corruption is the number 1 issue in the 2010 philippine election

read the platforms of government of all presidentiables here

read the platforms of government of the presidentiables here: https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/category/platform-of-government/

or read here: https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/category/presidentiables-stand-on-issues/

or read specifics here:

• erap estrada – the president who will finish plans for the poor
• jamby madrigal – corruption fighter
• presidentiables stand on how they will generate jobs
• eddie villanueva – a vote for what is right and good governance
• richard gordon the transformer
• richard gordon’s new platform of government for the win in the 2010 election!
• presidentiables stand on improving philippine education
• presidentiables stand on cha-cha and arroyo as speaker
• on nuclear energy : aquino, de los reyes, madrigal & perlas no to nukes; gordon, teodoro, villanueva and villar yes to nukes
• nicanor perlas’s platform of government
• richard gordon’s vision for a new philippines
• presidentiables stand on population growth
• eddie villanueva’s platform of government
• A SOCIAL CONTRACT WITH THE FILIPINO PEOPLE : THE PLATFORM OF SENATOR BENIGNO “NOYNOY” S. AQUINO III

presidentiables stand on how they will generate jobs

 

source: http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/talkofthetown/view/20100501-267548/How-theyll-generate-jobs

How they’ll generate jobs 
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:13:00 05/01/2010

FILIPINOS CONTINUE TO LEAVE FOR JOBS OVERSEAS. THERE ARE SIMPLY not enough jobs available in the country. While remittances help keep the economy afloat, the social costs of a parent or spouse working abroad are huge. A bright spot is the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, which has absorbed tens of thousands of college graduates. But the BPO sector benefits mostly the middle class. It is closed to the poor who have less education. A big number of Filipinos are unemployed or underemployed or have simply given up hope of finding a job. How the next administration will address the unemployment problem can be gleaned from the answers of the presidential candidates to the following questions:

How will you generate jobs? What policies and programs will you pursue to create jobs?
What kind of jobs will be generated under your administration? What sectors, industries?
Will you encourage the export of labor?

Benigno Aquino III
Liberal Party

THE NO. 1 ITEM IN OUR PLATform is job generation. The theory is we could increase the quality and remuneration of jobs available here. It might not match those in other countries but with the added benefit of having your family and you are a first-class citizen here. We might have enough people who will decide to stay.

We want something like (US President Franklin) Roosevelt’s job creation program—building schools or public works projects with a big labor bias. If the project will not be delayed and it’s OK cost-wise, then we will choose a labor-intensive program.

We have so many areas that have a big potential like the BPO sector, IT and agriculture, particularly post-harvest production. Agriculture can be subdivided [into subsectors]. There are also many others that have not been exploited like fruits, [which can be processed into] fruit juices.

My understanding of the law is that the state cannot make it a policy to export our workers. Nevertheless, I want to make sure that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and our embassies and consulates really help all our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

A very significant portion of the population are OFWs outside the country. So the main point is that if they leave, it’s because they want to and not because they have to.
Interview by Philip Tubeza

 

JC de los Reyes
Ang Kapatiran

WORK IS A WAY OF FULFILLing part of our human potential given to us by God. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers, owners and managers must be respected—the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to economic initiative, and to ownership and private property.

Ang Kapatiran shall ensure rapid and sustained economic growth for sustainable poverty reduction and better quality of life for all by:

Reviewing and rationalizing all outstanding public debts and limiting future government borrowings within the growth level of our exports or GDP;

Raising private and public savings rates to increase total investment rate;

Enhancing investments in human resource development, especially by strengthening education in the sciences, mathematics, engineering and English;

Streamlining government bureaucracy to reduce personnel expenditures;

Drastically improving tax administration and revenue collection;

Abolishing laws, rules and regulations that give government revenue personnel the discretion to allow or disallow certain deductions or exemptions;

Prioritizing agricultural development to attain a high degree of self-sufficiency by encouraging productivity through the introduction of new technologies and support-infrastructure;

Creating microfinance and other credit facilities for small enterprises by harnessing OFW remittances and more exports for economic development;

Encouraging livelihood through the formation of cooperatives and other small enterprises and development programs to alleviate poverty in the grassroots level;

Implementing the agrarian reform program;

Promoting industrialization by encouraging the expansion of useful industries, including telecommunications and information technology;

Attaining a stable balance of trade by encouraging the development of new export products and improving existing ones.

