Mar, Noli, Loren top vice presidential survey

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Manuel Roxas II has topped the list of vice presidential contenders in the May 2010 elections, results of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed.

The Third Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey, conducted from Sept. 18 to 21, said Roxas was the vice presidential bet of 40 percent of respondents.

Vice President Noli de Castro and Sen. Loren Legarda were tied at second place with 23 percent each.

Sen. Francis Escudero was ranked third with 13 percent, followed by Senators Manuel Villar Jr. (four percent), and Francis Pangilinan (three percent).

Sen. Benigno Aquino III, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno got two percent each.

Senators Pia Cayetano, Panfilo Lacson, Jinggoy Estrada, and Miriam Defensor-Santiago obtained one percent each.

TV host Willie Revillame, Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando, former President Joseph Estrada, and Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos also received one percent each.

SWS said 10 percent of the respondents could not give an answer, and seven percent had no one to recommend.

The respondents were asked who “they think were the good leaders who should become Vice-President in 2010.”

SWS said no list of names was provided to prompt the respondents, but they were allowed to give up to three names.

The non-commissioned survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,800 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila and Mindanao, and 600 each in balance of Luzon and the Visayas.

The survey has sampling error margins of plus or minus 2.3 percent for national percentages, plus or minus six percentage points for Metro Manila and Mindanao, and plus or minus four percentage points for balance Luzon and the Visayas.

LP up and running

Meanwhile, Aquino expressed confidence yesterday that he and Roxas will be able to maintain their respective leads in the surveys for president and vice president.

Aquino and Roxas swore in to the Liberal Party Cavite Gov. Irineo “Ayong” Malicsi and other local officials for the 2010 national elections yesterday at their headquarters in Cubao, Quezon City. They said many other local officials had conveyed their intention to join LP.

“I am confident that the people are yearning for something and we happen to be the personification (of that yearning). As long as they keep that kind of trust in us (our survey ratings will remain),” Aquino said.

Aquino is now being called “Mr. 50 Percent” because his ratings in surveys had consistently been above 50 percent.

“It will be the people who will decide,” he said, adding that he would not like to comment on his opponents or the looming tandems of other candidates.

He said despite reports of parties getting together to come up with their slate, they would not accept “everyone” wanting to join LP because they want to make sure they would have the same advocacies.

“Anybody who wants to help us is welcome but they should not be fair weather friends,” Aquino said.

He said they would also open their slate to members of other parties who would join them as the election nears.

Malicsi said they would deliver the votes for the Aquino-Roxas tandem.

“We will not boast but we will just show you the results,” Malicsi said, adding the LP tandem was being favored by the people of Cavite.

Malicsi was formerly allied with the LP group led by Environment Secretary Lito Atienza and Malacañang.

“This is a happy occasion for all of us. We welcome with great joy Gov. Ayong Malicsi and his officials to the Liberal Party,” Aquino said.

Roxas noted that Malicsi shared the LP’s reform platform and supported his and Aquino’s vision for a greater nation with a stable economy, improved social services and better governance.

“We share a common aspiration for the country: to provide Filipinos a decent government, one that we could all be proud of,” Roxas said.

Forty-five former and incumbent leaders of Cavite were present at the LP headquarters yesterday for the induction.

The LP said local support for the party had been getting stronger.

Aside from Malicsi’s support, the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), a regional political party based in Cebu City and run by the Osmeña political clan, had also thrown its support behind the Aquino-Roxas 2010 tandem.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, former Cebu Gov. Emilio Osmeña and former senators John Henry Osmeña and Sergio Osmeña III have set aside their political differences to back Aquino and Roxas.

Cebu is among the country’s provinces that have the most number of registered voters.

Popular television host and actor Cesar Montano, who has been named Philippine ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) by President Arroyo, has left the administration and joined the LP.

He has been designated as LP provincial chairman and would be pitted against incumbent Gov. Erico Aumentado in the Bohol gubernatorial contest.

Pangasinan Rep. Victor Agbayani, on the other hand, would be LP’s gubernatorial bet in Pangasinan.

The Guingonas and Acostas of Mindanao have likewise put aside their political differences, with Rep. Teofisto Guingona III and former Rep. Nereus Acosta joining the “Peoples’ Coalition” senatorial slate of Aquino and Roxas. – With Aurea Calica