By the looks of it, Senator Grace Poe stands a strong chance to be re-elected in the upcoming mid-term elections on May 13.
Poe, who ran against Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, once again appeared on top of Pulse Asia’s survey of candidates for this year’s senatorial elections. The survey was released earlier today.
The senator also landed on the first spot when Pulse Asia conducted a similar survey in March and June of last year.
For this survey, Pulse Asia said that it conducted face-to-face interviews nationwide with 1,800 respondents aged 18 years old and above from Dec. 14 — 21.
Poe’s re-election is supported by 75.6 percent of the respondents, according to the results. Coming in at second place is another incumbent, Senator Cynthia Villar, who was supported by 66.6 percent of the respondents. Sharing third to fourth places are Senator Edgardo “Sonny” Angara (58.5 percent) and former senator Pia Cayetano (55.4 percent).
Sharing the fifth to seventh places are former senator and actor Lito Lapid (49.8 percent), incumbent Senator Nancy Binay (46.7 percent), and Senator Koko Pimentel (45.5 percent).
A few controversial figures who also landed in the survey include former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, who was ranked eighth to 14th with 37.6 percent. Revilla was acquitted by the Sandiganbayan for plunder in December, although he’s still facing 16 counts of graft.
Former senator Jinggoy Estrada, Revilla’s friend who’s also being tried for plunder, also did well and landed on the eighth to 15th places with 36.3 percent. The daughter of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee, had 36.7 percent and also landed on the eighth to 15th places.
One of President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies appears to have a slight chance in winning: his first police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa had the support of 35.7 percent of the respondents, which ranked him from eighth to 15th.
The same cannot be said for Duterte’s Special Assistant, Christopher “Bong” Go, who was ranked 14th to 16th and was supported by only 29.7 percent of the respondents. Go was accused of early campaigning last year after his posters appeared in different places in the country.
Leading the opposition Liberal Party is former presidential candidate Mar Roxas, who was ranked eighth to 15th with 35 percent of respondents saying that they would vote for him. Benigno “Bam” Aquino , also from the Liberal Party, was ranked 10th to 16th and had 32.6 percent support.
Pulse Asia discovered that 43 percent of their respondents already had a complete lineup of who they were voting for this May. Filipinos will elect 12 senators during the elections.
In its report, Pulse Asia identified several events that occurred before and during the survey period, which includes former Imelda Marcos’ guilty verdict from the Sandiganbayan’s for graft; Revilla’s acquittal, and the conviction of the three cops who allegedly killed teenager Kian Delos Santos in Caloocan.
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