In summary, Ang Kapatiran shall work for a “job-filled society”—industrialization for the economic well-being of all, agricultural development, microfinance and other credit facilities for small- and medium-enterprises, and positive investment climate to reverse the outflow of OFWs.
Interview by Jerome Aning

 

Joseph Estrada
Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino

WE WILL GET RID OF THE secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the New People’s Army (NPA). So we will start developing the countryside. Right now, the government cannot develop the countryside.

In the early ’50s and ’60s, informal settlers or squatters were concentrated in Metro Manila. Today, in all urban areas, there are squatters because the countryside remains undeveloped. There’s the NPA. In Mindanao, there’s the MILF.

We will concentrate on services and agriculture to generate jobs. When there’s peace and order, there’ll no longer be [adverse] travel advisories from other countries. We will improve our tourism.

We cannot stop the export of labor soon. Maybe within two to three years. It will take time to generate jobs. Like for example, during my time, if you will remember we planned to change the economic provisions of the Constitution so that we can generate jobs.

We will allow foreigners to own land here except agricultural land. If we allow foreigners to own land they can compete with our local realtors and once (they own land) they will develop that. Once they develop that, it will generate jobs.
Interview by Norman Bordadora

 

Richard Gordon
Bagumbayan

WE HAVE NATURAL TRAITS and skills for tourism. We can be the beach capital of the world. We have enough airports already. Our problem is we have to do some policy on certain airports to be declared “open skies.” Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam have open skies.

The educational system is producing many hotel and restaurant management graduates. That is the future. Because of the tourism law which I authored, we can now invite more investors to build establishments without overtaxing the environment.

We can spread out hotels. Tourists will not want to go to Boracay every year. They want to go to new destinations. Our graduates can be tuned into tourism and entrepreneurship. But our education must also leapfrog to information technology. So you will want more software development.

We may have to export labor for a while, but we will encourage enhancing labor skills. I am not going to send a maid. I am going to send a governess. There is a value added.

We also have to make sure that we harness savings instead of encouraging a consumption-based economy. We will have a provident fund in which we are able to raise money from the savings of our overseas workers. Professional people should run the fund as they do it in Singapore.
Interview by Edson C. Tandoc Jr.

 

Pulse Asia April 2010 Presidentiables Poll : estrada ties villar at 2nd, aquino widens lead

The survey fieldwork was conducted from April 23 to 25, 2010 using face-to-face interviews. Key developments in April 2010 include the following: (1) defections from the Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) mostly to the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Liberal Party (LP); (2) election-related issues such as the purchase of ultraviolet lamps (UV) because the UV readers of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines were unable to read the UV markings on the ballots, the scrapping of the P 700 million contract for the purchase of ballot secrecy folders, and the re-bidding of the contract for the purchase of indelible ink; (3) completion of the printing of ballots for the May 2010 elections; (4) various incidents of election-related violence across the country; (5) Senator Francis G. Escudero’s endorsement of Senator Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III for president and Makati City Mayor Jejomar C. Binay for vice-president; (6) accusations made by former President Joseph E. Estrada and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile against Senator Manuel B. Villar, Jr. that while serving as Senate President in 2007, Senator Villar used his position to pressure the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to decide in his favor on a matter concerning the public offering of his real estate company’s shares; (7) Senator Richard J. Gordon’s filing of charges against two survey groups; (8) petitions from various sectors for a parallel manual count of votes; (9) the Supreme Court’s final ruling allowing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice (but not the next Sandiganbayan Justice); (10) calls for the resignation and disbarment of Department of Justice (DOJ) Acting Secretary Alberto Agra following his decision to clear two key suspects in the Maguindanao massacre; and (11) increase in power rates despite rotating brownouts in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.

