SENATE President Francis “Chiz” Escudero yesterday said the outcome of last Monday’s midterm elections was decided based on the candidate’s positions on certain issues, not on the supposed failure of the administration’s political machinery.
Escudero made the remark after incoming senator Panfilo Lacson said the “much-hyped” political machinery of the “Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas” failed after only six of its 11 candidates made it to the Senate.
Escudero said Lacson’s remarks should have been said by someone from the Alyansa who lost in the elections.
“Siguro kung sinabi yun ng natalo sa halalan, baka. Pero isa siya sa mga lima na nagwagi mula sa Alyansa. I’m sure it must be worth something. So again, more than strategies, more than machinery, the issues dictated the result of this election (Maybe if that was said by someone who lost, [Lacson] could be right. But he is one of those from Alyansa who won. I’m sure it [political machinery] must be worth something. So again, more than strategies, more than machinery, the issues dictated the result of this election),” he said.
He stressed that voters weighed the candidates based on how they offered themselves to the public, and their solutions to issues hounding the country, especially those which happened before the May 12 elections.
“Issue-based ang eleksiyon, hindi paramihan ng advertisements, hindi palakihan ng makinarya, hindi paramihan ng pera, pero kung saan pumosisyon ang bawat kandidato kaugnay ng posisyon ng mga nakararami nating kababayan sa ilang isyu na pumutok, sumabog or kinaharap natin ilang buwan o linggo bago maghalalan (Elections are issue-based. It is not based on the number of advertisements, not on how big your machinery is, not on the amount of money, but rather where candidates positioned themselves in relation to the position of majority of our people in certain issues which happened months or weeks before the elections),” he said.
“Yun ang sa tingin ko ang mas nagdikta ng resultang ito, hindi ano pa mang bagay (These factors, I think, decided the outcome of the elections, not on some other things),” he added.
Elections chairman George Garcia said the outcome of the senatorial race proves that pre-election surveys do not determine the results of electoral exercises.
“Surveys don’t tell the final end result. Surveys may be used as basis of their decisions as voters but it won’t dictate the final result (of voting),” Garcia said in a press briefing.
“Without demeaning or casting doubt on the integrity of surveys, what I am saying is surveys are not the election per se,” he added.
The poll chief issued the statement after preliminary results of the senatorial race showed some candidates not doing well in surveys making it to the “Magic 12,” among them former senators Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan, and SAGIP party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta.
On the other hand, broadcaster Ben Tulfo, Makati Mayor Abby Binay, and reelectionist Sen. Bong Revilla, who were among those who consistently made it to the winners’ circle in the surveys, failed to win their Senate bids.
Garcia said many factors come into play outside the surveys being conducted prior to Election Day.
Among them, he said, are the participation of other sectors in the survey, the giving of misleading answers by respondents, or voters changing their choices of candidates on the eve of elections.
“There are so many moving factors that are not included or were not included in the surveys,” he said.
“I’m not saying that you should not rely on surveys but there are so many moving factors,” he added. – With Gerard Naval
