Incumbent, former senators dominate 2016 Senate race – SWS

MANILA, Philippines – The senatorial race continues to be dominated by incumbent and former senators, according to the results of the latest Social Weather Stations survey released on Friday, January 15.

The results of the BusinessWorld-SWS January 2016 Pre-Election Survey, first published in BusinessWorld, showed re-electionist Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III leading the pack with 56% voters’ preference if elections were held anytime during the January 8 to 10 polling period.

Sotto is running as a guest candidate of presidential aspirants Vice President Jejomar Binay and Senator Grace Poe.

Former senator and Yolanda rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson is in second place with 49%, followed by Senator Ralph Recto (46%), former food security czar and senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan (46%), Senate President Franklin Drilon (43%), and Senator Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III (42%).

Others in the so-called winning circle are former senators Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri (39%) and Richard Gordon (31%); and Senator Teofisto Guingona III (28%).

People’s champ Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao is currently ranked 8th among senatorial aspirants (37%), while former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is at 9th place (33%).

Former Akbayan party-list representative Risa Hontiveros and Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno shared 11th-13th spots with Guingona, also garnering 28% voters’ preference during the survey period.

Former Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprize Zone Authority chief operating officer Mark Lapid shared 14th-16th place with former Technical Educational Skills and Development Authority chief Joel Villanueva and former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chief Francis Tolentino, all with 19% voters’ preference.

The rest of the senatorial aspirants ranked until 20th place are Marilou Estrada (18%), Valenzuela Representative Sherwin Gatchalian (17%), actor and former Makati vice mayor Edu Manzano (16%), and Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez (13%).

LP dominates

Of those ranked 1st to 13th place, 7 are running under the Liberal Party coalition banner – Lacson, Recto, Pangilinan, Drilon, De Lima, Guingona, and Hontiveros – though Lacson and Recto are also guest candidates of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) and Senator Grace Poe, respectively.

Two – Pacquiao and Moreno – are exclusive UNA candidates, while Zubiri and Gordon are guest candidates of both Poe and UNA.

The survey results also showed that 2% of voters remain undecided on their choices for senators.

The poll was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 validated voters, 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

SWS said the sampling error margins are  ±3% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

“The area estimates were weighted by the 2015 Commission on Elections data on registered voters to obtain the national estimates,” the pollster said. – Rappler.com