http://pulseasia.com.ph/pulseasia/story.asp?ID=716

on nuclear energy : aquino, de los reyes, madrigal & perlas no to nukes; gordon, teodoro, villanueva and villar yes to nukes

PDI has an excellent series of articles, “Talk Of The Town” where they ask all the presidentiables their stand on issues and topics. We are printing here the latest installement. 

Stand on nuke energy, power crisis
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:26:00 03/13/2010

THE COUNTRY has been hit by outages as a result of low-generating capacity of hydroelectric plants due to the dry spell, and the breakdown and maintenance of power plants. Mindanao is particularly hard hit, suffering from rolling brownouts lasting 8 to 10 hours a day.

The shortfall in the country’s power supply has brought into focus the need to come up with additional sources of electricity.

Two provinces – Pangasinan and Cebu – have expressed interest in nuclear power.

Whether the country will adopt nuclear-power technology will depend on the policy of the next President.

Talk of the Town asked the following questions to the presidential candidates to get a sense of their position on nuclear power and the energy shortfall.

Are you in favor of nuclear power to address the power shortage?

Why? Why not?

If you’re in favor, would you revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant?

Isn’t it too costly to pursue a nuclear program?

How will safety concerns be addressed? (Earthquakes, storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel)

Benigno Aquino III
Liberal Party

I would rather exhaust other means than resort to nuclear power. We have other perceivably safer sources of renewable energy.

Nuclear energy has reemerged as an option to satiate the world’s present and future electricity needs. However, it continues to face “social acceptability” problems because of fears about the safety of its use. There are other sources of energy that have less chances of endangering the lives of people.

In the case of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, it has a large amount of documented safety hazards and may pose a threat to the safety and/or well-being of the residents around it.

The challenge for both government policymakers and private-sector stakeholders lies in exploring and developing energy resources safely, economically and in an environmentally responsible manner. The pace of development must also be efficient and timely to meet forecast demand.

Neither renewables nor fossil fuels and nuclear power can bring immediate “energy self-sufficiency.” We must pursue an optimal mix of sources of energy immediately and aggressively if we hope to meet our future needs. The energy mix should be able to reduce risks associated with the supply, price volatility and production cost.

The government must also take an active role in pushing for a comprehensive competition policy. Submitted by Aquino’s staff

 

Manuel Villar
Nacionalista Party

Yes (I’m in favor of nuclear power to address the power shortage.)

At this point where there is an energy crisis, all options are open. The availability of more safe and environment-friendly nuclear technology and the experience of other nations using it should be reason enough to pursue it.

An experts’ commission (from the Department of Transportation and Communication, Department of Energy, academe and private sector) should be created to reassess the feasibility of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Primary concerns that should be addressed by them are the safety issues and the economics of reviving it and its potential to address the perennial energy crisis we are experiencing.

I have always been a cost-benefit kind of manager. The costs should be weighed against the benefits. If in the long run nuclear technology solves the crisis in power, this will bring in more investments to our economy and open up opportunities for the people.

How will safety concerns be addressed (earthquakes, storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel)?

This is the reason why there is a need for a thorough study participated in by the experts and all stakeholders, so we can look at safety concerns and to make sure that the undertaking will work for our benefit and not harm us in any way. Submitted by Villar’s staff

 

Joseph Estrada
Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino

Countries like Taiwan are using nuclear power for electricity. Why can’t we do that? I’m in favor of using the nuclear power plant but we have to transfer the location (from Bataan) because it is near an earthquake fault. We should use it.

