FPJ on surveys: No need to worry

Opposition front-runner Fernando Poe Jr. said yesterday he was not bothered at all by President Arroyo’s slim lead in the latest voter opinion poll.

The survey, conducted by pollster Pulse Asia Inc., showed that Mrs. Arroyo leads Poe by three percentage points, which is still a statistical tie.

Thirty-four percent of 4,800 registered voters said they would vote for Mrs. Arroyo while 31 percent said they would go for Poe. The poll was conducted March 27 to April 4.

"Like I’ve said before, whatever comes out in the surveys… we just have to push through with the campaign," he told reporters in an interview.

A Poe support group, Filipinos for Peace, Justice and Progress Movement (FPJPM), questioned the survey’s accuracy.

It said it was "apparently rigged" to cover up an alleged plan by the Arroyo administration to cheat in the elections.

"We are not at all surprised to read about so-called independent surveys showing (Poe) and (Arroyo) neck and neck in the presidential race because these form part of Malacañang’s shrewd scheme to subliminally convince the public that an Arroyo victory is possible," FPJPM president Boots Cadsawan said in a press statement.

"Malacañang would make sure that an Arroyo victory is possible by carrying out what could be the dirtiest elections in the country’s history come May," he said.

In a television interview, Pulse Asia founder Felipe Miranda vouched for the accuracy of the survey and rejected suspicions that it was rigged.

Citing "reliable sources," re-electionist Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. had earlier accused the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Arroyo administration of conspiring to cheat in the election.

Pimentel had alleged that under a supposed "Oplan: Checkmate," voters in known Poe bailiwicks would be disenfranchised and votes for Mrs. Arroyo padded.

The plan also reportedly included measures to quell possible violent protests against an Arroyo victory.

The camps of Mrs. Arroyo’s two other rivals, Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Eddie Villanueva, likewise doubted the survey’s accuracy.

Lacson urged the country’s two major polling firms, Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations, to ensure the accuracy of their opinion polls.

"What I am saying is that there might be some elements within the survey group who are manipulating the results of the surveys on orders by very influential people from Malacañang," he told a press briefing.

Louie Sison, spokesman for Villanueva’s Bangon Pilipinas party, said the poll "again failed to reflect the people’s sentiment for change."

"Topping surveys is one thing. Being elected fair and square is another," Sison said in a press statement.

Speaker Jose de Venecia earlier predicted that Mrs. Arroyo’s massive political machinery would deliver her a slim margin of five percent of the vote.