Oppositionist Sen. Bam Aquino dropped out of the top 12 senatorial bets – the so-called Magic 12 – for the May 2019 senatorial elections, a Pulse Asia survey showed on Saturday.
The recent nationwide pre-election survey showed that the senator placed at the 20th spot.
His cousin, Kris Aquino, followed him next.
The senator obtained a 20.1 percent voter preference while the Queen of All Media had a voter preference of 17.7 percent.
Aquino attributed his drop in the Magic 12 to the inclusion of his cousin in the said list. According to him, voters became divided for their choice.
Nevertheless, the senator said there were other issues that would need to be discussed aside to the inclusion of his cousin.
“Pagtulong sa ating mga kababayan ang mas mahalaga sa usaping ito. Ngayon na lumalabas na isa lang sa amin ang dapat tumakbo next year, pag uusapan at paghahandaan namin ito,” Bam said in a statement.
[Helping our countrymen is the most important point in this issue. Now that it appears that only one of us should run for election next year, we will talk about this and prepare for it.]
“Naniniwala pa rin ako na pagdating ng eleksyon maghahanap ang mga kababayan natin ng mga senador na may sariling isip at handang ipaglaban ang mga programang ikabubuti ng taumbayan. Naniniwala ako na lalabas ito sa boto ng mga Pilipino sa 2019,” he added.
[I also believe that when it election time comes our countrymen will look for senators who think independently and who are ready to fight for programs that will benefit the people. I believe this will become apparent in Filipino votes in 2019.]
The survey of Pulse Asia was conducted from Sept.1 to 7 using a face-to-face interview with 1,800 registered voters as respondents. /atm