MANILA, Philippines—Senators Francis “Chiz” Escudero has emerged as the top choice for the Senate in the 2013 midterm elections in the latest Pulse Asia survey.
The survey conducted from May 20 to 26, 2012 showed that 65.1 percent of the 1,200 respondents polled by Pulse Asia put the name of Escudero as one of 12 candidates that they would vote if the 2013 senatorial elections were held today.
Pulse Asia provided 50 names when it asked the respondents: “Kung ang nasabing halalan sa 2013 ay isasagawa ngayon, sinu-sino sa mga sumusunod na personalidad ang inyong iboboto kung saka-sakaling sila ay kakandidato sa pagka-senador?”
The survey, a copy of which was provided to INQUIRER.net on Tuesday, has a +/- 3 margin of error.
Escudero was followed by Senator Loren Legarda with 63.6 percent, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano with 52.2 percent, Cagayan Representative Juan Ponce-Enrile Jr. with 49.1 percent, and Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas III with 47.5 percent.
Senator Gregorio Honasan with 39.5 percent, followed by Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III with 38.9 percent, San Juan Representative JV Ejercito with 36.3 percent, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV with 34.8 percent, and former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri with 30.4 percent.
Former Senator Richard Gordon got 29.6 percent followed by Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara with 28.9 percent.
Escudero and Legarda were statistically tied for first and second place; Cayetano, Enrile and Roxas ranked third to 5th while Honasan, Pimentel and Ejercito ranked 6th to 9th place.
Trillanes ranked 6th to 11th place, Zubiri at 9th to 13th place, Gordon at 9th to 14th place and Angara ranked 10th to 14th place.