Aquino in, Enrile out of ‘Magic 12’

MANILA, Philippines (Update) – The surveys are moving like crazy. In the latest survey of Social Weather Stations reported by BusinessWorld, Team PNoy candidates gained points and walloped United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) candidates who suffered big losses.

Team PNoy senatorial bet Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV made it to the Magic 12. He ranked 9-10 with 42% of survey respondents saying they will vote for him.

This is the first time that President Aquino’s cousin made it to the Magic 12. He climbed 8 survey points from 34% in the January survey where he ranked 15th. He acknowledged that sharing President Aquino’s last name helped, but he attributed the rise to his volunteers.

The survey was conducted from February 15-17 or after the proclamation rallies on February 12.

Enrile, Honasan big losers

A big loser in the survey is United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) candidate Cagayan Rep Jack Enrile, son of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. He fell to rank 13 with 38% survey rating.

This is a slide from his 46% rating in the January survey where he ranked 8-9. Although Enrile ranked 13, he is statistically tied with 11-12 placers former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri and Aurora Rep Sonny Angara who registered 39% survey ratings.

Angara attributed the improvement of ratings of Team PNoy candidates to President Aquino. “We are very gratified with the people’s show of support for our group. It is a clear sign of the widespread support and clamor for PNoy’s reforms,” he said.

The biggest loser is Senator Gringo Honasan who dropped an overwhelming 14 points, although it is not as suprising because his slide was captured in the last Pulse Asia survey where he ranked 12th.

From Rank 5-6 in the January SWS survey, Honasan dropped to Rank 15. Replacing him in the Magic 12 is Aurora Rep Sonny Angara.

9-3 in favor of Team PNoy

Re-electionist senators Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, and Alan Peter Cayetano – all from Team PNoy – remain the survey leaders although their ratings did not improve.

They are followed by Cynthia Villar (Team PNoy), Grace Poe (Team PNoy), Koko Pimentel (Team PNoy), Nancy Binay (UNA), Sonny Trillanes (Team PNoy), JV Ejercito (UNA), Bam Aquino (Team PNoy), Sonny Angara (Team PNoy), and Migz Zubiri (UNA).

Based on their rankings, it is 9-3 in favor of Team PNoy. UNA has junked its adopted candidates survey leaders Legarda, Escudero, and Poe.

Jamby also big gainer

The 3 other Team PNoy candidates out of the Magic 12 are former Senator Jamby Madrigal (Rank 14), former Senator Ramon “Jun” Magsaysay Jr (Rank 16), and former Akbayan Rep Risa Hontiveros (Rank 18).

Madrigal is also a big gainer from Team PNoy. She also climbed 8 points from 28% in January to 36% in February. It’s not enough to catch up with the Magic 12 but she is close at Rank 14, following Enrile.

The other gainers from Team PNoy are Villar (7 points), Poe (3 points), and Trillanes (1 point).

Ranking 13-22 are Enrile (UNA), former senator Jamby Madrigal (Team PNoy), Senator Gringo Honasan (UNA), former Senator Ramon “Jun” Magsaysay Jr (Team PNoy), former Senator Richard Gordon (UNA), former Akbayan Rep Risa Hontiveros (Team PNoy), former Senator Ernesto Maceda (UNA), Tingting Cojuangco (UNA), evangelist Eddie Villanueva (Independent), and Zambales Rep Mitos Magsaysay (UNA).

UNA bets suffer

From UNA, only Nancy Binay – daughter of Vice President Binay – enjoyed an improvement in her ratings. She jumped 4 points from 43% in January to 47% in the February survey. She is now the highest ranking UNA candidate.

Aside from Enrile and Honasan, big losers from UNA are San Juan Rep JV Ejercito who lost 9 points and Zubiri who lost 8 points. Both remain in the Magic 12.

Outside the Magic 12, UNA candidates former Senator Richard Gordon lost 5 points while former Senator Ernesto Maceda lost 10 points. – Rappler.com, Carmela Fonbuena