SEN. Panfilo Lacson is not unfazed with pre-election surveys which show him poorly performing behind the other aspirants for president in the 2022 national elections.
Lacson, who is running for president under the Partido Reporma, said he is banking on his “kakayahan, katapangan, and katapatan (competence, courage, and integrity)” platform as his edge over the other candidates.
Lacson’s 3K platform is anchored on his more than 40 years in public service.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who is Lacson’s vice presidential candidate, said surveys are a “snapshot” of the public’s current preference present day but “it could change the following day.”
Sotto said surveys can be used by candidates to determine what points they need to improve on.
“Ngayon, in-offer mo sarili mo sa taumbayan, ang pinili ay ‘yung survey, okay lang sa amin (Now, we offered ourselves to the people but still they chose to go with the surveys, that’s okay with us),” Sotto said, adding that the final survey will be on May 9 next year when the people get out and cast their votes.
A Social Weather Stations presidential survey held October 20 to 23 but released on November 15, showed former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was preferred by 47 percent of the respondents, followed by Vice President Leni Robredo with 18 percent, next was Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso getting 13 percent, Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao with nine percent, and Lacson with five percent.
The survey also showed that three percent of the respondents are still undecided. The SWS did not reveal the number of respondents who participated in the survey.
In the same survey, Sotto was on top of the vice presidential survey with 44 percent, followed by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio who got 25 percent, and tied for third place were Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Dr. Willie Ong with 13 percent, and Rep. Jose Atienza came in last with three percent.
The survey was conducted about three weeks before Duterte-Carpio formally filed her candidacy as vice president and Sen. Christopher Go filed his candidacy for president last Nov. 13.
Lacson said he and Sotto have opted to personally reach as many people as possible by visiting different places in the country to know their concerns through their “Online Kumustahan,” which is their way of getting closer to the people.
“We try to reach out to as many among our fellow Filipinos to explain ang aming plataporma. If you notice hindi kami nagka-caravan or motorcade. You notice na laging dialogue ang gusto namin kasi para maiparating sa mind ng electorate na hindi biro-biro ang problema ng ating bansa, na hindi ito makukuha sa pag-Tiktok o kaya anumang entertainment, kasi issue-based kami
(We try to reach out to as many Filipinos as possible to explain our platform. If you notice, we don’t have caravans or motorcades. What we want is to hold dialogues so we can reach out to the electorate and tell them that the problems of our country cannot be solved by doing Tiktok or engaging in some kind of entertainment because we are issues-based),” Lacson said in a press conference in Lingayen, Pangsinan which he and Sotto III visited as part of their Online Kumustahan.
When asked how he plans to counter the so-called “Solid North” and “Solid South” base of the other candidates, he said he will simply continue with hiw campaign.
“Wala kaming puwedeng ipagmalaking ‘Solid North.’ Wala kaming puwedeng ipagmalaking ‘Solid South’. The fa orct na nandito kami sa Ilocandia, and Pangasinan is part of the Solid North, and the fact we that have been given the opportunity to explain kung ano ang aming gagawin, kung tumalab sa inyo, pinaniwalaan niyo kami, thank you very much. Eh kung hindi at dahil sarado na ang utak ng ibang kababayan natin na solid north kami wala magagawa, then, wala rin kaming magagawa (We don’t have any Solid North or Solid South to brag about. The fact that we are here in Ilocandia and Pangasinan is part of the Solid North, and the fact that we have been given the opportunity to explain what our platform of government is, and if we get across, and you believe in us, thank you very much. But if you belong to the Solid North, we cannot do anything about it,” she added.
Lacson said he is not losing hope that he could still convince the Solid North and Solid South to vote for us mo because the country’s problems cannot be solved by being solidly behind Solid North and Solid South.
“Napakalaki ng problema ng ating bansa hindi basta puede ma-solve ng pagiging solid north or solid south, ang pantapat lang talaga doon ay yung kakayahan (Our country has gigantic problems that cannot be solved by just behind supportive of the Solid South and Solid North. What we need is competence [in solving the country’s problems],” Lacson said.
