Noynoy, Mar top MBC, dzRH-commissioned survey

MANILA, Philippines – The Liberal Party tandem of Senators Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Manuel “Mar” Roxas II has topped anew a recent nationwide pre-election survey conducted by an independent group.

Aquino led the list of presidential candidates in the survey commissioned by the Manila Broadcasting Co. and radio dzRH, obtaining 45.7 percent of the respondents’ votes, with a double-digit lead against closest rival Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar who was in second place with 24.6 percent.

Manila-based LA Research Inc. conducted the survey from Dec. 12 to 19 and used face-to-face interviews of 6,788 adults aged 18 years and above.

Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino candidate former President Joseph Estrada placed third with 17.7 percent.

Administration presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro Jr. of Lakas-Kampi-CMD continued to improve his rating and was in fourth place with 5.7 percent.

Bangon Pilipinas Movement presidential bet Bro. Eddie Villanueva got 1.5 percent and Sen. Richard Gordon of the Bagumbayan Party garnered 1.3 percent.

Independent presidential candidate Sen. Jamby Madrigal and Ang Kapatiran candidate J.C. delos Reyes got 0.8 and 0.2 percent, respectively.

In the vice presidential survey, Roxas garnered 42.4 percent of respondents’ votes, followed by NP’s Sen. Loren Legarda with 31 percent.

Estrada’s running mate Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay was in third place with 16.7 percent.

Lakas-Kampi-CMD vice presidential candidate actor and TV host Edu Manzano was ranked fourth with 3.1 percent, followed by former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando of the Bagumbayan Party with three percent.

Bangon Pilipinas vice presidential bet Perfecto Yasay obtained 0.4 percent, followed by Jay Sonza with 0.3 percent and Jun Chipeco of Ang Kapatiran Party with 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the survey showed that 14 out of the 95 personalities included in the senatorial survey have statistical chance of winning Senate seats.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada still dominates the senatorial derby with 56.7 percent, followed by Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. with 52.8 percent.

Sen. Pia Cayetano was in third place with 51.4 percent, followed by Sen. Miriam Santiago (50.4 percent), former senator Franklin Drilon (49.3 percent), former senator Vicente Sotto III (43.3 percent), former senator Ralph Recto (42.8 percent), and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (40.3 percent).

In ninth place was Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with 35.6 percent, followed by former senator Serge Osmeña (34.7 percent), Sen. Lito Lapid (28.7 percent), Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto Guingona III (25.8 percent), businessman Joey de Venecia III (24.9 percent), and Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon (23.9 percent).

The survey has margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.

Rejie Jularbal of dzRH said 25 households were sampled in several barangays in different provinces nationwide, except for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which was not included due to security reasons.

He said the respondents were given a questionnaire resembling a sample ballot and asked for his choice for president, vice president and senators.

The MBC-dzRH survey showed Aquino leading the presidential aspirants nationwide, except in Regions 1, 2, and 4B where Villar topped the survey, and Region 11, which favored the elder Estrada.

“Regions 2, 4B, and 10 also have Legarda taking the top slot from Roxas among vice presidential candidates,” Jularbal said.

LP campaign manager Florencio Abad said the party had expressed gratitude to the people over the results of the latest survey which showed that support, especially for Aquino, had solidified.

Roxas expressed belief the people had not left them and their fight for clean and honest government.

Vice presidential bet Fernando of Bagumbayan party cautioned voters not to be swayed by survey results on the acceptance and popularity of candidates.

“The real survey results are the actual votes. But at this time, the elections are still far, these (survey results) are also far from the truth,” Fernando said in a Manila forum yesterday.

Fernando called on voters to put things “into perspective.”

“Don’t participate in these surveys and those who commissioned these will go crazy. You must be sure that your answers in the surveys will be your decision come May,” he said.

Gibo bats for research and development

Meanwhile, Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer Teodoro has laid down his solution to corruption, overpopulation and poverty through the funding of the nation’s research and development (R&D) institutions.

“Time and resources have been misused to address these symptoms instead of attending to their cause. The direct cause of underdevelopment is lackluster science and technology brought about by the failure to do research properly,” Teodoro said.

He said that if elected president, he would allocate more funds to the country’s R&D institutions to make them at par with international standards.

Teodoro said that a nation with a vibrant research-and-development sector is a progressive nation as it can continue to produce goods and essential items needed in today’s freewheeling market.

On the other hand, a country that continues to lag behind this field will be nothing but the dumping ground of goods not needed by those progressive countries, he pointed out.

He said that local inventors should get a share in the proceeds of their inventions to spur local scientists and engineers who are among the best in the world.

Bringing in the private sector to such endeavors will ensure that there will be sufficient funds to bring the project to maturity that would be beneficial and will make every Filipino busy and productive, he said. –-Helen Flores (The Philippine Star) with Aurea Calica, Mike Frialde, Jaime Laude