People’s needs, not surveys, guiding her, says Grace Poe

WHILE surveys are a useful tool to check if an aspirant seeking public office is doing the right thing, Sen. Grace Poe said her inspiration is the people’s needs and aspirations.

Poe continued to top recent surveys on the voters’ preferred presidential candidate, ranking first in the third-quarter public opinion survey by independent pollster Pulse Asia, in a poll that nevertheless showed a decline in the number of voters who would choose her as their bet.

Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas, 58, was the only candidate who improved in the survey of 1,200 respondents done nationwide from Aug. 27 to Sept. 3 and commissioned by the commercial broadcaster.

“Surveys help us check if we’re on the right track, but we derive our inspiration from the needs and aspirations of our countrymen, with or without surveys,” Poe said in a statement.

She said she was “honored and humbled” by the Pulse Asia results.

“My sincerest gratitude to the people for their unwavering trust and support,” she said.

Poe got 27 percent in the latest Pulse Asia survey, down from the previous 30 percent. She was followed by Vice President Jejomar Binay with 21 percent and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas with 18 percent.

The release of the Pulse Asia results followed a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey that put her in a statistical tie with Binay, who used to be the frontrunner.

These polls were completed weeks before the Sept. 16 announcement of her plan to run for president in next year’s election.

The neophyte senator earlier said she was looking forward to the results of surveys conducted after her declaration of her candidacy, where she had shared her plans and her position on several hot issues.

She is running with Sen. Francis Escud- ero, who has ranked second to her in surveys on the voters’ preferred vice president.

Poe has been facing challenges in her candidacy, with the primary obstacle being the disqualification case lodged against her at the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).

Rizalito David, a losing senatorial candidate, has sought to unseat her as senator for supposedly not being a natural-born Filipino, since she was a foundling whose parentage is unknown. If the SET rules that she is not natural-born, she would be unable to run for president.

But Poe’s camp has maintained that she is presumed Filipino, and that those claiming otherwise shoulder the burden of proof.

The elections will be closely watched by investors, who fear the political succession in one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies could derail gains made during the Aquino government.