Gringo Honasan places 10th in RPMD senatorial survey

INDEPENDENT senatorial candidate Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan is enjoying a surge as the polls near, if his ranking 10th in the recently released RP Mission and Development Foundation Inc. (RPMD) Senatorial survey is any indication.

The survey was conducted from april 17 to 21, with 10,000 respondents interviewed face-to-face across the country. For national percentages, the sampling error margin is +/- 1 percent.

The former senator and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary II garnered a 43.2-percent voter preference, which places him squarely within the “Magic 12” at number 10.

Mark Villar (72.6 percent) sits in 1st place, followed by Antique Rep. Loren Legarda (67.1 percent), Sorsogon Governor Francis “Chiz” Escudero (61.5 percent), broadcaster Raffy Tulfo (60.3 percent), former House Speaker Alan Cayetano (53.8 percent) and Sen. Win Gatchalian (52.4 percent).

Rounding out the 7th to 12th places are Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri (51.7 percent), former Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay (44.8 percent), film actor Robin Padilla (43.6 percent), Gringo (43.2 percent), Sen. Joel Villanueva (37.5 percent), and former Senator JV Ejercito (34.8 percent).

“We wish to thank our countrymen who continue to trust in our abilities and advocacies. This is not merely the fruit of our tireless campaign efforts, but rather it is an affirmation that our countrymen are ready to respond to our challenge to help one another for the betterment of our country,” said Honasan, reacting to the poll results partly in Filipino.

Seeking a fifth term in the Senate after his stint as DICT Secretary, Gringo champions the need for legislation that would ensure the Filipinos’ KKK: Kalusugan, Kabuhayan at Kaligayahan.

To address Kalusugan, he plans to expand the Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act, a law he authored in a past term, which instituted school feeding programs in public schools across the country.

For Kabuhayan, he seeks to improve the workforce’s ICT capabilities by expanding their ICT trainings to ensure their competitiveness in the global economy and by increasing internet speed in the country and providing public schools with free wifi, laptops and tablets for online learning—which he previously instituted in DICT during his term.

To safeguard Kaligayahan, Honasan wants to pass legislation aimed at making peace and order a priority, such as the National CCTV Roll-out equipped with cameras with facial recognition and the adoption of a Self-reliant Defense Posture.

Gringo, the first independent candidate in Philippine history to win a seat in the Senate, is running for senator as an independent candidate adopted by Pdp-laban, BBM-SARA Uniteam and the Lacson-sotto tandem.