Pulse Asia survey on Senate race: 8 GO, 5 TU, 2 Independents

Barely a week after Malacañang assailed a Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll that more opposition candidates are favored to win in the senatorial race, another survey showed Filipinos still prefer opposition bets. In its April 2007 pre-election survey on Filipinos' senatorial preferences conducted April 3 to 5, pollster Pulse Asia said 15 bets have a chance of winning, eight of them from the Genuine Opposition, five from the administration's Team Unity and two from the ranks of independent bets. The survey also showed Filipinos will likely name eight to nine out of a maximum of 12 of their candidates to the Philippine Senate. On the other hand, it said 5.9 percent of Filipinos refuse to identify their senatorial bets at this time or do not express support for any of the 37 candidates running for senator. "If the May 2007 elections were held today, 15 senatorial candidates would have a statistical chance of winning. Eight of these probable winners belong to the 'Genuine Opposition,' five come from 'Team Unity,' and two are independent candidates," it said. Pulse Asia's results affirmed the SWS survey, which showed that opposition bets are favored in the Senate. Presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio scored the SWS survey as "misleading." Still leading the race is former Sen. Loren Legarda with an overall voter preference of 60.8 percent and a statistical ranking of solo first place. At second is Senate President Manuel Villar, Jr (48.9 percent) who currently shares a statistical ranking of second to fourt places with House Minority Leader Francis Escudero (45.3 percent) and Sen. Francis Pangilinan (44.6 percent). Following them are Senators Panfilo Lacson (43.1 percent) and Ralph Recto (41.5 percent) in the third to sixth places. Sen. Edgardo Angara (35.5 percent) ranked 7th to 11th places while Tarlac Rep. Benigno Aquino III (33.5 percent) and Pateros-Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (32.5 percent) share the seventh to the 13th slots. Rounding out the list of probable winners are Sen. Joker Arroyo (31.6 percent) and former senator Vicente Sotto III (31.5 percent) in 7th to 15th places; former Sen. Gregorio Honasan (30.5 percent); and Sonia Roco (30.5 percent) in 8th to 15th places. Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri (27.9 percent) and Aquilino Pimentel III (27.6 percent) were in 10th to 18th places. The Pulse Asia survey used a multistage probability sample of 1,800 representative adults 18 years old and above, with a plus or minus 2 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level. Error margins at 95 percent confidence level were plus or minus 6 percent for each of Metro Manila, Northern Luzon and Southern Luzon; plus or minus 8 percent for each of Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas; plus or minus 6 percent for Mindanao without ARMM and plus or minus for ARMM. Respondents were asked to write down the names of their preferred senatorial candidates on a "ballot" which was then dropped into a "ballot box" to simulate the act of voting. Additionally, some "spoiled ballots" were counted involving senatorial candidate Alan Peter Cayetano (9 percent) who has a namesake who is also running for the Philippine Senate. - GMANews.TV