Cayetano Tops Senatorial Polls

 

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The acumen on exposing himself to poor Filipinos through his vaunted financial assistance programs and to the media had given dividend to the political stocks of former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

Since being ensconced in the Numbers 7 and 2 of the February 22- March 3, 2021 and September 6-11, 2021 polls, respectively for the Magic 12 of the surveys for the May 9, 2021 senatorial race of the May 9, election, Cayetano landed to No. 1 in the December 1 to 6, 2021 polls of Pulse Asia Research, Inc. It showed the former seasoned Senator leading the pack of 50 senatorial candidates where President Rodrigo Duterte was installed at Numbers 10 to 14. Duterte withdrew however his senatorial candidacy last December 14, 2021 at the Commission on Election.

Former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. (Photo credit
to owner)

 The top 24 list of the senatorial preferences were the following:

Taguig City-Pateros Representative Alan Cayetano was the leading senatorial pick of Filipino voters, with 64.1% including him in their list of preferred senatorial candidates. This overall voter preference translated to a statistical rating of solo 1st place. Close behind the latter were Mr. Raffy Tulfo (60.0%) and Antique Representative Loren Legarda (58.7%), who shared 2nd to 3rd places. Sorsogon Governor Francis Escudero had the support of 53.9% of voters, which equated to a statistical ranking of 4th to 5th places. Completing the top half of probable winners were Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar (51.3%, 4th to 6th places) and Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri (49.5%, 5th to 6th places). 

Finding themselves in the bottom half of those with a statistical chance of winning in next year’s senatorial election were: (1) former Vice-President Jejomar Binay (44.7%, 7th to 8th places); (2) Senator Joel Villanueva (41.6%, 7th to 9th places); (3) Senator Sherwin Gatchalian (40.1%, 8th to 9th places); (4) President Rodrigo Duterte (35.8%, 10th to 14th places); (5) Mr. Robin Padilla (35.6%, 10th to 14th places); (6) Senator Risa Hontiveros (35.5%, 10th to 14th places); (7) former Senator Jinggoy Estrada (34.4%, 10th to 14th places); and (8) former Senator JV Estrada Ejercito (32.1%, 10th to 15th places). Meanwhile, the rest of Filipino registered voters were still undecided as regards their senatorial picks for the May 2022 elections (3.2%), were not voting for any senatorial candidate (1.2%), or refused to name their preferred senatorial bets (0.3%).

Reaping the Benefits of Being a Political Tactician 

Cayetano, a rabble rousing orator, had distributed mostly in Luzon P3, 500 to P10,000 cash gifts to each of the more than 5,000 destitute Filipinos under his Sampung Libong Pag-Asa Program, Sari-Saring Pag-asa, and small business enterprises.

“Sari-Sari Store owners na fifty na recipients then fifty na small business enterprises. Pampuhunan three thousand five hundred pesos each tapos po ang total na napamigay namin sa Sari-Saring Pag-asa was 5,211 recipients,” Ehlimae Casabar, his media relation officer, told this writer on November 4 during their hustings in Dagupan City.

For decades Cayetano had been roving the country giving financial assistance worth up to hundreds of thousands of pesos to each of the various organizations of fishermen, workers, drivers and operators of public utility vehicles.

 Marcos leads Robredo by 33% for Prexy Race

In the December 1 to 6 polls, Pulse Asia bared that in the 1st place was presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. got a voter preference of 53%. In 2nd place was Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo, who had a voter preference of 20%. Around or exactly the same voting figures were obtained by Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso (8%), Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao (8%), and Senator Panfilo Lacson (6%).

For the vice presidency, 45% of registered voters would elect Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte to replace Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo. The vice-presidential bid of Senate President Vicente Sotto III was backed by 31% of voters while Senator Francis Pangilinan had the support of 12%. In contrast, single-digit voter preferences were obtained by Dr. Willie Ong (6%) and Buhay Party List Representative Jose Atienza (1%). Former Akbayan Party List Representative Walden Bello recorded a voter preference of less than 1%. The rest of the country’s registered voters still do not know whom they would vote for as vice-president next year (3%), are not supporting any candidate for the post (2%), or refuse to name their favored vice-presidential bet (1%).

The survey fieldwork used face-to-face interviews.

This nationwide survey, according to Pulse Asia, was based on a sample of 2,400 representative adults 18 years old and above. It has a ± 2% error margin at the 95% confidence level. Subnational estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey (i.e., Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) have a ± 4% error margin, also at 95% confidence level.

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MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.