SWS and Pulse Asia: Wrong two out of three!

It’s Labor Day tomorrow. A special documentary on SkyCable entitled “Walang Bahid o Walang Budhi” Part 2 will be aired in the Community Channel on May 1 at 12 noon and 7:00PM, May 2 at 7PM, May 3 at 9PM, May 4 at 9PM and May 5 at 9PM. This documentary is about Hacienda Luisita. This should be very interesting to watch so you can be enlightened as to the truth of this issue.

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There is no doubt that having a parallel manual count as proposed by the Makati Business Club (MBC) and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) who are merely parroting the line of the Liberal Party’s (LP) spin doctors that there will be a Failure of Elections (FoE) will only cause more chaos and do more harm than good.

I have said it here before that when the automated count is done within 48 hours, what do you think will happen? The cheated Presidentiables (I’m using the word “cheated” because in this insanity called Philippine elections, there are no losers. Those who did not win would all profess that they were cheated) would demand to the Comelec not to proclaim the winning candidate until the parallel count is over and done with. So what the heck are we going into full automation for when, at the end of the day, we would still rely on the old manual count?

The truth of the matter is, the LP wants a parallel count because this is the only way that they can cry to the people that they were cheated! Given their penchant for totally embracing the SWS and Pulse Asia surveys as Bible truth. LP Standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III already came out in Bloomberg Television that if he loses the Presidential race, there will be another People’s Power Revolt! If we have to believe in this scenario, then why are we holding elections when all we need to do is conduct a survey and voila! we have a new President?

But both SWS and Pulse Asia (they are now called Sinungaling Weather Station and False Asia) have very poor two out of three batting average. In the 1998 elections, the frontrunner that they said would win the Presidential race was not House Speaker Ramon Mitra Jr., not even Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, but Fidel V. Ramos who was single-digit in their surveys.

SWS and Pulse Asia were correct in their surveys during the 1998 elections when they said that Erap would win the Presidency. However, in the last Presidential elections in year 2004, these pollsters said that Sen. Raul Roco would win the race. Then they downgraded Roco and said that actor Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) would win the race (especially in Metro Manila). Back then, Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) was a poor third placer in their surveys, yet she still won the 2004 elections! So there you are. Two out of three, these pollsters were wrong! Yet, Sen. Noynoy threatens that he would call for People’s Power if he loses this Presidential race? I hope he wakes up from his dream.

Last night, we went to the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) for the mammoth rally of Luigi Quisumbing that was attended by Lakas-Kampi bet Gilbert “GIBO” Teodoro Jr. who was in Cebu for one of the most hectic sortie schedules that I have ever seen. He criss-crossed the entire island of Cebu last Tuesday from Minglanilla, Toledo City, Daan Bantayan, Bogo City, Medellin, Danao City and Lapu-Lapu City. Then last Wednesday, he choppered to Camotes Island and Bantayan Island, then down to Dumanjug, Argao, Carcar and finally to the CICC. 

GIBO saw the huge turnout of people everywhere he went; hence, he knows in his heart that these surveys were highly questionable. At the CICC, Rep. Pablo John Garcia came up with his own T-shirt that declared in Tagalog, “Hindi Ako Tinanong sa Survey”. Indeed, I haven’t met a single soul in Cebu who was surveyed by the SWS or Pulse Asia. This is why we believe that these surveys are questionable.

Former Vice-Governor Democrito Barcenas doesn’t believe that 1 million votes will go to GIBO. Well, there was also a previous report that Villar would get 1 million votes in Cebu. These figures can only be proven after the last ballot is counted. But one thing is sure in this race. In the Province of Cebu, the fight is between GIBO and Manny Villar.

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Yesterday we went to the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel to see a unique culinary presentation, The Adobo Challenge, with the nation’s top chefs: Chef Glenda Barretto, Chef Nancy Reyes Lumen, Chef Danny dela Cuesta and Chef Myrna Segismundo. Try the various styles of adobo cuisine now in Marco Polo.