Team PNoy changes tactics following survey

Natashya Gutierrez

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Campaign manager says they need to campaign more as one team, and push for the tailenders

GUMACA, Quezon – The ruling coalition’s senatorial bets still dominate surveys, but the results of the most recent one are making Team PNoy change strategies.

Campaign manager Franklin Drilon said having 8 administration candidates among the 12 survey leaders is “good result,” but two steps have to be taken to improve the equation further:

  • Stress that theirs is team campaign, not individual promotions;
  • Give more push to the 4 bets who are still outside the Magic 12.

“We need to show that we are one team and united together. This is a team effort…this is not individual efforts. We will campaign as one team,” Drilon said.

In recent weeks, Team PNoy sorties have only managed to gather a handful of candidates, with a number of them even only sending proxies who could not adequately answer voters’ questions on issues.

Drilon also said: “We will emphasize the one’s on the tailend [who] have yet to enter the Magic 12. We will give them more exposure on television.”

These are former Akbayan Rep Risa Hontiveros, former senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr and Jamby Madrigal, and Aurora Rep Sonny Angara.

Among the administration candidates, Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV and Grace Poe got the biggest gains in the latest Pulse Asia senatorial preference survey released Monday, March 11.

Poe did not hide her satisfaction, but acknowledged she has to change her approach in the campaign.

“Im very grateful, I’m thankful for the trust, but I continue to pray and work hard. I’m changing my ads already so that my main advocacy will be known,” she said.

Same tack for tailenders

The other Team PNoy candidates in the top 12 are re-electionists Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Koko Pimentel, and Sonny Trillanes, as well as Las Piñas Rep Cynthia Villar.

Trillanes sits on the 12th spot, but he registered the biggest drop in voting preference among the 33 candidates, losing 5 percentage points from January to February.

The senator said he wouldn’t change his strategy, and showed little concern about his fall in rankings – and possibly losing his Senate seat.

“I just have to accept my fate. I’ll accept whatever is the decision of the electorate,” he said, “It’s just the nature of Philippine elections – one day you’ll get to be the flavor of the month, the following month you get to be the bad guy. It’s very fluid.”

Trillanes has attended only a few sorties with the coalition, but was present in the team’s sortie here – his first with Team PNoy in over two weeks. 

For her part, Hontiveros, who has yet to make the winning circle in any survey, said she will likely keep doing what she’s doing.

“No plans to change strategy, still the old-fashioned but tested ‘do more’ of what is known as a good campaign. Keep on reaching out on the ground, to other networks who will vote for and campaign for me,” she said.

Hontiveros has been one of the bets who have faithfully attended the coalition’s sorties. She remained optimistic about her chances, adding she is ranked higher now than when she ran in 2010. – Rappler.com

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Natashya Gutierrez

Natashya is President of Rappler. Among the pioneers of Rappler, she is an award-winning multimedia journalist and was also former editor-in-chief of Vice News Asia-Pacific. Gutierrez was named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders for 2023.