Legarda still tops; Binay ties Escudero in 3rd-4th places

MANILA, Philippines – With barely a week left until Election Day, the Social Weather Stations released results of their final survey on Wednesday which placed nine Team PNoy and three United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) candidates in the top 12.

Despite the issues which plagued her during the last few weeks of the campaign period, Senator Loren Legarda kept a tight grip on the top spot of the Magic 12 with 57 percent, followed by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano with 50 percent.

Legarda has recently been hit by allegations over her supposed failure to declare a New York condominium unit in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) but has remained unscathed and kept the top spot in the senatorial race in the latest SWS survey.

Sharing the third to fourth places in the list were opposition bet Nancy Binay, daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay, and Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero. Both received 48 percent in the final pre-election survey.

Grace Poe came in fifth with 45 percent, followed by San Juan Representative Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito Estrada and former Las Piñas Representative Cynthia Villar who shared the sixth to seventh spots (44 percent) in the top 12.

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III took the eighth spot with 43 percent, followed by Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, cousin of President Benigno Aquino III, who landed in ninth place with 41 percent.

These seven Team PNoy and two UNA senatorial candidates appear “safe,” according to the SWS survey.

Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara shared the 10^th to 11^th places with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. Both received 38 percent.

The last spot went to Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan who earned 37 percent.

Landing just off the top 12 were Cagayan Representative Jack Enrile who landed in 13^th place; former senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri shared the 14^th to 15^th spots; former Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros was in 16^th place; former senator Richard “Dick” Gordon in 17^th place; and former senator Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal who placed 18^th.

The final SWS survey was conducted from May 2 to 3 through face-to-face interviews with 2,400 registered voters who were divided into random samples of 300 in Metro Manila, 900 in Balance Luzon, and 600 each in the Visayas and Mindanao.

The survey had sampling error margins of ±2 percent for the Philippines, ±6 percent for Metro Manila, ±3 percent for Balance Luzon, ±4 percent for the Visayas and ±4 percent for Mindanao.

The SWS maintained in its report that the final pre-election survey on senatorial preferences was done on their own initiative and was not commissioned.