PPC sees wider lead in Senate race; LDP predicts 7-6 win for opposition

The ruling People Power Coalition (PPC) aims to widen its lead over the opposition as the election campaign enters its second month.

Buoyed by the results of the latest survey of the Social Weather Station (SWS), which showed its candidates leading the Senate race 8 to 5, the PPC said it will be able to pull its other five candidates into the winning column.

"The PPC is within striking distance of a 13-0 sweep," PPC spokesman Conrado "Dodie" Limcaoco said yesterday.

The opposition, as expected, is predicting the opposite. The Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Puwersa ng Masa (LDP-PM) coalition said it is looking at a 7-6 result in the May 14 polls, in favor of its candidates.

Limcaoco said the series of misfortunes that befell former President Joseph Estrada has greatly affected the LDP-PM candidates’ chances of winning in the coming polls.

And he said that the recent SWS survey is a good sign for PPC. The SWS survey was conducted between Feb. 22 and 25, a month after Estrada was ousted. According to Limcaoco, the survey showed a significant increase in the winning chances of PPC bets and gave the coalition more reason to plot campaign strategies in vote-rich areas of the country.

Former Speaker Manuel Villar Jr., who is one of the PPC candidates, said he has no doubt that the administration bets "will certainly dominate and win the elections by an overwhelming landslide."

"We will definitely give the 13-0 shutout goal our best shot. The campaign is just one month old and we still have more than two months to go. That’s a lot of time for us to pull up our (five) colleagues," he said.

Villar pointed out that the Supreme’s Court recent decision upholding the legitimacy of the Arroyo administration will certainly work in favor of the administration candidates.

Villar added that a better economic situation, which may come about as a result of the Court’s ruling, would increase the political support for the President and her candidates.

"The opposition will lose votes as the issues of plunder and corruption against former President Estrada sink in with people in the provinces," he said.

Villar is one of the eight PPC bets the SWS showed would likely to win the senatorial race. The seven others were re-electionist senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Franklin Drilon, Sergio Osmeña III and Juan Flavier; congressmen Joker Arroyo and Ralph Recto, and lawyer Francis Pangilinan.

On the other hand, those from outside the PPC who emerged among the top 13 likely winners were broadcaster Noli de Castro, an independent candidate, and LDP-PM’s Edgardo Angara, Panfilo Lacson, and re-electionist Miriam Defensor Santiago. Juan Ponce Enrile and Gregorio Honasan, who are also running for re-election, tied for the 13th slot.

The LDP-PM, for its part, said it is looking at a close 7-6 outcome in its favor.

Angara, a former executive secretary who heads the LDP, said the PPC cannot lay claim over the vote-rich Luzon and Visayas regions. "No party has a clear edge. The PPC has failed to make headway in these areas and this is the most interesting dimension of the campaign," he said.

He added that Mindanao appears to be the LDP-PM’s biggest hope since many in this region still support Estrada. He also predicted that the issues against the former president will no longer matter come election day.

"When voters cast their ballots, they will ask themselves who among the candidates deserve to be in the Senate and not what they think of Erap or Gloria (Arroyo)," Angara said.

Meanwhile, some people rejected the result of the SWS survey, saying it failed to reflect the public sentiment.

Former General Santos City Mayor Adel Antonino said the PPC appears to be using surveys as a weapon for psychological warfare.

He said he is "getting confused with the real results of the survey. The administration party should show the true result because it looks to me as a psychological warfare. It is not proper to predict because there are still some candidates who have not conducted their rounds of the country to campaign." — With Jose Rodel Clapano