Former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will be a strong contender for the next presidential election in 2022 based on the latest survey conducted by Octa Research.
In the survey conducted by Octa Research in Metro Manila from December 9 to 13 last year, Marcos was the second most favored candidate to become the next president when President Rodrigo Duterte bows down in power in 2022.
The survey showed that Marcos remains strong in the National Capital Region with 14-percent preference votes, next to Manila Mayor Isko Moreno who got 19%.
Earlier, Marcos also emerged as the next most favored president compared to Vice President Leni Robredo in the Pulse Asia survey conducted from November 23 to December 2, 2020.
Of the 2,400 respondents in the survey, Marcos came in second with a score of 14 percent, followed by President Rodrigo Duterte's daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio with a score of 26%.
Robredo is sixth with only eight percent.
But in Metro Manila, Marcos took the lead with 20 points followed by Moreno with 18 percent.
The fight Marcos and Robredo in the vice presidential election continues as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal has not yet issued an official and final decision regarding the "real winner" in the country’s number 2 top post.
Marcos' electoral protest against Robredo remains pending before the office of Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the assign-justice to the case.
In October 2021, the filing of the certificate of candidacy for those running for the presidency and vice president will begin.
The results of surveys by research groups are expected to change in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso emerged as the top choice for President and again for Vice President in a survey conducted in view of the upcoming elections in 2022.
The said survey, which has Top Choice and Top of Mind categories and covering the period of December 6 to 14, was conducted by iOptions Ventures Corp. With over 250 local and nationwide surveys since 2004, iOptions provides key insights and strategies on both the local and national landscape and conducts survey research relevant to the daily lives of Filipinos.
Domagoso is the top choice (Top of Mind) for President in 2022 and according to the survey company, even if the greatest number of respondents actually chose President Rodrigo Duterte as their top of mind choice, he has not been considered as the top of mind choice since he can no longer run for reelection as stated in the 1987 Constitution.
He was also the number one choice for President (With Choice.)
For Vice President in 2022 (With Choice), Domagoso is also the top pick. In the top of mind category, he was second.
The company website said that “in view of the upcoming presidential election in less than two years’ time, respondents were asked about their preferences for President and Vice President of Philippines for 2022. They were first asked to write down their preferred name for each position (Top of Mind), which was already processed and cleaned by the researchers to standardize the variations on how the names of the different political figures chosen for President and Vice President were written.
This was followed by questions which already provided them with separate lists of choices for President and Vice President (With Choices). The researchers put together a list of possible contenders for the 2022 national election for the ‘With Choices’ question based on eligibility and the current political landscape.
The list is a mix of current and former national politicians, local politicians, and business leaders. Some names have been repeated in the ‘With Choices’ questions for President, Vice President and Senate choices, since none of these personalities have openly declared their intention or plan to run for any of the top elective positions.
The survey asked respondents from all over the Philippines questions about the upcoming holiday season, their current economic situation and outlook, perceptions on current political and governance landscape and COVID-19 related concerns.”
Domagoso said that while he is flattered by the people’s trust and confidence in him, his focus remains in Manila and how to get everything back to normal once the COVID-19 vaccines arrive.
Time and again, Domagoso reiterated that he has no interest in running for any national position. In 2022, he would have finished his first term as mayor and has two terms left.
