MANILA, Philippines – Team PNoy candidates dominated the latest pre-election survey of the Social Weather Station with President Benigno Aquino III’s cousin, Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino, entering the “Magic 12 for the first time.
From 15th place in January, Aquino is now in 9-10 in the survey by SWS from February 15 to 17 and commissioned by BusinessWorld.
Former Las Pinas Representative Cynthia Villar jumped from 8th and 9th in January to 4th place in February while former MTRCB chairperson Grace Poe-Llmanazares also made a big leap from 10th and 11th in January to 5th in February.
Aquino, Villar and Poe-Llamanzares are among the nine Team Pnoy candidates who made it to the “Magic 12” based on the survey.
Only three candidates of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) made it to the top 12: Nancy Binay, daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay, San Juan Representative JV Ejercito, and former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri.
The top 12 are:
1. Senator Loren Legarda, 64 percent (Team Pnoy)
2. Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, 62 percent (Team Pnoy)
3. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, 58 percent (Team Pnoy)
4. Former Las Pinas Representative Cynthia Villar, 53 percent (Team Pnoy)
5. Former MTRCB chairperson Grace Poe-Lllamanzares, 48 percent (Team Pnoy)
6. Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, 48 percent (Team Pnoy)
7. Nancy Binay, 47 percent (UNA)
8. Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, 46 percent (Team Pnoy)
9. San Juan Represntative JV Ejercito, 42 percent (UNA)
10. Paolo Bam Aquino, 42 percent (Team Pnoy)
11. Aurora Representative Sonny Angara, 39 percent (Team Pnoy)
12. Former Representative Juan Miguel Zubiri, 39 percent (UNA
Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan who ranked 5-6 in January slid to 15th while Cagayan Representative Jack Enrile, son of Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile slid to 13th from 8-9.
Both Honasan and Enrile are running under UNA.
The only three candidates of Team Pnoy who did not make it to the top 12 are former Senators Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal and Ramon Magsasay, who ranked 14th and 16th respectively, and former Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros, who ias at 18th place.
The latest survey, using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 registered voters nationwide, was conducted just days after the official campaign on the national level started last February 9.
It had a margin of error of +/-3 percent for national and +/- 6 percent for “area percentage.”