Leni open to running for VP again
DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio remains the top choice of Filipinos among possible presidential candidates in the 2022 elections despite a drop in support to 20 percent from 28 percent, a survey conducted on September 6 to 11 by Pulse Asia showed.
Duterte-Carpio earlier this month said she would not seek the presidency.
Her father, President Duterte, was dislodged as the most preferred among vice presidential aspirants, slipping to second place behind Senate President Vicente Sotto III who was picked by 25 percent of the respondents, a jump from 10 percent in the Pulse Asia survey in June. Duterte was down to 14 percent from 18 percent in June.
But the second highest post in the land may eventually become a contest between the current top two government officials, as the opposition Liberal Party said Vice President
Robredo is open to seeking the vice presidency anew.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party of which Robredo is chairman, said the Vice President is open to running for the same post as part of her efforts to unite the opposition so it can have a common presidential candidate against the administration.
Robredo’s spokesman Ibarra Gutierrez confirmed Pangilinan’s statement.
“She has said before that the idea remains on the table if it is necessary for a true collaboration among the various parties,” he said. “Again, it is a testament to her commitment to the talks that she is willing to include this possibility in the discussion,” he added.
Robredo and Senators Panfilo Lacson and Emmanuel Pacquiao got higher ratings in the latest Pulse survey which was non-commissioned survey, involved 2,400 adult respondents nationwide, and had a margin of error of ±2 percent.
The survey showed that 20 percent of Filipinos prefer Duterte-Carpio for president, down from 28 percent in June, followed by former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (15 percent statistically unchanged from 14 percent in June), and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso (13 percent from 14 percent).
Marcos, despite prodding from supporters, has not declared any intention to run for president.
Moreno last week declared he is seeking the presidency. He is the third to publicly declare, after Sen. Panfilo Lacson who is running with Sotto and Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao who has been nominated standard bearer by a faction of the ruling party PDP-Laban. Duterte was nominated vice presidential candidate by the other PDP faction, led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
Pacquiao was fourth among top choices for president, with 12 percent (up from 8 percent), followed by Sen. Grace Poe (9 from 10 percent), Robredo (8 from 6 percent), Lacson (6 from 4 percent).
They are followed by Taguig City-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (4 from 2 percent), Sen. Christopher Go (3 from 2 percent), former senator Antonio Trillanes IV (1 from 2 percent), former Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello and former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, both 0.1 percent.
Pulse Asia said it found that 4 percent of Filipinos did not favor any presidential candidate, 3 percent still had no candidate of choice for president, and 1 percent refused to name any preferred presidential bet.
It also said that Filipinos are split about their second choice for president. If their original choice will not run, 14 percent of the respondents will vote for Poe or Marcos, Domagoso (13 percent), Duterte-Carpio (11 percent), Go and Pacquiao (9 percent), Robredo and Lacson (8 percent), Cayetano (5 percent), Trillanes (2 percent), Teodoro (1 percent), and Bello (0.01 percent).
Five percent do not have an alternative presidential candidate, while 1 percent are ambivalent on the matter of who to vote for if their first choice for the post does not run next year.
Pulse said Duterte-Carpio is the top choice of respondents from Mindanao (47 percent) and the Visayas (23 percent) for president while Marcos is the top choice of those from Metro Manila (28 percent) and Luzon (20 percent).
Duterte-Carpio is also the top choice of those belonging to socioeconomic class E (25 percent) and D (20 percent) while Domagoso is the top choice for president of those belonging to ABC (20 percent).
VP RACE
In the vice presidential race, Sotto and Duterte were followed by Domagoso (12 percent down from 14 percent), Marcos (12 from 10 percent), Pacquiao (7 from 9 percent), and Go (7 from 5 percent).
Others in the list of potential vice presidential candidates are Cayetano (6 down from 8 percent), Willie Revillame (unchanged from 4 percent), Trillanes (unchanged from 2 percent), Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara (2 from 3 percent), Public Works Secretary Mark Villar (unchanged from 2 percent), lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno (1 from 0.2 percent), and Teodoro (0.5 from 1 percent).
Two percent either do not know who to vote for or have no preferred vice presidential candidate while 1 percent refused to name their choice of vice presidential bet.
Pulse said Sotto is also the top choice of Filipinos in case their preferred vice presidential candidate did not push through with their vice presidential bid (15 percent), followed by Marcos (12 percent), Go and Domagoso (11 percent), Cayetano (10 percent), Pacquiao (9 percent), President Duterte and Revillame (6 percent), Villar and Trillanes (4 percent), Angara (2 percent), Teodoro (1 percent) and Diokno (0.5 percent).
Five percent of the Filipinos have no second choice for vice presidential candidate while 2 percent do not know who to choose in case their preferred candidate would not run.
Sotto is the top choice for vice president in Metro Manila (30 percent), Luzon (29 percent), and the Visayas (27 percent) as well as those from socio economic ABC (20 percent), D (25 percent), and E (26 percent) while President Duterte is the leading choice in Mindanao (30 percent).
‘CONFIDENCEBOOSTER’
Sotto thanked those who supported him, adding he will use the survey results as a “confidence booster” to work harder as Senate president “as I present myself to our people as a worthy and reliable candidate for vice president.”
Lacson said he and Sotto will not change their strategy.
“We’re doing alright. We have our own tracking. We are not even thinking of recalibrating our strategy. It goes without saying that I am not questioning the results of the Pulse Asia survey even as I congratulate Senate President Tito Sotto… for topping the latest vice presidential survey,” Lacson said.
The PDP-Laban Cusi faction said the results of the latest Pulse survey and other surveys in the future will serve as a guidepost for the President and the ruling party’s campaign strategy.
It said it intends to highlight the Duterte’s “success in the campaign against drugs, criminality, corruption and terrorism… We will harp on our achievements and our strengths because these are where our political opponents are lacking.”
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said while Duterte may have slipped in the rankings for vice president, “the President remains the candidate to beat in the 2022 elections.”
Pacquiao of the PDP faction he leads with Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III yesterday announced his retirement from boxing to focus on his presidential run.
The row between the factions will be settled by “sometime in November,” Commission on Elections chairman Sheriff Abbas said.
The Cusi camp early this month asked the Comelec to declare the Pacquiao-Pimentel as illegal representatives of PDP-Laban. — With Ashzel Hachero, Wendell Vigilia and Jocelyn Montemayor
