Liberal Party welcomes Noynoy's lead in surveys

MANILA, Philippines - The Liberal Party (LP) welcomed yesterday the results of a recent survey showing its presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his running mate Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II maintaining their lead over their rivals.

In pollster Pedro Laylo Jr.’s survey of 2,500 respondents nationwide from Dec. 6 to 10 published by the Manila Standard Today, Aquino was chosen by 46 percent of voters as their candidate for president if elections were held at this time while Roxas was chosen by 41 percent for vice president.

Roxas, the LP president, said they were grateful for the results of surveys even if they were not spending heavily on infomercials at present.

He said they would work even harder starting in January to keep their lead as the latest surveys also showed that their rivals were also gaining more support.

In the Social Weather Stations survey for BusinessWorld last Dec. 5 to 10, 46 percent also chose Aquino as the candidate they would vote for president while 41 percent chose Roxas for vice-president.

The Pulse Asia survey from Dec. 8 to 10 showed that 45 percent of voters chose Aquino for president while 39 percent would go for Roxas for vice-president.

Roxas said they were hoping to keep the people’s support for the reforms that they were advocating.

“But this fight is not just about me, Noynoy or the Liberal Party. This is about the thirst of all Filipinos for real, transformative change,” Roxas said.

In the Manila Standard Today/Laylo survey, Aquino’s 46 percent was followed by Sen. Manuel Villar’s 27 percent, former President Joseph Estrada’s 17 percent. Former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro obtained five percent while religious leader Eddie Villanueva got two percent and Sen. Richard Gordon, one percent.

For vice-president, Roxas’s 41 percent was followed by 37 percent for Sen. Loren Legarda, nine percent for Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, three percent for actor Edu Manzano, two percent for former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando and one percent for ex-Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Perfecto Yasay Jr.

The survey also showed that a plurality of voters or 45 percent said it is “very important” to vote for the candidate for president and vice-president from the same party while 25 percent said it was “important,” indicating that up to 70 percent of voters would vote for the president and vice-president from the same ticket if elections were held at this time, LP said.