Presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte gestures during a visit at the Provincial Capitol of Rizal on Monday, March 7, 2016. INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
The camp of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is confident that the tough-talking mayor will be able to secure the lead in the preference polls by April.
In a statement, Lito Banayo, a political strategist in the Duterte camp, predicted that with the mayor’s surging poll numbers, he will be able to outrun his rivals by last week of March to April.
“Duterte remains competitive and is now in a statistical tie with the other presidential candidates. So, it’s anybody’s game at his point,” Banayo said.
He said that despite limited resources, Duterte is able to wage a nationwide campaign.
“Our campaign reaches out directly to the people. We have no other big parties or traditional politicians supporting or endorsing us. But our survey numbers are rising. We will see by the end of this month or by the first week of April if Duterte will be the presidential frontrunner,” he added.
According to the latest Laylo survey released on Monday, Duterte overtook then presidential frontrunner Vice President Jejomar Binay for second place at 24 percent.
READ: Duterte overtakes Binay in latest poll; Poe loses points
The Davao mayor is inching closer to the current frontrunner Senator Grace Poe whose rating slid from last month’s 29 percent to 26 percent.
In the Pulse Asia survey released last March 4, Duterte tied with administration bet Mar Roxas at 21 percent. Binay and Poe were statistically tied in first place. JE
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