Presidential bet JC Delos Reyes tops CBCP ‘survey’

He may be faring poorly in polls conducted by big survey firms, but presidential candidate and Olongapo City Councilor Juan Carlos “JC" delos Reyes topped a “survey" conducted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). The CBCP said Delos Reyes, standard bearer of “Ang Kapatiran" party, topped its survey because most of his positions on issues that concern the CBCP matched the perspective of the Church. “(The survey was conducted not to endorse candidates, but was made) so that people may know the positions of the candidates on issues such as mining, human rights, and many others," CBCP spokesman Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III said on the CBCP news site. In contrast to Delos Reyes, Liberal Party bet Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III ranked low in the survey. “Aquino ranked low because most of his positions contradict with that of the Church," the CBCP said. Ranking second in the survey were independent bets Nicanor Perlas and Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby" Madrigal, and evangelist Brother Eduardo “Eddie" Villanueva (Bangon Pilipinas). Nacionalista Party standard bearer Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., ranked fifth, Aquino sixth, Sen. Richard Gordon (Bagumbayan) seventh, administration bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr. eighth, and former President Joseph Estrada last. The CBCP survey results were presented in a “Matrix of Presidentiables on Key Issues." In the matrix, the candidates were judged based on their positions on issues such as reproductive health, death penalty, gun ban in public places except for law enforcers, political dynasties, transparency in government transactions and pork barrel. Other issues in the matrix include agrarian reform, environment, Charter change, visiting forces agreement, gambling, and the reintroduction of the nuclear power as energy source. Quitorio maintained the matrix was not meant to endorse any candidate but to “educate" the voters. “It’s up to the voters now. Whether they are for or against RH bill, for example, they will have to take a serious decision," he said. Quitorio also said information on the matrix was culled from the candidates’ responses to letters, media interviews and from their interventions in the legislature. “We have also culled them from observers who collaborated in our study, and viewed them from the perspective of the pastoral statements of the CBCP," he said. Some lay groups will republish the matrix in national broadsheets and reproduce them for distribution in all dioceses across the country. — LBG, GMANews.TV