Poor survey ratings in Pulse Asia, SWS, others dishearten Miriam

By: Frances Mangosing - 8 years ago

Presidential bet Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she was disheartened over the consistently poor survey ratings released by commercial survey firms.

“I just want to ask but probably the answer is in Metro Manila. Why does it when they conduct surveys on presidentiables, when the universities are asked, from left to right, is Miriam. But if the commercial surveys are conducted, I’m not even there,” she said at her campus tour at the University of the Philippines Mindanao, drawing cheers from the crowd of students and faculty members.

Santiago has consistently placed fifth at the surveys conducted by Pulse Asia, Social Weather Stations and Laylo with her single-digit ratings. In the recent Pulse Asia survey, her previous 3 percent rating has dropped to 1 percent.

READ: No surrender for Miriam despite poor survey ratings

The feisty senator recently said that her poor ratings in presidential preference surveys are due to the exclusion of her name among the choices of presidentiables in survey questionnaires, as reported by her supporters.

She also slammed her rivals’ premature campaigning: “It was very obvious that before the official campaign period, they already had too many advertisements. Do you know that for every three seconds it costs half a million? Where did they get the money? They are not even starting in office and they are already stealing,” she said in the same speech that lasted for about 10 minutes.

The senator has topped most campus surveys and mock polls including the recent University of the Philippines- Diliman survey, where she was chosen by 57 percent or 405 of 710 respondents.

Her visit to UP Mindanao was her first campus visit in the region since the campaign launch on Feb. 9. It was her fourth public appearance since last week, after she took a month-long absence for her cancer treatment. Overall, she has made 10 public appearances, mostly in universities, since the start of the campaign. The senator is banking on her social media presence and the so-called youth vote due to her popularity among students.

Santiago’s limited public appearances have been hindered by her health condition. She was diagnosed with an advanced stage of lung cancer in 2014, but later said she was on “remission.”

“That’s why I’m praying if God doesn’t take me back yet, I hope He will give me the power to put these corrupt men to jail,” she said.

The senator, who is campaigning on anti corruption platform, also told the audience that her first priority under her administration is to conduct a thorough investigation through the Office of the Ombudsman, on all the cases involving the pork barrel.

Santiago stayed at the campus for about 30 minutes and immediately left after delivering a speech and granting photo opportunities with students and faculty members. TVJ