Nationwide fever? Noynoy leads in various ‘Luzviminda’ surveys

If presidential elections were to be held this month, according to recent surveys, Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III will win not only in the surveyed areas in Luzon, but also in vote-rich places in the Visayas and Mindanao where Gloria Macapagal Arroyo won convincingly in the 2004 presidential elections. Aquino has topped recent surveys in Cebu province and Davao City commissioned by local political leaders, eclipsing other presidential aspirants who led in earlier surveys before the senator announced his intent to run for president last September 9. In the September 15 Cebu survey, Aquino got a 51-percent preference rating, overshadowing erstwhile front runner Manuel Villar Jr who fell to second place with 22 percent. Sen. Villar had topped an earlier survey in the province conducted last August 31, just over a week before Aquino was anointed the standard-bearer of the Liberal Party. Former Cebu governor Emilio “Lito" Osmeña, who commissioned the survey and is not allied with Aquino, confirmed the survey results to GMA News-Cebu Friday morning. The September 15 poll results further showed that Vice President Noli de Castro placed third with 14 percent, followed by Sen. Francis “Chiz" Escudero with 7 percent, and former President Joseph Estrada with 6 percent. Administration party presidential bet, defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., got zero percent in the same survey. In 2004, Cebu delivered 965,630 votes to Mrs. Arroyo, based on the government's official canvass, enjoying a huge lead over second-placer, Fernando Poe Jr who garnered 123,099 votes. The following year, Mrs. Arroyo was embroiled in the “Hello, Garci" controversy wherein she was accused of rigging election results in her favor. The President denied the accusation. In Davao City, too In Davao City, 37.4 percent of the 270 respondents from nine barangays (villages) preferred Aquino over other aspirants, with second-placer Estrada getting 24.1 percent, followed by Escudero with 14.8 percent, and Villar with 13 percent. The September 3 survey was conducted by Paelarkaed Communications, Davao City councilor Peter Laviña told GMANews.TV Friday night. Aquino announced his intent to run for the presidency six days later. In the same survey, Teodoro got zero again, according to Laviña. Arroyo won in Davao City in the 2004 polls with 193,880 votes. Survey results in Cebu and Davao City were similar to that conducted by the Social Weather Stations between Sept. 5 and 6 wherein Aquino led with an average 50-percent approval rating in the vote-rich areas of Metro Manila, Pangasinan, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon. Too early Despite Aquino’s lead in those surveys, political analyst Ramon Casiple said it was too early to tell if there was indeed a nationwide ‘Noynoy fever.’ “Napakaaga pa lahat ‘yan. Ang puwede mo lang sabihin, napakalaki ng impact ng kandidatura ni Noynoy sa political landscape. Game-changing nga ang tawag diyan (These surveys are too early. All we can say as of the moment is that Noynoy’s candidacy had a huge impact in the political landscape. This is what you call game-changing)," Casiple told GMANews.TV in a phone interview on Friday. Nevertheless, Aquino is definitely the candidate setting the “political tempo" at the moment, according to Casiple. “Si Noynoy ang kandidatong hinahabol ng iba ngayon. Magbabago ang strategy ng ibang kandidato dahil sa kanya (Noynoy leads all the others now. Other candidates will reconsider their strategies because of him)," he said. - GMANews.TV