We paid for it for many years. It was only recently that it was fully paid. However, since it is near a fault line, why not relocate it?

The government should have anticipated the power crisis. With the growth of our population, there really would be a shortage in energy. There were independent power producers before but our experience only resulted in more graft and corruption. There should be no sovereign or government guarantees.

I’m in favor of alternate sources of energy such as geothermal energy. I’m in favor of anything that would help solve our power crisis. Interview by Norman Bordadora

 

Richard Gordon
Bagumbayan

I am in favor of using nuclear power. It is really, in the long run, much cheaper.

The only problem with nuclear waste is how to store it. But it is clean in the long run.

Besides, there are nuclear plants all around us. Taiwan has a nuclear plant. Japan has a nuclear plant.

What is the alternative? It now seems that we can’t do anything right. It’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t with dams. You don’t want coal.

In our country, we keep putting fear and doubt in our aspirations. It is necessary that we learn to accept that if other countries are capable, we are also capable.

The other countries trust our sailors with their lives at sea. They trust our pilots to fly airplanes. I don’t see why we cannot do this with nuclear power.

Regarding the debate about the revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, I will have to consult the people there first. It seems like a disgrace that we paid for it and we never got a single volt of power from there.

If the people of Bataan will approve it, then I am not afraid of it. But if the people will be against it because they have studied the issue carefully, then that is also OK. Interview by Edson C. Tandoc Jr.

Pulse Asia February 2010 Presidentiables Poll : villar rating drops on corruption issue

it is interesting how the national surveys seem to be releasing consistent findings. this latest pulse asia poll result conducted late february is consistent with the findings of the TNS survey result, another national poll. (read here: new presidentiables survey jan-feb TNS: aquino at 42%, villar at 31%. villar should resolve C-5)

this pulse asia  poll shows aquino still the front runner with no statistical change from previous poll with a of 36%. the poll has a margin error of +/12% at the 95% confidence level. 

villar was unable to continue to push up his rating and in fact suffered a loss of -6% points to now 29%. villar was on a continuous growing trend in previous polls.

we think villar’s loss was due to the C-5 controversy that he found himself at the start of the year that peaked with the speech he delivered at the senate denying there was any wrong doing, something that occurred during the fieldwork of this poll.

we wrote previously on this issue when TNS released it’s poll results.

 it looks like C-5 will hound the candidacy of villar. also makes us think that should he win the presidency, just like arroyo, villar will have a corruption issue hanging on his head throughout his presidency. it was the ”hello garci” case for arroyo, it might be C-5 for villar.  as in the “hello garci” case, the C-5 issue will not go away for villar. we think it is best that villar mop out a plan to get this issue to be resolved after the election, especially if he wins the election. he should do this for the sake of his presidency and the country.   the country needs closure on this issue.

click: new presidentiables survey jan-feb TNS: aquino at 42%, villar at 31%. villar should resolve C-5

it was also at around that time when noynoy aquino changed his advertising campaign from the badly strategized rap tv ad targeting young voters to the more hard hitting and focused “hindi ako magnanakaw” tv ads.

by a happy coincidence (or planned conspiracy by the noynoy camp), corruption was directly brought up by aquino as an election issue and his message while the the C-5 corruption controversy was heating up in the senate. the C-5 issues has been there for months but disappeared from the radar only to reappear interestingly during the heating up of the presidential campaign.

corruption we think  probably belongs to the top 3 issues voters have in this coming election. we also think it is one of the reasons why aquino continues to float as top contender in this election as it is one of the enduring brand images of aquino. aquino as seen by the people as clean and incorruptible given the legacy he and his family holds in the minds of voters. 

on the other hand, corruption is the enduring legacy of president arroyo . though unconfirmed, it is a sticking point on arroyo with many corruption scandals unresolved. people are tired of both arroyo and corruption.

aquino having his parents as heroes of  the country, ninoy and cory enjoys an image of  it is one thing that noynoy will not do.

it was great timing that  aquino’s ads spoke of no corruption for him  and corruption was the issue being hurled on villar. 

in today’s PDI headline story, it said it was the Villarroyo charge that pulled villar’s ratings. we disagree. the charge that villar is arroyo’s secret presidentiable did not really get a lot of media play compared to the C-5 and corruption messages of aquino. 

