Duterte, Marcos keep Pulse lead

Before he uttered his controversial remarks about a rape victim, tough- talking Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte widened his lead over closest rival Sen. Grace Poe in the presidential survey conducted by Pulse Asia.

The ABS-CBN- commissioned poll, taken from April 5 to 10, showed 32 percent of 4,000 registered voters nationwide rooting for Duterte.

His score went up two points from 30 percent in Pulse Asia’s March 29-April 3 survey, which was also commissioned by ABS-CBN.

Poe’s rating steadied at 25 percent and remained at second spot.

United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) bet Vice President Jejomar Binay obtained 20 percent ( unchanged), followed by Liberal Party (LP) candidate Manuel Roxas II with 18 percent (from 19 percent).

Trailing them was Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago with one percent voter preference, down from two percent in the previous poll.

The survey, which has an error margin of plus or minus 1.5 percent, was undertaken prior to Duterte’s controversial remark about the rape and murder of an Australian missionary in a Davao jail in 1989.

In a campaign sortie in Quezon City last April 13, Duterte said he was angry that Australian Jaqueline Hamill, then 36, who had been raped by the inmates, was “so pretty” that “he should have done it first.”

Duterte emerged as the top of mind candidate across all voting classes, Pulse Asia said.

In the Visayas, which had been dominated by Roxas in previous surveys, Duterte got 29 percent while Roxas had 35 percent.

Duterte earlier received the backing of One Cebu, a local political party led by the Garcia clan, after it bolted Binay’s UNA.

In Mindanao, Duterte obtained 58 percent, three points higher than in the last ABSCBN survey. In the National Capital Region, which has 6.2 million registered voters, Duterte (32 percent), Poe (32 percent) and Binay ( 23 percent) were the top bets.

Marcos keeps solo lead

Meanwhile, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. kept his solo lead in the vice presidential race with 27 percent.

However, his rating dropped a point from 28 percent in the previous Pulse Asia poll.

Sen. Francis Escudero, runningmate of Poe, and LP vice presidential candidate Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo remained statistically tied at second place, with 23 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Both of them scored 22 percent in the previous survey.

They were followed by Duterte’s runningmate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano with 17 percent, from 15 percent previously.

Binay’s runningmate Sen. Gregorio Honasan got four percent ( unchanged) while Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV obtained three percent from five percent.

Marcos also remained as the top vice presidential bet in Metro Manila, garnering 40 percent, His score, however, dropped by seven points.

Marcos also dominated the race in the rest of Luzon with 35 percent, and topped the survey among voting classes ABC and D with 43 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

Grateful for trust

Duterte’s camp expressed gratitude to the public for their continued support to the presidential candidate despite his lack of resources and support from the local government.

“We are happy with this new survey result. We thank the Filipino people for their trust in Duterte’s advocacy for genuine change,” Peter Laviña, the Davao mayor’s spokesman, said in a text message.

Poe was unfazed by the drop in her rankings in the latest Pulse Asia survey and remained confident that the electorate would be wise enough to vote for someone who deserves to lead the country.

She stressed yesterday that her focus is on her programs which aim to reduce poverty.

Escudero said survey rankings remain very fluid and could very well show a different result as election day draws near.

He noted that awareness of the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing Poe to run for president was at a mere 64 percent so her numbers could still go up once the message is spread to more people.

Like Poe, Binay is also certain of victory in the upcoming polls.

“We are going to win,” Binay said.

UNA spokesman Rico Quicho maintained that the real survey will be on Election Day.

“VP Binay will continue visiting different provinces to introduce his platform and programs to the public,” Quicho said.

‘Unite vs Duterte’

The camp of Roxas, on the other hand, believes the latest survey highlighted the need to unite against a Duterte victory and the return of a dictatorship.

“We saw in the survey the need for decent Filipinos to unite to prevent Mayor Duterte from winning and the return of dictatorship in the Philippines,” Koalisyon ng Daang Matuwid spokesman and Akbayan Rep. Ibarra Gutierrez said in a statement yesterday.

Gutierrez said decent Filipinos are slowly joining forces to support the candidacy of Roxas and Robredo.

“We are confident that the decent Filipino will win in the upcoming election,” he said.

Robredo, for her part, said the Pulse Asia survey was conducted before the vice presidential debate at the University of Santo Tomas.

“For me, every survey is important. It is important because it shows not just the trajectory but in what areas we are weak,” Robredo said.

“We use this as a guide to determine where we will devote more time and what segment of society we will concentrate on,” she added.

Tight race

Malacañang still considers the race for the presidency and vice presidency a close fight and highly competitive.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. yesterday said there had been a proliferation of public opinion surveys in recent weeks and voters’ preferences were continually being influenced by media reports on political developments.

“We are confident that in the run-up to election day, the

Daang Matuwid coalition will continue to garner support as our bosses manifest their desire for continuity of good governance that is the basis for the attainment of inclusive growth,” Coloma said.

In San Carlos City, Negros Occidental where he inaugurated a solar power plant, President Aquino said he was optimistic about the future of the nation, “because I am confident that our people will not let our gains go to waste and will choose to continue treading the straight path.”

Aquino said the Philippines underwent “a dramatic turnaround” and that from 2010 to 2015, growth average was at 6.2 percent for gross domestic product – the fastest pace since the 1970s, which was a period of crony capitalism in the Philippines, “and therefore not comparable to the economic growth” happening at present.

“Now, wherever we look, we can witness proof of this trend. One only needs to open the Sunday newspaper to the classified ads section to see all the workers needed by companies in the Philippines. Might I add: these are not simply menial jobs; companies are looking for skilled workers and amongst them engineers needed on an immediate basis,” Aquino said.