Leni on top: Achieving the ‘impossible’

New survey frontrunner administration vice presidential bet Leni Robredo poses for a photo with Bulacan local officials at the Liga ng mga Barangay assembly in Clark, Pampanga on Monday. JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net

CLARK, Pampanga, Philippines — Starting the campaign with a one-percent rating in preference surveys, administration vice presidential bet Leni Robredo thought it would be impossible to overtake her rivals.

“Pero ngayon, nagkatotoo na. Hindi pa comfortable ang lead. Hairline pa iyong gap pero sana kayaning ma-maintain sa last 14 days,” said Robredo on Monday in an interview in Dagupan, Pangasinan where the last presidential debate was held yesterday.

“Noong nag-uumpisa ako, at least yong first few months, parang napaka-imposibleng humabol,” she said.

READ: Leni jumps 7 points, now leads VP race | Osmeña: VP race down to Marcos, Robredo

For the first time since she declared her vice presidential candidacy last October, Robredo topped the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey at 26 percent.

However, the running mate of Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas is still in a statistical tie with former frontrunner Senator Bongbong Marcos, who got 25 percent.

The poll was conducted among 1,800 respondents, with a sampling margin of error of +/- two percent.

Robredo said she was praying hard that she would maintain the lead in the last 14 days of the campaign before election day.

“Malapit na malapit na pero tingin ko naman, mabuti naman yung naging resulta ng ilang buwan na pag-iikot. Yung surveys kasi, napakahalaga din. Iyon kasi ang nag-ga-guide sa amin kung saan pa kami kailangang mag-ikot, kung saan kami mahina, saan kami malakas,” she said.

“Kaya ginagamit namin siya, kahit noong dapa pa ako sa surveys, talagang ginagamit naming siyang parang guide,” Robredo added.

“Masayang-masaya kasi sabi ko nga, noong nag-umpisa ako, one percent. Ang nangunguna noon si Senator Chiz, 44 percent yata,” she said.

Senator Chiz Escudero, the running mate of Roxas’ rival Senator Grace Poe, suffered a decline after being the survey frontrunner last year. From 28 percent in March, Escudero got 18 percent.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano got 16 percent from 13 percent, while Senator Antonio Trillanes IV remained at 5 percent and Senator Gringo Honasan fell from 5 to 2 percent.

But in the latest Pulse Asia survey, Marcos led the survey with 27 percent, while Robredo and Escudero were in a statistical tie at 23 and 21 percent.
Robredo on Sunday accompanied Roxas in the Commission on Elections-sanctioned presidential debate at the Phinma University of Pangasinan.

Both of them are currently at the “Liga ng mga Barangay” assembly attended by 3,000 local officials in Central Luzon provinces.

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