POE TOPS VERITAS SURVEY Fr. Anton Pascual, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr. and Bro. Clifford Sorita present results of the Veritas Truth Survey on servant leadership qualities of presidential candidates, with Sen. Grace Poe leading the pack. RICHARD A. REYES
Sen. Grace Poe has emerged as the top choice of Filipinos in the latest “truth survey” conducted by Catholic Church-run Radio Veritas that screened all five presidential candidates based on 10 qualities of a servant-leader.
Poe was on the top spot in nine out of the 10 standards with an overall score of 59 percent.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago came in second, consistently ranking second in half of the given traits with an overall percentage of 51 percent.
Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte tied for the third spot, each garnering 44 percent.
Vice President Jejomar Binay took the last spot, obtaining an average score of 41 percent. He placed last when respondents were asked if he had the qualities of healing, persuasion, foresight, stewardship and commitment to the growth of the people.
The candidates were ranked based on the qualities of listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of the people and building community.
These criteria were adopted from the servant-leadership theoretical framework of Robert Greenleaf, the founder of the modern servant leadership movement and the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
The survey, conducted by the research department of Radio Veritas, interviewed 1,200 respondents from urban and rural areas nationwide from February to mid-March chosen on the basis of stratified random sampling with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.
Awareness
Radio Veritas consultant Clifford Sorita, a sociologist, said the respondents were asked to answer “yes” or “no” if they think a candidate has each of the 10 characteristics of a “servant-leader.”
Poe consistently took the first spot in all the qualities except for “awareness,” where she placed last with 48.7 percent.
She was the most favored presidential candidate with listening skills, empathy, healing, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of the people and community building.
The “awareness” trait was defined as having sufficient knowledge and experience for the position, which reflects the programs he or she has implemented during his or her previous government post. Santiago got the nod of 75.1 percent of the respondents on this trait, Binay second with 65 percent, Roxas 61.7 percent, and Duterte 56 percent.
For listening, three out of four or 76.5 percent of the respondents chose Poe, followed by Roxas with 54.3 percent, Santiago 53.9 percent, and Binay 50 percent. Duterte ranked last in this area.
The longtime Davao City mayor, who has been under fire for his remarks about the rape and killing of 36-year-old Australian Jacqueline Hamill, also scored poorly in community building, or the capacity to unite various institutions of the society to collaborate in problem solving.
Poe was the most emphatic among the presidential candidates with 70.8 percent, followed by Binay with 52.5 percent, Duterte 46.5 percent, Roxas 45 percent, and Santiago 40.9 percent.
Not a popularity poll
Half of the respondents also believed that Poe has a “healing” quality. Only 29.2 percent and 24.5 percent of the respondents said Duterte and Binay, respectively, possess this characteristic.
At a press conference Wednesday, the Radio Veritas president, Fr. Anton Pascual, emphasized that the study was not a popularity survey but an evaluation of the presidential candidates according to the characteristics of servant-leadership.
“A servant leader, according to Greenleaf, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible,” Pascual said.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo also said the results of the survey were not being endorsed by the Catholic Church.
“These candidates were not ranked by the Church. The survey did not ask priests and nuns but ordinary people based on their perception,” he said.
Pabillo said Radio Veritas initiated the survey to help Filipino voters examine the candidates in many aspects before they cast their ballots on May 9.
Poe’s spokesperson Rex Gatchalian welcomed the survey results. “She is thankful to our public for appreciating the brand of service she puts in her work as a legislator and servant of the people,” he said. With a report from Gil C. Cabacungan