‘Noynoy’ tops SWS survey again, followed by Villar, Estrada

Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd again led all candidates for president in next year’s elections in a survey that sought to determine the top three candidates most preferred by the public to succeed President Gloria Arroyo.

Six in 10 Filipinos (60 percent) mentioned Aquino when asked who they think should become president in 2010, Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported on Wednesday.

Noynoy, the only son of late former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and late former President Corazon Aquino, also topped a survey on the preferred president conducted last month by SWS.

In the latest survey, he was followed by Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. (37 percent). Respondents were allowed to give up to three names of leaders who may possibly succeed President Arroyo.

Candidates tailing Aquino and Villar were former President Joseph Estrada (18 percent), Sen. Francis Escudero (15 percent) and Sen. Manuel Roxas 2nd (12 percent).

Candidates who got single-digit preference rating were Vice President Noli de Castro (8 percent), Sen. Loren Legarda (5 percent), Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro (4 percent), Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Mayor Jejomar Binay of Makati City (2 percent each) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando and Brother Eddie Villanueva (1 percent each).

SWS said that 6 percent could not give an answer while 4 percent had no one to recommend.

The survey was conducted from September 18 to 21, 2009, using face-to-face interviews of 1,800 adults. Margin of error is plus or minus 2.3 percent.

SWS said its latest survey on the best leader to succeed Mrs. Arroyo was noncommissioned.

Malacañang said that it was not worried about the latest SWS survey topped by Noynoy.

“You know, surveys are an ongoing activity. Surveys are surveys and I would rather say that we should talk more about what we should do to address this devastation [caused by recent typhoons]. Let us set aside politics because we will not look good to the people,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said also on Wednesday.

Ermita said that they are not worried because the 2010 elections are several months away and a lot of things can still happen.

He mentioned that Secretary Teodoro, the administration coalition’s standard-bearer in the 2010 balloting, also landed first in mock elections for president conducted also on Wednesday by members of the House of Representatives.

In the mock polls held during the Ayes and Nays Media Forum that was participated in by 153 of the 268 House members, Teodoro got 90 of the 153 votes, or 58.8 percent of the total votes cast.
Finishing second was Villar with 25 votes and third, Escudero with 20 votes.

Noynoy came in fourth with 7 votes, followed by Sen. Richard Gordon (4 votes) and Estrada (2 votes).

Receiving a vote each were Fernando, evangelist Eddie Villanueva, House Speaker Prospero Nograles, Vice President Noli de Castro and Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.

For the vice presidential slot, administration bet and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno was the topnotcher with 55 votes.

He was followed by Legarda with 21; Roxas, 18; Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, 13; Mayor Jejomar Binay, 11; and Fernando, 8. –Rommel C. Lontayao, Angelo S. Samonte and Jomar Canlas, Manila Times