Miriam Defensor Santiago tops Varsitarian poll in UST

The Thomasians have spoken.

And they want Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago sitting on the highest seat in the land come 2016.

In a recent poll, the Varsitarian, the official student publication of University of Santo Tomas, concluded it would be Santiago replacing President Benigno Aquino III with 66 percent of its 1,366 respondents saying they would vote for Santiago if the elections were held on the day of the survey.

Santiago said in a statement that students value academic excellence as a barometer of the next Philippine president.

“Clearly, students know that the presidency is no place for the weak-minded, the inexperienced, or the corrupt,” Santiago said in the statement. “It appears that they give weight to my criteria for leaders: academic excellence, professional achievement, and sincerity.”

With Santiago taking the bulk of the responses, no other candidate received a double-digit score with Manuel “Mar” Roxas getting only eight percent.

Senator Grace Poe, who has been facing disqualification cases, still got five percent during the time of the survey, and Vice President Jejomar Binay got three percent.

Of the 1,366 surveyed, 17 percent are undecided.

Santiago also topped two other university-based surveys conducted at Polytechnic University of the Philippines and University of the Philippines-Los Baños.