He says his family could avail of the voluntary offer to sell option (VOS) under the CARP with Extension and Reforms (CARPER) law, but it would not be in the better interest of the farmers.

In other words, they are still at the exploratory stage in an issue which has been a yoke around Aquino even if his stake in Hacienda Luisida Inc. is only 0.004%.

What is noticable is that the Liberal Party has raised the decibel of their attacks against Villar.

Roxas calls NP bet "Villarroyo"

Saying it was a race betwen character and cash, Roxas also called Villar "Villarroyo," while Aquino said he was not a true candidate for change because his previous statements and actuations indicate that he never opposed the corruption of the Arroyo administration.

Aquino also said that even if the incumbent mayor of his father's hometown is a Villar supporter, he is confident that he will enter his name on the ballot.

The campaign also took Aquino on a nostalgic visit to his family's old home as he toured guests around and brought them to the room of his parents Ninoy and Cory.

He also reunited with 72-year-old Neneng Calosa, who says she was only 13 years old when she took care of the senator who was still a toddler.

The Liberals arrived in Tarlac City at 4:30 pm on a motorcade from Capas for another Mass, after which a monument of former President Aquino was unveiled.

The opening salvo of the campaign was capped by another rally in Tarlac, their third in a full-packed day.