Young Manila voters pick Razon for mayor

MANILA, Philippines - Former Philippine National Police chief retired Gen. Avelino “Kuya Sonny” Razon is preferred by the young voters in Manila in the coming May elections.

The 1.2 million voters of Manila, especially those who are undecided in the recent survey conducted by The Issues and Advocacy Center or The Center, are also now considering Razon because his politics is centered on governance, issues and platform and not “finger-pointing” and “mudslinging” as being espoused by his rivals incumbent Mayor Alfredo Lim and former Mayor Joselito Atienza.

The camp of Razon is hoping that his ratings, in the upcoming survey of The Center, would rise as Manilans are beginning to digest his platform of governance while the campaign period is coming to a homestretch.A survey conducted from March 26 to April 10 on 2,400 respondents in the city’s six districts showed Lim garnering a rating of 40 percent, Atienza with 28 percent while Razon at 23 percent, up by seven percent in a previous survey.

Ed Malay, director of The Center said the rise of Razon’s ratings showed that what was previously bruited as a Lim-Atienza fight in Manila is fast shaping as a three-cornered battle for the city’s mayoral post.

Favored candidate

The survey showed that Razon was clearly the favored candidate by those in the “ABC” class with 45 percent followed by Lim with 42 percent while Atienza experienced a seeming rejection by those in the class as only 22 percent favored him.

Razon also received 38 percent ratings from respondents who are in the 18-25-year-old bracket, which can be considered as encouraging when ranged against the 32 percent and 29 percent of Lim and Atienza, respectively. Razon was also the favored candidate by those in the 26-35-year-old bracket with a 41 percent preference rating against the 38 percent and 32 percent that Lim and Atienza, respectively.

Malay noted that the high ratings of Lim, are brought about by what appears to be the evident non-acceptability by the people of former Mayor Atienza and in part due to the lack of adequate information as to the platform of governance being espoused by Razon.

Malay emphasized that the survey that The Center conducted in Manila which has a margin of error of + 2.8 percent also reflected a nine percent of still undecided voters, or those who refused to give a response when the survey was conducted.

This means that if the margin of error of 2.8 percent and the nine percent of undecided voters are factored in, the mayoral elections in Manila would just be about even when the polls open on May 10.

The margins separating Lim, Atienza and Razon, according to Malay, will definitely narrow down to single-digit and, or, may even level off as the campaign progresses.

and as the voters begin to have more knowledge of the campaign platforms espoused by the three candidates especially when the issues affecting this election in Manila become more pronounced and evident.

Malay said it is the assessment of The Center that the high survey ratings associated with the reelection bid of Lim was not borne out of the adulation of the people of Manila for Lim as there is simply no semblance of dynamism in the way the city government is being managed.

For two decades, Lim and Atienza took turns in governing Manila but they failed to bring the city to new heights in terms of economic development.

Tired of name-calling and finger-pointing, the 1.2 million voters of Manila are banking on the experience and leadership of Razon, a former PNP chief, in guiding the city to an economic turnaround.