Villarroyo was mentioned by mar roxas at the tail end of the C-5 controversy and got some press play but it was really not explained or given enough meat for the people to understand and remember it.  the C-5 controversy on the other hand got long and in-depth media coverage by the press and extended for a few weeks.

it appears the voters understood what the C-5 is really about at its core. they were able to see that this goes beyond senators having a lover’s quarrel or a man of power exerting undue influence but as a form of corruption.

in simplistic terms, the voters had this in their minds – aquino who is clean versus villar who is tainted. for a moment there villar got defined as corrupt and aquino re-confirmed as not corrupt.

the aquino and villar campaigns should look at this poll results very closely and understand how it got there and what are the implications. they should do more in-depth study and analysis and conduct further research. we think doing this and extracting the appropriate insights  has a very strong possibility that it will give them the winning formula for this election.

(view rap ad here: noynoy aquino’s new tv ad – pinoy noynoy rap,
read here : noynoy aquino’s “hindi ako magnanakaw” tv ad – the power of credibility in a powerful tv ad)

 

The survey fieldwork was conducted from February 21 to 25, 2010 using face-to-face interviews. Several developments dominated the news headlines in February 2010. Among these are the:

• (1) speech delivered by Senator Manuel B. Villar, Jr. before his colleagues wherein he reiterated his innocence in connection with the C-5 road extension project controversy and the failure of the senators to vote on the report of the Senate Committee of the Whole seeking to censure Senator Villar;

BusinessWorld-SWS January 2010 presidentiables survey – villar closes gap

Aquino-Villar spread cut to 7 points

The key change from the previous SWS survey of December 27-28, 2009 is that Aquino lost 2 of his former 44 points while Villar gained 2 points, thus cutting the Aquino-Villar spread from 11 points to 7 [Chart 1, Table 1].

Estrada lost 2 of his former 15 points, bringing him at least 22 points away from Aquino and Villar.

The vote percentages of Teodoro, Villanueva, Gordon, Madrigal, De Los Reyes, and Perlas did not change significantly from December of 2009.

http://www.sws.org.ph/

time for a short list – vote for aquino, villar or gordon. don’t even consider the rest!

i think we are getting closer to that time in this election where we need to make a short list of presidentiables we will consider voting in may 2010. some of us may have made up our minds but i think most are still considering who to vote. for these voters and i think they are a majority, the thing to do now is to make a short list.

making a short list now has the advantage of focus. getting down the candidates into a short list will allow us to focus on getting information on just a few of the candidates. it will save us time and effort.

for me, my short list has these names – noynoy aquino, manny villar or richard gordon, not in that particular order. i will not bother with the rest.

the approach i took in making my short list is to first decide on who among the presidentiables i do not like. that is usually an much easier decision to make than who to vote.

excluding estrada is obvious on why he should not be in the short list – he is a convicted criminal. this country should not even think of considering a criminal to be it’s president. the time of estrada specially the trial was a traumatic experience for the country. we do not need a repeat of that.

eddie villanueva, jamby madrigal and jc de los reyes are jokes in this election. for me, voting for them is wasting your vote.

why would we elect a president who is alone and does not even have a party in both houses? if they become president, with no party in both houses and no allies, how can he advance his vision for the country? he will be forever begging both houses for support of his vision and plans. to get them done, he will need to compromise and that is a very dangerous thing to do. that is the problem with villanueva and de los reyes.

i don’t even know why madrigal filed her candidacy. i think she did it just for fun or this rich kid did not have anything better to do. i won’t even waste space talking about why she should not be elected.

