Trillanes only 2nd in Magdalo poll for Veep; Escudero 1st

By: Leila B. Salaverria - 9 years ago

Senator Antonio Trillanes. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

He ranked only second in a survey on vice presidential candidates conducted by his own Samahang Magdalo group, but Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said his standing was a “good starting point.”

“I’m happy where I am right now … compared to when I started in 2007, [at] practically zero,” said the senator, who was a bottom-dweller in recent surveys conducted by Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations, where he got 5 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Sen. Francis Escudero topped the Magdalo nationwide survey, with 53.8 percent of respondents favoring him as a vice presidential candidate over Trillanes, who was chosen by 22.6 percent of the respondents.

Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos was third with 16.2 percent, while Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Trillanes’ fellow Nacionalista Party (NP) member, was fourth with 5.3 percent. There was no answer from 2.1 percent of the respondents.

The Magdalo survey conducted from Aug. 11 to 13 involved 2,937 respondents—all non-Magdalo members—who were selected through a multistage probability sampling. The survey had a margin of error of 1.8 percent.

Magdalo Rep. Franciso Ashley Acedillo said the survey respondents were presented a scenario with four candidates who were perceived to be making plans to run for Vice President next year.

The survey question asked was: “If elections would be held today, who among the possible candidates would you vote for?”

In a statement, Acedillo said Magdalo had been conducting this survey since 2006 “as a tool for campaign planning and policymaking.”

The survey results showed that he needed to do a lot more to gain the trust of the people, Trillanes said, adding that he would intensify efforts to introduce himself to voters when the campaign season starts.

The senator said he was determined to run for Vice President, even without a running mate and even without the support of the NP.

Poe ranking first

The Magdalo survey also showed Sen. Grace Poe as the most preferred presidential candidate, ranking first in the two scenarios tested by Magdalo.

In a field of 10 candidates, she would get 28.2 percent, followed by Vice President Jejomar Binay with 22.3 percent, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with 16.2 percent and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas with 15 percent.

If only Poe, Binay and Roxas were to run, Poe would still rank first, followed by Binay. Roxas ranked third.

Trillanes said the Magdalo group, which had some 500,000 members, would support Poe should she run for President.

In a phone interview, Acedillo said that in conducting its survey, Magdalo tried to approximate the statistical rigor of the other professional survey firms to get an accurate political picture.

Otherwise, the group would miss the point of conducting the survey, which was to determine areas where (the group) is strong, where it is hitting a plateau, and which demographics it had to work on, said the Magdalo representative.