MANILA, Philippines - Re-electionist senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada and Miriam Defensor-Santiago emerged as the top three senatorial bets in a pre-election survey of Pulse Asia.
Pulse Asia’s Ulat ng Bayan survey, conducted from March 21 to 28, showed Revilla and Estrada leading the Senate race with voter preference of 53 percent and 52.1 percent, respectively. They are both ranked first to second places.
They are followed by three incumbent senators – Defensor-Santiago (46.2 percent) who occupies third to fourth places; Pia Cayetano, 42.7 percent, who is ranked third to sixth places, and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, 42.1 percent, who occupies the fourth to sixth slots.
Also, Pulse Asia said 14 out of 61 senatorial candidates have a “statistical chance” of winning Senate seats if the elections were held last month.
Ranked fourth to sixth is former Senate president Franklin Drilon with 41.1 percent.
Landing in seventh to eighth places is former Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairperson Vicente Sotto III with 35.1 percent while
former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) head Ralph Recto ranked 7th to 9th places with 32.5 percent.
Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. landed in 8th to 10th places with 30.6 percent; followed by former senator Sergio Osmeña III with 27.9, occupying the 9th to 10th places.
The other probable winners are Sen. Manuel Lapid with 23.9 percent (11th to 13th places); Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto Guingona III, 22.7 percent (11th to 14th), businessman Jose de Venecia III, 21.4 percent (11th to 15th), and lawyer Gwendolyn Pimentel, 19.6 percent (12th to 16th).
“In a best case scenario, these four individuals would land within the winners’ circle of 12 senators (11th to 12th) but their lowest statistical rankings (13th to 16th) would put them out of the running for a senatorial seat,” Pulse Asia said in a statement.
Pulse Asia noted that no significant changes in the voter preferences of these senatorial candidates occurred between February and March 2010.
It said the most marked movements are recorded by Defensor-Santiago (-3.2 percentage points) and Drilon (-3.9 percentage points).
The other candidates whose ratings improved but were not included in the list of probable winners were book author Alexander Lacson and detained Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim gaining 5.1 and 4.3 percentage points, respectively.
Electoral support for Muntinlupa Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon and Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, on the other hand, declined by 4.2 and 5.1 percentage points.
Meanwhile, the survey also found that one in 10 registered voters (10.7 percent) does not express support for any senatorial candidate.
The non-commissioned survey used face-to-face interviews of 3,000 representative adults.