Erap, Villar neck and neck; Binay overtakes Legarda

WITH only 10 days left before elections, ousted President Joseph Estrada pulled even with Senator Manuel Villar Jr. for second place in the presidential race, 19 points behind frontrunner Benigno Aquino III, the latest Pulse Asia survey showed.

The survey, conducted from April 23 to 25, found that 39 percent of the 1,800 respondents favored Aquino to be their next president.

Estrada, who recently launched a barrage of attacks against Villar, drew even with him at 20 percent after the Nacionalista Party contender lost five percentage points from last month’s survey. The nationwide survey had a margin of error of 2 percent.

This was the first time the ousted president had landed in second place since the campaign began.

The previous surveys showed Villar was closing in on Aquino for the top slot, but recent attacks on his character seemed to be taking their toll in the results.

The date of the new Pulse Asia survey coincided with Estrada’s press conference that accused Villar of exerting pressure on the Stock Exchange to approve the 2007 initial public offering of his company, Vista Land. In the wake of Estrada’s attacks, exchange officials said no rules were broken in the Vista Land listing.

Estrada, who had been embroiled in his own stock market scandal when he was president, was elated by the improvement in his ranking.

“This is obviously good news in terms of ranking, although we still need to catch up with Noynoy [Aquino] in terms of percentages,’’ he said.

“But it’s a good feeling to hit number two, and this is a good time to be there. The next l0 days are critical.”

Ronald Holmes, president and managing fellow of Pulse Asia, noted that the other presidential hopefuls had the support of at most 7 percent of the registered voters. He also said less than one in l0 of registered voters was undecided.

In the vice presidential race, Senator Manuel Roxas II of the Liberal Party took 37 percent of the vote, followed by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, who jumped to second place with 28 percent, and Senator Loren Legarda whose share fell to 20 percent.

Liberal Party campaign manager Florencio Abad attributed Aquino’s consistent rise in the surveys to “the fact that many Filipinos believe in his crusade to bring back the good in Philippine politics.”

The Estrada camp, basking in their recent gains, took aim at Aquino.

A spokesman said the Liberal Party’s promise of change was “empty without a competent leader.” –Fel V. Maragay, Manila Standard Today