Villar tops SWS survey on Senate race

Twelve senatorial aspirants, most of them incumbent members of Congress, have a statistical chance of winning if the May 2019 elections were held today, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results showed.

In the SWS survey last Dec. 16-18 among 1,500 respondents nationwide, Senator Cynthia Villar led a list of 63 personalities with a high chance of winning the elections if it were held during the survey period.

Villar obtained 62 percent of the voter preference or an estimated 37.6 million Filipinos.

She was followed by Senator Grace Poe with 60 percent or about 36.4 million Filipino voters.

Between third and fifth places with 40 percent each were Taguig City Rep. Pia Cayetano with (24.19 million), Senator Edgardo Angara Jr. (24.17 million), and Senator Nancy Binay (23.96 million).

Former Senator Lito Lapid was at sixth place with 38 percent (23 million) and Senator Bong Revilla was at seventh place with 35 percent (21.2 million).

Tied at eighth and ninth places with 34 percent each were Senator Aquilino Martin Pimentel III (20.7 million) and Senator Jinggoy Estrada (20.3 million).

Completing the top 12 probable winners were former Senator Mar Roxas at 10th place with 28 percent (16.7 million), Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos at 11th place with 27 percent (16.1 million), and Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito at 12th place with 26 percent (15.6 million).

Not far from the 12th spot were four candidates namely, former Senator Sergio Osmeña at 13th place with 25 percent of intended votes (15.2 million), Senator Bam Aquino at 14th place with 24 percent (14.5 million), former Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence Go at 15th-16th place with 23 percent (13.9 million), and former Bureau of Corrections Director-General Ronald dela Rosa at 15th-16th places with 23 percent (13.7 million).