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2004 ELECTIONS
FPJ-Lacson, Roco-Legarda
tandems lead in survey
Posted: 11:19 PM (Manila Time) | Dec. 05, 2002
By Juliet Labog-Javellana and Dona Pazzibugan
Inquirer News Service
15 percent of the vote
A tandem between actor Fernando Poe, Jr. and Sen. Panfilo Lacson tied
with a tandem comprising former education secretary Raul Roco and Sen.
Loren Legarda as the most popular possible presidential and vice
presidential teams, an independent polling firm said Thursday.
Each team would have obtained 15 percent of the votes had elections been
conducted last month, said Pulse Asia Inc. which based its findings on a
nationwide survey of 2,400 respondents on Nov. 6-22.
A tandem between Legarda and former broadcaster Noli de Castro came in
third with 12 percent of the votes. A possible team-up between President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Roco would have gotten only 9 percent of the
votes.
Without being paired with anyone, Roco would win the presidential
election, according to Pulse Asia. Roco, who resigned as education
secretary in October, got 19 percent of the votes.
He is followed closely by Poe (FPJ), an action star, with 17 percent and
and De Castro, a broadcaster, with 16 percent.
Poe's votes could theoretically match those obtained by Roco as the
survey has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.
Ms Macapagal came fourth with 12 percent, followed by Chief Justice
Hilario Davide Jr. with 7 percent.
Pulse Asia defended the release of survey results on the possible
presidential candidates, saying that Filipinos were already swept by
election fever more than a year before the 2004 presidential election.
It said almost everyone had a preference for the top two officials of
the land.
For obtaining a big percentage of the votes, Roco, Poe and De Castro
were classified by Pulse Asia as belonging to the "first group."
The second group is composed of Davide (7 percent), Sen. Edgardo Angara
(5 percent), Legarda (4 percent) and Lacson (3 percent).
The last group is composed of Senate President Franklin Drilon and Metro
Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando, both with 3 percent;
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., 2 percent; and Vice President Teofisto
Guingona Jr., one percent.
Five percent had no preference, were undecided, or refused to choose a
possible candidate.
Roco popular in Manila
Roco is most popular in Metro Manila, with 31 percent of the votes,
while Poe has 18 percent. De Castro is tops in Mindanao with 26 percent,
followed by Poe with 17 percent. The rest of Luzon also went for Roco
(21 percent) and Poe (20 percent) but the Visayas is for Davide (18
percent) and Mindanao is for De Castro (26 percent).
The ABC socioeconomic class rooted for Roco, who got 27 percent of its
votes. He was followed by Poe and Ms Macapagal with 12 percent each.
Class D favored Roco with 19 percent followed by De Castro who got 17
percent while the poorest Class E went for Poe, 24 percent, followed by
Roco with 18 percent.
For vice president, Pulse Asia said eight personalities were in a tight
race with Legarda (15 percent) and Roco (14 percent) in the lead.
The others are Sen. Juan Flavier, Drilon and Poe who all got 9 percent;
Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and Angara with 8 percent each; Lacson and
Sen. Sergio Osmena III with 6 percent each; Pimentel, 5 percent;
Guingona, 3 percent and Fernando, who was swept to national prominence
with his campaign against sidewalk vendors, 2 percent.
Pulse Asia cautioned the presidential and vice presidential wannabes
that surveys conducted this early must be considered as "extremely
exploratory and hardly controlling."
"It is unlikely that the presidential or vice presidential contest will
actually have so many people in formal competition by April or May
2004," Pulse Asia research director Felipe Miranda said in a statement.
He said the public's level of electoral preferences culled from the
survey's long list of possible candidates showed that no candidate
gained even a 20-percent endorsement.
This, he said, should caution "those prone to unnecessarily exalt or
needlessly despair against indulging themselves on account of the
survey's results."
President's rating plunges
Ms Macapagal's poor showing in the survey coincided with her plunging
approval rating, which dropped from 54 percent in July to 46 percent
last month.
Pulse Asia reported that the President's performance rating plunged
across the board, in all geographic areas and socioeconomic classes,
with decreases of between 5 to 17 percentage points.
Pulse Asia said the President's performance rating "in this very
difficult times erodes further with less than a majority of the public
now approving" of her.
People's trust in the President diminished while distrust for her built
up between July and November this year, Pulse Asia added. Her trust
rating dropped from 43 percent to 38 percent.
Pulse Asia said people from Metro Manila and those from the best-off
Class ABC were the ones who least approved of the President. Those from
the Visayas and Mindanao continued to approve of her but with rather
small majorities.
Presidential spokesperson Rigoberto Tiglao said the President was taking
the Pulse Asia survey results "seriously'' as a "barometer of the
people's perceptions on the impact of her programs.''
"The conclusion here is that even though the programs are in place and
are being implemented, parang hindi pa rin nararamdaman ng masa (the
masses do not seem to feel its effects),'' he said.
"Secondly, there is a need to communicate her decisions as what happened
in her Nov. 30 speech'' in which the President announced the relief of
two Cabinet officials and addressed major policy issues.
Tiglao said an "internal survey'' showed a "major bounce back'' in the
President's trust ratings after that speech.
"The problem is that the Pulse Asia surveys are on a quarterly basis.
Medyo malas lang (It's just our tough luck) if the survey was done on a
particular week when criticisms against the President were building
up,'' he said.
Tiglao said the Pulse Asia survey captured the impact of decisions the
President made in the previous three months.
He said the resignations of Guingona and Roco as foreign and education
secretaries, respectively, were still fresh in the public's minds.
"One way or another this impacts on the perception of the presidency,''
said Tiglao. Guingona resigned in July.
Tiglao said the President would continue to focus on her work to uplift
the economy and ensure peace and order.
"These are things that can't be changed overnight. The President, during
the past several months, has been focusing on actual concrete programs
to address these problems,'' he said.
Tiglao dismissed questions about the effect of the survey results on the
President's possible reelection bid.
"It's really too early to talk about elections. We really would like to
buckle down to work,'' he said.
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related story:
Roco man Giraray an
Nangengenotan sa Survey
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