Cynthia Villar, Grace Poe still lead senatorial survey — SWS

Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) - January 2, 2019 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Cynthia Villar continues to lead senatorial candidates in the latest
Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted five months before the national and local
elections.

She obtained a voter preference of 62 percent, estimated at over 37 million votes, followed closely
by Sen. Grace Poe, who is the choice of 60 percent of voters or equivalent to about 36.4 million
votes.

Sharing third to fifth places were Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano and Senators Sonny Angara and Nancy
Binay, who all obtained 40 percent.

The nationwide poll was conducted from Dec. 16 to 19 using face-to-face interviews of about 1,500
respondents with a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.

Actor and former senator Lito Lapid was in solo sixth with 38 percent voter preference while tied at
the eighth and ninth places were Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and former senator Jinggoy Estrada, both
obtaining 34 percent.

Former interior secretary and senator Mar Roxas placed 10th with 28 percent followed by Ilocos
Norte Gov. Imee Marcos with 27 percent.

Capping the top 12 is Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, who obtained 27 percent voter preference,
equivalent to over 15 million votes.

At 13th and 14th place were former senator Serge Osmeña and Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV,
respectively.

Former special assistant to the president Christopher Go ranked 14th to 15th with former Bureau of
Corrections head Ronald dela Rosa.

Tied at 17th and 18th were former presidential political affairs adviser Francis Tolentino and former
Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile, who both obtained 16 percent.

Other senatorial candidates who obtained single-digit voter preferences were volunteer doctor and
former STAR columnist “Doc Willie” Ong, singer Freddie Aguilar, former presidential spokesman
Harry Roque, former broadcast journalist Jiggy Manicad, former congressman Neri Colmenares,
Melchor Chavez, Dado Padilla, Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu, Lemy Roxas, Larry Gadon,
women’s rights advocate Samira Gutoc, human rights lawyer Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno and former
interior chief Rafael Alunan.
Grace Poe tops latest Pulse Asia senatorial survey
8.2KSHARES8.1K20
Ryan Macasero (philstar.com) - January 9, 2019 - 2:36pm
MANILA, Philippines — Incumbent Sen. Grace Poe topped the latest Pulse Asia senatorial survey
released Wednesday.

The independent senator placed first with 75 percent of respondents saying they would vote for her if
the election were held today.

Poe also got an awareness rating of 99 percent, the percentage of voters who knew who Poe was
prior to the survey.

The latest Pulse Asia survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews from December 14 to 21,
two months after the filing of the Certificate of Candidacies last October.

Following in second and third place are incumbent Sens. Cynthia Villar (66.6 percent) of the
Nacionalista Party and Edgardo "Sonny" Angara (58.5 percent) of the Laban ng Demokratikong
Pilipino.

While Poe and Villar held the same position as last September's survey, Angara knocked Pia
Cayetano off of the top three.

Cayetano, a former senator and congresswoman, slid down to fourth place with 55.4 percent.

Rounding off the "Magic 12" or the top 12 senators leading the survey are:

 Lito Lapid (49.8)

 Nancy Binay (46.7)
 Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III (45.5)
 Sergio Osmeña III (38.8)
 Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. (37.6)
 Imee Marcos (36.7)
 Jinggoy Estrada (36.3)
 Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa (35.7)

Former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, running under the Liberal Party, was knocked off
the top 12 by Revilla, who was released after four years in detention last December 7, when he was
acquitted on plunder charges.

All of the top 12 are either incumbents or have served in the Senate before except for former
Philippine National Police chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos.
The campaign period for senatorial candidates and party-list groups will be from February 12 to May
11.