The Center survey shows Villar ahead; 29% want Noynoy as VP

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Manny Villar Jr. topped the two-stage sampling conducted by the Issues and Advocacy Center (The Center) from Aug. 18-23, 2009 among some 1,200 respondents nationwide from the different social classes and whose number were pro-rated based on the percentages relative to the number of voters in the last 2007 elections.

Ed Malay, The Center director, said Villar emerged as the favored candidate in both the 13-way presidential sampling and in the nine-way survey containing a reduced list of nine probable presidential aspirants who may run in next year’s national elections.

Malay said the questions asked in both samplings were similar.

But the list of presidential aspirants shown to respondents was reduced to just nine names.

The survey results released by The Center showed Villar garnering 20 percent or 240 respondents out of the 1,200 respondents which is a full four percentage points over the 16 percent or 192 respondents who chose former President Joseph Estrada and Sen. Francis Escudero, who were tied in 2nd to 3rd places.

Rounding up the top six in the 13-way sampling were Sen. Manuel Roxas II with 15 percent, Vice President Noli de Castro with 12 percent and Sen. Loren Legarda whose rating plummeted to eight percent.

The hectic campaign grind pursued by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay finally paid off with some 6 percent or 72 respondents saying they will vote for him if the presidential elections will be held today.

Malay said the 20 percent garnered by Villar is a significant jump from the 14 percent that he generated in the May 2009 survey of The Center and this could be traced to his TV and radio advertisements nationwide.

“Not only did Villar outspend the other presidential aspirants in terms of airtime costs but Villar’s advertisements seemed to have struck a familiar chord with the audience that he wanted to reach which is the marginalized sector,” Malay said.

“A comparative evaluation of the content of Villar’s advertisements with that of the other presidential aspirants will bear this out in that the high ratings garnered by Villar can be attributed to the appreciation of the Filipino public with the audio-visuals that his camp have produced.”

Also moving up were Estrada whose renewed presidential drive can only be stopped if the Supreme Court rules in favor of a petition to disqualify him.

But the high 16 percent rating given to Estrada by respondents appears to be a clear indication that the public may have already formed a decision as to which or whom to believe relative to these attempts to derail the candidacy of Estrada, who remains largely popular with the Filipino masses, according to Malay.

The popularity of Estrada is being sustained by a systematic publicity and advertising campaign which is being pursued in the countryside, particularly on cable TV where a 30-minute video on how the presidency was stolen from Estrada is being shown at least three times a day.

Villar with 26 percent of the 1,200 respondents also topped the shorter nine-way sampling in which the respondents were asked to choose from among nine presidential aspirants.

Coming in second was Roxas with 18 percent, while Estrada and Escudero were tied at 15 percent, Legarda with 11 percent and De Castro with 10 percent.

Malay said the nine-way sampling is resorted to test the strength of the candidates and also to check the firmness in the decision-making processes of the respondents. –(The Philippine Star)