Vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
Editors’ note: The first version of this article inadvertently referred to the April 10 vice presidential debate. We apologize to our readers. The story has already been corrected. We welcome more such feedback. KS
Liberal Party vice presidential candidate Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo was picked by respondents of the Bilang Pilipino-Social Weather Stations (SWS) mobile survey as the victor of the ABS-CBN-organized vice presidential debate held last April 17.
The results of the survey, which were first published on Interaksyon.com on Thursday, showed that 33 percent of the 632 respondents picked Robredo as the winner of the debate.
READ: Leni, Alan win VP debate—INQUIRER.net readers, Facebook fans
She was followed by independent VP candidate Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero with 28 percent, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano with 27 percent, and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV with 5 percent. The poll said seven percent of the respondents did not give an answer on who came out best during the debate.
Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan did not attend the debate.
READ: Marcos, Honasan absent at ABS-CBN’s VP debates
In terms of geographic areas, Robredo was equally mentioned as the debate’s best with Escudero in Balance Luzon, with 34 and 33 percent, respectively. She was also the top pick of Visayan respondents with 46 percent.
Escudero was cited as the winner of the debate by respondents from Metro Manila with 36 percent while Cayetano was the top pick of Mindanao respondents with 40 percent.
The administration VP candidate was the most cited debate winner by respondents from class ABC and E, with 39 and 47 percent respectively. Robredo and Escudero shared the spot as the most cited winner by class D respondents, with 31 percent and 30 percent respectively.
The Camarines Sur representative was the top pick of women respondents with 35 percent while she was one of the three most mentioned candidate among men respondents, along with Escudero and Cayetano—gaining 31 percent, 30 percent, and 28 percent respectively.
In terms of age groups, Robredo won the hearts of respondents 45 years old and above with 38 to 41 percent. Escudero was the top pick of respondents among 18- to 24-year-olds with 36 percent while Cayetano was the most cited by those aged 35 to 44 years old with 32 percent. Robredo was also the top pick of respondents aged 25 to 34-years-old with 34 percent.
During the first debate hosted by CNN Philippines and BusinessWorld, Robredo asked probing questions to her rivals, particularly Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Escudero. She asked Marcos to return their family’s supposed ill-gotten wealth and she challenged Escudero to cite the steps he made to prove that he did not benefit from the unconstitutional “pork barrel.”
She was remembered with her closing statement where she said: “may the best woman win.”
“Isa po akong ina, at hindi ko po papabayaan ang aking mga anak, hindi ko po papabayaan ang bayan. Naniniwala po ako sa dulo ng lahat, ang tama ang parating nananaig. Sa amin pong anim, may the best woman win!” said Robredo at the close of the nearly-three hour debate.
(I am a mother, and I won’t neglect my children, I won’t neglect our country. I believe that in the end of it all, what is right will prevail. Among the sic of us, may the best woman win!)
READ: Leni, ‘last man standing’
In the second VP debate, she engaged in a debate with Escudero, Trillanes, and Cayetano and she was remembered with her quote: “The last man standing is a woman.”
The SWS mobile survey uses a nationally representative sample of 1,200 respondents who will be the same respondents during the duration of the project which would last until end of May. They had their first face-to-face interview on March 8 to 11 and are equipped with mobile phones. On each survey day, they are given two to three survey questions at 7:00 a.m. which they can answer until 11 p.m. CDG/KS
READ: Robredo upbeat after debate
