Name recall, track record work for Senate aspirants — Pulse Asia exec

Re-electionist Senators Cynthia Villar (left) and Grace Poe topped the Pulse Asia senatorial survey in December 2018. INQUIRER FILES

Name recall and track record are key factors helping some Senate aspirants get good standings in voter preference surveys, a top official of polling agency Pulse Asia said Thursday.

Pulse Asia president Ronnie Holmes noted that re-electionists, who topped a recent survey, easily got public support because of their track record in the Senate.

“Even in the past, people who are running for reelection or are associated with the Senate would not have a hard time mobilizing support, especially if they’re not portrayed in a negative manner,” Holmes said in an interview over the ABS CBN News Channel.

He said that the work put in by re-electionists in the Senate was a factor in their survey rankings.

According to Homes, re-electionists made the mark in people because of their work in the Senate, like their advocacies, the bills they filed or the laws that they helped enact either as authors or as co-sponsors.

However, their family names also boosted their standings in the survey.

Re-electionists Senators Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar, Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay and Koko Pimentel all made it to list of senatoriables in the top seven rankings.

Poe, a daughter of Philippine movie legend Fernando Poe Jr., emerged as the top choice of Filipino voters for the Senate in the coming elections. She was followed by Villar, who belongs to a prominent family known in political and business circles.

Angara, Binay and Pimentel all came from families with a long history in Philippine politics.

Also making it to the top seven rankings were Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, who tied with Angara in the third to fourth spot; and former senator Lito Lapid, who shared the fifth to seventh spot with Binay and Pimentel.

Cayetano is a sister of former-Senator and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano. Both come from the prominent Cayetano family of Taguig.

Meanwhile, Lapid is a movie and television actor who became popular in action films in the 80s. He currently appears in the top-rating television series “Ang Probinsyano.”

“People would basically vote for those that they can recall,” Holmes said.

Former senator Serge Osmeña landed on the 8th to 13th spot, which is not surprising due to his track record, Holmes said.

Ilocos Gov. Imee Marcos also entered the top 12, which, Holmes said, could be because she hails from a political family.

“In a multiple-seat competition, you can expect that a political name, a name that comes from a political clan, even if a segment of the population might be opposed to the political clan, the segment does not necessarily need for one to win in a multiple seat competition,” he said.

Marcos landed in the 8th to 15th spot, tying with former senator Jinggoy Estrada and former Philippine National Police chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa. /cbb