gordon is the odd man out in my short list. first of all he is among the laggards in the polls. i like gordon’s characters and his very smart. i admire his determination and the way he sticks to his principles.

teodoro? oh, please! not in a million years. there are so may things wrong about teodoro and it begins with himself and ends with his close association with gloria macapagal arroyo. i believe what most people think – a teodoro presidency means 6 more years of arroyo. enough is enough! we have suffered so much already behind 9 years of arroyo, getting teodoro elected means the suffering will only continue.

what is your short list and why?

the 2010 Philippine Presidential Election – an election for aquino to lose, an election for villar to win

the latest poll was conducted end december and that puts voter sentiments on the

noynoy aquino

presidentiables just a short 5 months away. soon, we will be seeing the hardening of voter sentiments on presidentiable preferences.

we think by may 2010, it will be down to an election for aquino to lose and for villar to win.

barring any major collapse or miraculous events, this will be an election between two presidentiables – manny villar and noynoy aquino.

to change the trend means any one of the two leading contenders making a monumental blunder on something or a personal scandal. for the others to bolt into contention, they will need an event of miraculous proportion.

we actually had 2 events during this election time – the ondoy/pepeng floods and the maguindanao massacre. these events have been life changing for many of the voters and defining moments for the presidentiables, but we did not see anyone of them taking advantage of the two events and bolting out of  the pack.

gilbert teodoro, the admin candidate had the best chance among all of them to make the most of these twin 2009  events but he had performed at minimum without consequence or at worst badly.

among all the presidentiables he was poised to bolt himself to stardom but he did not take it and was unable to make anything of it. his ratings show it where he continue to be of no consequence in this election.

we expect the polls to put aquino and villar in a much tighter range as we get closer to the election. however, as things are now, we see this election as either a landslide win by aquino or a squeaker win, a very close one by villar.

bakit absent si eddie villanueva sa presidentiables forum sa DLSZ?

nagtatanong lang po – bakit wala si eddie villanueva sa presidential forum sa de la salle zobel? siya nga yung kulelat sa surveys kailangang kailangan niya ang exposure sa mga botante at media.

end-December SWS presidentiables poll – aquino remains formidable at #1, villar moves up by keeping laggards at bay, takes the undecided and others

this is the data from the latest SWS presidentiables poll which was commissioned by congressman zamora, an NP member. we are comparing the latest poll results, which was conducted december 27 to 28, 2009 to the SWS december 5-10, 2009 poll commissioned by business world (click here to read: SWS Business World Presidentiable Poll – aquino has dominant lead at 46.2%). we do not have yet the SWS data tables, so we are picking up the numbers from the PDI news article.

• Noynoy Aquino : 44% (dec 27-28) from 46.2% (dec 5-10) (2.2% loss)
• Manny Villa : 33% from 27%  (+6% gain)
• Erap Estrada : 15% from 16% (+1% gain)
• Gilbert Teodoro : 5% from 4.6% (+0.4% gain)
• Eddie Villanueva : 1% from 1.1% (-0.1% loss)
• Richard Gordon : 0.5% from 0.9% (-0.4% loss)
• Undecided : 1% from 3.7% (-2.7% loss)

first of all, note that it is a very bad idea to compare the latest poll conducted december 27-28 versus the december 5-10 poll because the design of the two polls are different. the early december poll had a lot more choices of presidentiable names for the respondents to choose from. that survey included the names of lozano, crespo and perlas. the late december poll probably has only 8 names on it which are COMELEC’s official list of candidates.

a difference in number of names to choose from affects the distribution of the votes from a statistics standpoint. there is also a difference in the way  the respondents make their choice.

another point – conducting this survey between christmas and new year is a very bad idea. any research agency will tell you conducting surveys of any kind during that period is not advisable as respondents tend to too preoccupied with the christmas and new year celebrations that their answers may not be as reliable compared to conducting surveys in dates other than those. the conventional wisdom is that no surveys are conducted from december 1 to until about the 1st week of january.

