Legarda, Escudero, Cayetano top latest Pulse Asia survey

Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Loren Legarda and Alan Cayetano. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Re-electionist senators Loren Legarda, Francis “Chiz” Escudero, and Alan Cayetano topped the latest survey conducted by Pulse Asia ahead of the May 2013 midterm elections.

“Two senators seeking re-election – Senator Loren Legarda (58.0 percent) and Senator Chiz Escudero (54.3 percent) continue to lead the senatorial race, sharing first and second places,” Pulse Asia said in a statement released Friday.

“Meanwhile, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano lands in 3rd place with 48.9 percent of registered voters supporting his re-election,” it said.

Nancy Binay (43.6 percent), daughter of Vice-President Jejomar Binay, is fourth on the list while San Juan City Representative Juan Victor Ejercito Estrada (43.5 percent), son of former president Joseph Estrada, is fifth.

Reelectionist Senators Antonio Trillanes IV (41.1 percent) and Aquilino Pimentel (40.7 percent) are in sixth and seventh places respectively, while Cagayan Representative Juan Ponce Enrile Jr. (40.4 percent), son of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, is at eighth place.

Las Piñas Representative Cynthia Villar (39.1 percent), wife of Senator Manuel Villar, is ninth in the list while former Senator Miguel Zubiri (37.6 percent), Aurora Representative Edgardo Angara (37.1 percent), and reelectionist senator Gregorio Honasan (36.8 percent) round up the top 12 of the list.

The survery was conducted from January 19 to 30, 2013 using face-to-face interviews of 1,800 registered voter 18 years old and above, it said.

“With less than four months to go before the May 2013 elections, only about a third of the Filipino electorate has a complete senatorial slate (34 percent) while 8.6 percent does not express support for any of those running for senator,” the statement said.