Roxas tops latest SWS survey on VP bets

If the 2010 elections were held today, the vice presidential race would likely be a three-way fight among Vice President Manuel "Noli" de Castro Jr. and Senators Manuel "Mar" Roxas II and Lorna Regina "Loren" Legarda, with Roxas taking the edge. This was the finding of the third quarter 2009 survey conducted by pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS), which released the results Monday. Roxas, preferred by 40 percent of the respondents, took the top spot among the three top choices to become vice president in 2010. De Castro and Legarda, rivals for the vice presidency in the 2004 polls, got 23 percent each. SWS released the results on the eve of Roxas' wedding to broadcaster Korina Maria Sanchez at the Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City. While De Castro has kept mum on his political plans for 2010, Legarda announced her plan to run for vice president last Friday but has remained coy on who she would run with. Others named by the respondents included Sen. Francis Escudero (13 percent), Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. (4 percent), Sen. Francis Pangilinan (3 percent), Sen. Benigno Simeon Aquino III (2 percent), Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay (2 percent), and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno (2 percent). Mentioned by 1 percent each were Sen. Pilar Juliana Cayetano, TV show host Willie Revillame, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Senate President Pro Tempore Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando, former President Joseph Estrada, and Batangas Governor Vilma Santos. The elder Estrada, Villar and Aquino had voiced their intention to run for President, while Puno had backed out of the vice presidential race. Santiago and the younger Estrada are running in the elder Estrada's senatorial ticket. On the other hand, the SWS said 10 percent could not give an answer, and 7 percent had no one to recommend. The survey was conducted from September 18 to 21, using face-to-face interviews of 1,800 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila and Mindanao, and 600 each in Balance of Luzon and the Visayas. Sampling error margins of ±2.3% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila and Mindanao, and ±4% for Balance Luzon and the Visayas applied to the survey. The SWS said the question for this survey followed the question on the three best successors to President Arroyo, whose results the SWS released last October 14. In that survey, Aquino and Villar topped the people's "three best leaders to succeed PGMA in 2010." - GMANews.TV