Villar is most trusted bet in May 10 polls — Pulse Asia

Only Senators Manuel Villar Jr. and Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III enjoy majority trust ratings among those seeking to become the country’s next President, with Villar having a slight edge over Aquino in Pulse Asia’s latest survey. The survey, conducted last January 22 to 26, said 70 percent of the 1,800 respondents had "big trust" in Villar, slightly better than Aquino’s 64 percent. Pulse Asia earlier released a presidential preference survey conducted during the same period, where Aquino was preferred by 37 percent of voters, and Villar by 35 percent. The two were virtually tied for first place since the survey had a ±2 margin of error (See: Aquino, Villar neck and neck in latest Pulse Asia survey) Based on the poll results released only on Wednesday, Villar’s trust rating improved by a point from a similar survey last December, while the number of those who said they were undecided dropped by 2 percentage points to 18 percent. On the other hand, Aquino’s trust rating dropped by 8 points, while the rate of undecided respondents in the trust survey increased by 6 percentage points to 23 percent. Both Villar and Aquino, however, added two points to their distrust ratings of 12 percent each from two months earlier. The survey was conducted in the heat of Senate floor debates on the C-5 Road extension issue, where Villar allegedly enriched himself and his property companies at the expense of the government. Ambivalent on Teodoro Meanwhile, former President Joseph Estrada, a convicted plunderer but released after he was pardoned by the present administration, posted practically the same trust and distrust ratings (33% versus 37%). Public assessment of the trustworthiness of former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. — the administration bet — is divided, with 36% of Filipinos ambivalent on the matter, 32% trusting him, and 31% distrusting him. Senator Richard Gordon had a 26-percent trust rating against 32 percent who distrusted him. The survey said the other presidential aspirants posted near to small majority distrust ratings — Senator Jamby Madrigal (47%), Olongapo City Councilor JC de los Reyes (50%), Kilusang Bagong Lipunan bet Vetallano S. Acosta (51%), evangelist Eduardo Villanueva (53%), and Center for Alternative Development Initiatives (CADI) President Jesus Nicanor Perlas (54%). Campaign strategy Political analyst Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Economic Reform (IPER), said Villar’s political ads that played up his rags-to-riches story appeared to have worked wonders for his image despite the C-5 controversy. "These must have had a huge impact since majority of our voting base are from Class D and E," he told GMANews.TV in Filipino. He also claimed the C-5 issue was difficult to grasp and had not been explained in detail to the public. Casiple added that Villar's ability to come up with a senatorial slate composed of both rightist and leftist elements — among them Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, and militant leaders Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza — must have strengthened his support base. Benito Lim, Ateneo de Manila University political science professor, said Aquino’s trust rating had likely gone down because the public no longer approves of his continued use of his parents’ legacy in his presidential campaign. "Noynoy's campaign managers erred [when they allowed him to] keep on using his parents' names," Lim told GMANews.TV by phone. He said Filipinos don't like it when somebody, even a son, exploits people they have come to respect — his parents, for instance — former President Corazon Aquino and Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., now both deceased. Lim also said Aquino’s repeated campaign promise that he would not steal was not boosting his presidential bid since politicians before him had made and broken that promise. In contrast, Villar’s campaign strategists appeared to be doing the right thing by spending on TV and radio ads and getting popular celebrity endorsers. The analyst claimed Villar and Nacionalista Party stalwarts had directly addressed the C-5 Road controversy, while Aquino had not been clear about his plan on Hacienda Luisita. "These issues are toxic to both of them but at least Villar and his friends… have tried to show that the project had benefited the public. Aquino on the other hand, has only said he would do something about it Hacienda Luisita, and that he is just a minority stockholder," Lim said. — NPA, GMANews.TV