Sotto, Ping are top Senate picks; Pacman, De Lima also in

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Vicente Sotto III and former senator Panfilo Lacson topped the recent senatorial survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

Sotto garnered 54 percent and Lacson 47 percent, while Sen. Ralph Recto placed third with 43 percent.

Senate President Franklin Drilon followed with 42 percent, then Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former senator Francis Pangilinan with 40 percent each.

The results of the BusinessWorld-SWS pre-election survey showed Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, boxing champ and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao and Las Piñas City Rep. Mark Villar would also win in the senatorial race if the elections were held from Sept. 2 to 5.

De Lima received 33 percent, followed by former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri (32 percent), Pacquiao (30 percent), former senator Richard Gordon (29 percent), Sen. Sergio Osmeña III (28 percent) and Villar (24 percent).

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III and Camarines Sur Rep. Maria Leonor Robredo obtained 23 percent each, while former Akbayan representative Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel and Taguig Rep. Lino Edgardo Cayetano got 21 percent each.

Results of the survey were published in the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday.

The survey was conducted from Sept. 2 to 5 with 1,200 respondents nationwide.

It has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages and plus or minus six percentage points each for Metro Manila, balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Respondents were given a list of 44 names to choose from but were only allowed to pick 12 names.

The respondents were asked whom they would most probably vote for as senators if elections were held on the day they were polled.

Meanwhile, De Lima still would not confirm if she is included in the Liberal Party senatorial ticket.

“I don’t want to preempt such announcement by the party,” she told reporters.

“If I am really included in the senatorial ticket, then that’s the only time I can say I’m 100 percent sure of running for senator. Once the announcement is made, then that’s the time I will categorically accept it,” she explained.

De Lima also welcomed the latest results of the SWS survey where she placed seventh in the top 12 preferred senatorial candidates.

“It’s very heartening piece of good news,” she said.

De Lima reiterated that she is not considering running for vice president despite earlier reports she was among those being eyed as running mate of LP presidential bet Mar Roxas.

LP’s full slate

The ruling Liberal Party will field a full slate in the May 9, 2016 combined presidential-congressional-local elections, Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice said yesterday.

“I think we will be the only political party that can and will field a complete slate, from the presidential down to the local level,” he told a news conference.

He said the full ticket would further widen the growing support for former interior secretary Roxas.

He said the ruling party hopes to announce its senatorial candidates and Roxas’ vice presidential running mate on Monday.

He said he doubted whether the two other declared presidential aspirants – Sen. Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay – could come up with a complete ticket down to the town level.

Senators seeking re-election like Drilon, Recto and Guingona would lead the LP senatorial slate.

Also being eyed as part of the ticket are Osmeña, Pacquiao, Villar, Panglinan and Lacson, De Lima, former energy secretary Jericho Petilla and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chief Joel Villanueva.

Roxas confirmed that Petilla is among those expected to be included in the LP senatorial slate.

Petilla said that he would most likely be included in the LP ticket, but President Aquino still has to confirm it.

He said that the President has been urging him to run for senator.

Pangilinan is preparing for his senatorial bid and has left the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization (OPAFSAM), which retains supervision over four agriculture agencies.

He said President Aquino wants to have continuity in the functions of the four agencies for the remaining months of his term.

Being considered as Roxas’ vice presidential candidate is Camarines Sur’s Robredo.

However, Robredo has said she is not open to aspiring for the second highest office because of her low national awareness level, lack of resources and the fact that her three children are against it.

As a single mother, she said taking care of her daughters is more important than politics.

Robredo is reportedly Aquino’s choice for the LP vice presidential slot.

If she declines, Roxas would most likely choose Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as his running mate.

Cayetano’s LP backers claim that he would give Poe’s vice presidential partner, Sen. Francis Escudero, a run for his money.

Though Poe and Escudero are independent, the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) is emerging as the vehicle for their aspiration for higher office.

However, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said local politics would prevent many NPC congressmen and local officials from supporting the Poe-Escudero tandem.

He cited the case of NPC Reps. Mark Enverga of Quezon and George Arnaiz of Negros Oriental, who are both planning to run for governor of their respective provinces.

“Naturally, they will want us in the LP to be their allies so we will not field candidates against them and they will have no opponents from the administration,” he said.

Enverga will run against incumbent David Suarez of Lakas, son of former congressman Danilo Suarez and his wife, incumbent Rep. Aleta Suarez.

Gonzales said another NPC congressman similarly situated as Enverga and Arnaiz is Pedro Acharon Jr. of General Santos City. – Helen Flores, Edu Punay, Jess Diaz, Czeriza Valencia