Admin still confident on Teodoro's chances in 2010

The administration is still hopeful that its most likely standard-bearer, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., will win in next year’s elections despite lackluster performance in presidential surveys. Press Secretary Cerge Remonde on Wednesday noted the “significant gain" in Teodoro’s ratings – from 0.8 percent in June to 4 percent in September - in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. Teodoro of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD ranked eighth in the latest SWS survey that was topped by opposition senators Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III of Liberal Party (60 percent) and Manuel “Manny" Villar Jr. of Nacionalista Party (37 percent). “This happened before Ondoy, and there is a significant gain in the ratings of Secretary Teodoro so we are happy about that," Remonde said in a press briefing in Malacañang. Teodoro also heads the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), which is at the forefront of the government’s rehabilitation efforts in the wake of tropical storm “Ondoy" last Sept. 26. Deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar admitted that Teodoro’s lack of media mileage could have affected his performance in the survey. “If we go by conventional wisdom and we look at the media mileage that he is getting out of it, he obviously is not getting as much as the others," he said in the same briefing. A former lawmaker, Teodoro meanwhile emerged as the winner in a mock election conducted by members of the House of Representatives earlier in the day. Of the 153 lawmakers who participated, 90 voted for Teodoro while only 25 voted for Villar and seven for Aquino. Remonde said Aquino’s impressive performance in the latest SWS survey would be taken as a challenge by the administration, especially by Teodoro. “Of course, that (Aquino’s lead) should make the administration candidate work harder when the political season or when the time comes," he said. Aquino is the only son of slain senator Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr. and the late President Corazon Aquino. Remonde said the Palace is “happy" for Aquino’s lead in the SWS survey. “We are very happy for him. We would like to congratulate Noynoy for a very early lead that he has shown," he said. - GMANews.TV