Gordon tops UP automated mock polls

Richard Gordon, who lags behind other presidential candidates in national surveys, emerged as the top choice in mock polls held in University of the Philippines (UP) campuses. Gordon, a UP law graduate, garnered a total of 1,236 votes from 13 University of the Philippines units in the recently concluded Botong Isko 2010. Most of his votes — at 971 — came from the Diliman campus. Gordon also won in the Manila campus with 146 votes. Coming in second overall was Gilberto Teodoro Jr. with 923 votes, 660, or most of which also came from Diliman. Coming in third overall was Manuel Villar Jr. with 698 votes, 244 or most of which came from Diliman. However, Villar was the top pick in Baguio, Miag-ao, Tacloban, Iloilo, Mindanao, and Los Banos campuses. Los Banos had a turnout of 2.82 per cent (290 of 10269), despite having been able to vote less than 24 hours before the polls closed due to a delay in submission of their roster by their administration. At the bottom of the list was disqualified presidential bet Vetellano Acosta with a total of 3 votes. Next to him was Ang Kapatiran Party's John Carlos De Los Reyes. Leading in the vice presidential race was Manuel Roxas with 1,383 votes overall. Bayani Fernado followed with 943 votes. Third overall was Loren Legarda with 579 votes. Other bottom dwellers were ex-president Joseph Estrada (22), Maria Ana Consuelo Madrigal (32), and Nicanor Perlas (79). Miriam, Pia take lead among senatorial bets Overall, the top twelve senators were Miriam Defensor Santiago (2302), Pilar “Pia" Cayetano (2018), Saturnino Ocampo (1876), Franklin Drilon (1855), Liza Maza (1725), Gilbert Remulla (1601), Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel (1434), Ralph Recto (1411), Adel Tamano, Juan Ponce Enrile, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sergio Osmena III. The top twelve party lists were Kabataan with 1,322 votes, Bayan Muna with 241 votes, Ahon with 194 votes, Gabriela with 182 votes, Agham with 171 votes, Akbayan with 118 votes, Ang Ladlad with 93 votes, Anakpawis with 69 votes, Cibac with 48 votes, and Act Teachers with 43 votes. Overall, the voter turnout was low despite the ease and accessibility of the elections. UnPLUG communications officer JP Bernardo said this could show that the youth are still not that aware of the coming elections. “In terms of the automated elections, pwede siyang maging lesson sa Comelec na hindi madali na mag-implement na fully automated elections na sa UP Diliman pa lang, inabot siya ng ilang taon, unlike sa national na buong bansa agad," added Bernardo. (This could serve as a lesson for the Comelec that implementing fully-automated elections is not easy. In UP alone, it took years.) UP’s automated election process, which was fairly simple, took less than five minutes. After voting, law student Gene Paulo Abrajano told GMANews.TV it was a very useful tool, especially for first-time voters. “I have been voting since 1998, and by experience, I usually spend a lot of time at the polls, thinking who to vote, especially with the senators," Abrajano said. “Now, especially with the internet at the voters' fingertips, they can google or cross-reference the candidates they will vote for, and read their platforms. This is so they can take down notes, and when election day comes, all they have to do is copy their notes. We shall have less of the 'eeny-meeny-miny-moe' approach, because the voters would've researched them beforehand." Still, the advantages of an online election were not enough to attract voters. The total turnout was 8.10 per cent with 3,958 voters of the total 48,860 students across the thirteen UP units. UP Diliman had the highest turnout with 2,654 voters of 22,692 students, or 11.7 per cent. The results of Botong Isko 2010 were announced at 1 pm on Thursday at the lobby of Vinzons Hall, and are available here. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV