Filipino voters’ support for the presidential bid of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas standard-bearer Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. remains solid, despite what his party claimed was the seemingly endless barrage of mudslinging and negative campaigning against him after two surveys again showed him in the lead.
The results in the latest pre-election survey done by Laylo Research showed that the concerted efforts by Marcos’ detractors had failed to sway people to their side, the PFP said in a statement Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats President and House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said Wednesday that Filipinos should look forward to a brighter future and a better country under the leadership of former senator Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Romualdez, who represents the 1st District of Leyte, said this following the UniTeam proclamation rally in Bulacan on Tuesday, where Marcos and Duterte spread their messages of unity amid the adversity of COVID-19, and assured a better, stronger Philippines under a BBM-Sara leadership.
Meanwhile, Marcos’ spokesman lawyer Vic Rodriguez said the 64-year-old presidential candidate will not join presidential fora where “bickering dominates the debates.”
In a television interview, Rodriguez said they would first study the format of the show to determine if Marcos would participate or not.
Rodriguez stressed they were not avoiding these platforms, but only wanted to engage in discussions that would talk about solutions to the country’s problems.
In a related development, the 92-year-old former first lady Imelda Marcos said her son had a good chance to become the next President.
While she was campaigning for her only son, Mrs. Marcos said, “what I feel from the people I have been talking to, we have ‘a good chance to win.'”
The Laylo survey, conducted last January 17 to 23, showed Marcos voters’ preference even leapfrogging to 64 percent, an increase of 6 percent compared to the 58 percent he got last November 2021.
There were 3,000 respondents in the said survey.
In another presidential survey, Martin Penaflor, Tangere (Acquisition Apps Inc.) chief executive officer, said they asked an active respondent base of 619,637 netizens both from the private and public sectors to give the people “a series of insightful deep-dive in the sentiments of the Filipino voters in the upcoming elections.”
Penaflor said if the presidential election were held during the survey, Marcos would emerge as the winner garnering 54 percent of support from the respondents. He was followed by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno at 22 percent, Vice President Leni Robredo at 15 percent, Senator Panfilo Lacson at 4.1 percent, Senator Manny Pacquiao at 3.7 percent and labor leader Ka Leody de Guzman at 0.6 percent.
The Tangere pollster said 49 percent of the respondents would be unlikely to change their candidates, 39 percent would slightly change, and 12 percent would change and select another candidate.
When asked, the Tangere respondents said they would vote for Moreno (54 percent) if Marcos would be disqualified from the 2022 presidential race, followed by Robredo (16 percent), Lacson (9 percent), Pacquiao (7 percent) and De Guzman (1 percent), Penaflor said.
“We are a non-commissioned group, a CNN Final Pitch Grand Winner 2019, an Asia Leaders Awards Winner 2019, a Ginebra Ako Awards 2020 Winner, and an ASEAN Startup Awards 2020 Winner,” he told the media during a webinar conference, adding a denial he was being partisan.
Meanwhile, during the Laylo Research survey period, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Second Division dismissed several petitions seeking to cancel or deny due course to Marcos’ certificate of candidacy (CoC).
A very distant second in that survey is VP Leni Robredo, who posted 16 percent. Tied at third spot are Moreno and Pacquiao with 7 percent apiece, while Lacson is in fourth place with four percent voter preference.
Political analysts noted that Marcos had successfully gained a foothold in the South Luzon/Bicol Region after he posted a 51 percent voters’ preference despite the area being a bailiwick of Robredo.
That was in stark contrast to Marcos’ 79 percent voters’ preference in North/Central Luzon, which meant that Robredo failed to make a dent in his territory.
Marcos has also widened his lead in the vote-rich National Capital Region (NCR), where he cornered 65 percent of the votes against the other presidential aspirants, in the Laylo survey.
The UniTeam presidential bet also improved its numbers in the Visayas Region, where he posted a 10 percent jump to 55 percent from the previous year’s 45 percent.
Meanwhile, Marcos also saw an 11 percent jump in voters’ preference in Mindanao, with 69 percent voters’ preference compared to 58 percent last November 2021.
Rodriguez told ANC: “Filipinos are tired of bickering candidates. If the forum will only have candidates bicker with each other, we will not join them. We know that the public wants to hear solutions to the problems we are facing.”
Rodriguez likened this to a job application as he noted that when the candidates are “applying” for the highest position in the government, they should not be “debating” during an interview.
He added: “You are saying that they are applicants applying for the highest position in the country. When you apply, you will not debate with the management during interviews, right?
“You will let yourself be interviewed and let your bosses or management choose among the best, and let them decide.”
Kicking off their campaign at the jampacked Philippine Arena, Duterte declared: “We will move forward. We will live with COVID-19 and we will bounce like never before. We offer you a tandem… with wisdom and experience.”
“The past two years have been very challenging for all of us because the pandemic exacerbated whatever problem that we have in the past, but we are still here, full, alive and continuing to fight the challenges, and hoping that a brighter tomorrow will come,” said Duterte-Carpio, who is also the Lakas-CMD chairperson, said.
Mrs. Marcos said although she failed to attend the proclamation rally of her son, she had already been campaigning a lot for them.
Mrs. Marcos also said she had a bad fall last year which prevented her from going to the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, where they kicked off their national campaign.
Sen. Imee Marcos, who spoke with her mom in the same video message, apologized for not being able to go, but expressed her profound gratitude to the so-called Marcos loyalists who have been trusting and supporting them for decades.
She also welcomed all the new members and supporters brought by the presidential daughter Duterte.
“We welcome them with open arms,” said the senator.
Imee added: “May the good Lord teach us to lead with firmness but with humility, with humility but with wisdom, with wisdom but with justice, with just but with compassion. Teach also our followers to be the good and dutiful citizens of this great nation.”