Manila: Ruling Liberal Party’s presidential bet Mar Roxas said that he and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City, southern Philippines, will stand as two major presidential candidates in the May 9 polls.
This follows a pre-election survey which showed him getting ahead of independent presidential candidate Senator Grace Poe and second to Duterte, a two-month front-runner in popularity polls since early March to late April.
“I can see it now, Mayor Duterte and I are the ones who will fight it out for the presidency,” said Roxas who received 22 per cent preference rating in Pulse Asia’s April 26-29 survey.
Duterte, the presidential bet of the Philippine Democratic Party’s-People’s Power (PDP-Laban), got 33 per cent preference rating in PA’s April 26-29 survey.
Included in the five-cornered presidential race are Poe, Vice-President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), and Senator Miriam Santiago of the Nationalist Party (NP).
In the same survey, formerly top and second-ranking Poe received 21 per cent preference rating, Binay (also a former front-runner), 17 per cent and Santiago 2 per cent.
“In the past, it was claimed that Mar and Congresswoman Leni Robredo (LP’s vice presidential candidate) have no fighting chance, at all, that their straight is the road campaign has no chance of winning. But now Leni is number one (in pre-election surveys for vice president) and Mar is second,” Roxas said.
“This is an important development for our fight against abuse, corruption, and oppression. I am the only one (among other presidential candidates) who stands for a transparent, truthful, and clean leadership,” said Roxas,
For a long time, Aquino’s popularity did not add an iota to Roxas’ preference rating. But criticism against Aquino stuck with Roxas and exacerbated his initial dismal ratings in popularity.
Roxas is a graduate of Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, a former investment banker in New York, an ex-senator and congressman, and served as secretaries of three presidents. Aquino campaigned in the 2010 elections against corruption and achieved good economic indicators for his country. But he has been accused of inefficiency, underspending, and lacking in government services for the poor.
Looking brightly at Roxas’ slow rise, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said, “The next few days will be an opportunity for Mar and Leni to present to the people the tandem that will press further progress and address ongoing concerns of our people.”
The rise of the “silent majority,” and the power of many unopposed local candidates of the ruling LP can help Roxas and Robredo’s victory on May 9, said Lacierda.
In PA’s survey from April 26 to 29, Robredo received 30 per cent preference rating while Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong Marcos got 28 per cent. They are still statistically tied because of the survey’s 2 per cent margin of error.
President Aquino succeeded in his campaign against Binay who was alleged as corrupt, and against Marcos for the bad rights record of his father, former strongman Ferdinand Marcos who was ousted by a people-backed military mutiny in 1986 (following a 25-year rule).