having said that, we should take this analysis with a grain of salt.

aquino continue to do well in this poll – he is still the dominant front runner in the poll. aquino is correct to say he has “staying power”. more importantly, the 2.2% loss of aquino from previous poll is meaningless as it probably falls within the  margin of  error.  that means statistically, aquino’s ratings have  not changed from the previous poll.

villar did very well in this poll, he gained +6%, a statistically significant gain. this is a tribute to the heavy advertising that villar has been airing.

villar gained not from aquino but from the other presidentiables like estrada and gordon and the other names that were included in the previous poll and now excluded in the latest poll. more importantly, villar gained from the   “undecided”.

the key conclusion here is that villar is a real threat to the laggards group while he is unable to get switchers from aquino. this can mean aquino supporters are fiercely loyal and that villar’s efforts have no to little effect on aquino’s followers.

nevertheless, villar is a threat to aquino in this election. there is still time for villar to figure out how to get aquino supporters to switch to him.

this latest survey continue to confirm our prediction that this election will be one between aquino and villar.

unlike mass consumer products marketing and traditional marketing, political marketing is a very different animal all together. we think that except for villar, all other presidentiables are approaching this in the wrong marketing and advertising sense.

NP camp solicited latest SWS survey

By Michael Lim Ubac
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:08:00 01/09/2010

MANILA, Philippines—The lead of Liberal Party standard-bearer Benigno Aquino III over his nearest rival, Sen. Manny Villar, of the Nacionalista Party has been narrowed to 11 percent, according to a recent Social Weather Stations survey commissioned by a Villar ally.

manila standard today poll – aquino maintains dominant front runner lead

this manila standard today survey is the 4th nationwide survey conducted in early december that has consistently put noynoy aquino as the dominant front runner in the 2010 presidential elections. the other hree  are the SWS poll commissioned by Business World (click here: SWS Business World Presidentiable Poll – aquino has dominant lead at 46.2%), the december 2009 Pulse Asia poll (click here:  pulse asia december 2009 senatoriables poll – to win, the challenge is differentiation)  and the December 2009 SWS best leader poll (click here: SWS November Presidentiables Poll – aquino holds dominant lead, villar moves up to be a real threat, teodoro stays at no consequence).

all 4 nationwide surveys have basically the same results:

• noynoy aquino is the dominant dront runner with at least 45% rating.
• 2nd is manny villar at best 27% and a far second to aquino.
• 3rd is erap estrada, at best 18%.
• gilbert teodoro is among the laggards, at best geting 5%.
• villanueva consistently gets 1%-2%.
• gordon whose name was included only in the december polls get 1% to 2%.
• all others get negligible ratings.

with 4  nationwide surveys having basically the same results says they are pretty solid and is a strong view of voter sentiments.   

SENATOR Benigno Aquino III has maintained a double-digit lead over Senator Manuel Villar Jr. in the race for the presidency, the latest poll commissioned by Standard Today shows.

The nationwide face-to-face survey of 2,500 respondents conducted from Dec. 6 to 12 showed Aquino with 46 percent of the vote, followed by Villar with 27 percent and ousted President Joseph Estrada with 17 percent. Administration candidate Gilberto Teodoro garnered 5 percent.

The survey has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

All candidates improved from the previous Standard Today poll in November, picking up votes that had gone to Senator Francis Escudero, who has dropped out of the race, and from the ranks of the undecided, which fell to only 2 percent from 4 percent last month.

In the December poll, Aquino picked up 5 percent, Villar 3 percent, Estrada 5 percent, and Teodoro 2 percent. Evangelist Eduardo Villanueva, who was unlisted in November, managed 2 percent in December. Senators Richard Gordon and Jamby Madrigal each got less than 1 percent.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNews.htm?f=2009/december/28/news1.isx&d=/2009/december/28