Villar, Roxas top UP polls for president, VP

If some students at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman were to vote now, Nacionalista Party presidential bet Manuel “Manny" Villar Jr. and Liberal Party's Manuel “Mar" Roxas II would likely become the winning tandem in the upcoming elections. In mock polls conducted by the UP Alpha Sigma Fraternity — with 8,468 participating students — the NP standard bearer dominated the presidential race, getting 2,866 votes or 33.8 percent, according to a QTV Balitanghali report. Coming in at a close second was LP's Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino (31.7 percent), followed by a distant third Bagumbayan bet Sen. Richard Gordon (15.5 percent), and administration bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr. (7.6 percent). Completing the bottom spots were Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino's Joseph Estrada, Independent candidate Ma. Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal, Ang Kapatiran's JC de los Reyes, and environmentalist Nicanor Perlas.
In the vice presidential derby, Roxas emerged on top after earning 34.46 percent of the votes, followed by former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando, a distant second with 14.9 percent. On the third spot was Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay with 10.71 percent. Villar's running mate Loren Legarda landed on the fourth place with 7.95 percent. Asked if Villar’s being a UP alumnus (a graduate of Business Administration) was a factor for his dominance in the mock polls, organizers of the event said it was unlikely because, Legarda, also a UP graduate of broadcast communication, did not fare well. Results of the mock polls were released at a press conference at the University Hotel inside the UP Diliman campus. The campus-wide mock elections were the third of a series being conducted by the UP fraternity in time for the May 10 national elections. In the fraternity's first and second mock elections, Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero and Teodoro respectively earned the top spot. Escudero has already dropped out of the race. Different results in all three mock polls showed that UP students until now remain undecided on who to support for the May polls, according to Mark Aguimatang, project head of the "Boto ng Iskolar ng Bayan." However, the group noted the increased student participation in the mock elections, saying that students who cast their votes grew from around 3,500 during their first mock polls to more than 8,000 in the latest one. Noynoy, Mar get top spots in Butuan survey In another survey in February conducted by Catholic school students in 86 villages of Butuan City in Mindanao, Liberal Party tandem Noynoy Aquino and running mate Mar Roxas got the top spots garnering 30.30 percent followed by Nacionalita Party’s presidential standard bearer Manuel Villar Jr. with 20.45 percent and administration bet Gilbert Teodoro with 12.88 percent. The non-commissioned survey was spearheaded students at Fr. Saturnino Urios University’s Policy Center (FSUU-PC) conducted among 27 urban and 59 rural barangays (villages) in the city. But surprisingly, presidential bet JC Delos Reyes, who was endorsed recently by some Roman Catholic Bishops, got zero votes. Former President Joseph Estrada landed on the fourth spot with 3.79 percent followed by evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva with 1.52 percent and Sen. Richard Gordon with 0.76 percent. Like Delos Reyes, Sen. Jamby Madrigal and the rest of the presidential bets got zero votes. In the VP race, Mar Roxas got 48.50 percent, while his closest rival Senator Loren Legarda got only 15.20 percent, followed by Binay, 5.30 percent, Bayani Fernando, 1.52 percent and Edu Manzano of Lakas got 0.76 percent. Those undecided for the VP post constitutes 28.79 percent of the respondents. FSUU-PC presented the survey result last Monday at the University’s audio-visual room. - with a report by Ben Serrano/LBG, RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV