Espino vs. Braganza: How their Plunder Case Matters

Braganza (C) with his lawyers Moncupa and Pulido

 By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

I’ve been a witness in several press conferences how the lawyers of re-electionist Governor Amado T. Espino and his rival Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza mocked each other’s legal strategies on the non-bailable plunder case they filed at their patron’s opponent.

 Orduna filled a plunder case against Espino 
 It started when Bugallon Mayor Ricardo Orduna, an ally of Braganza, rode shotgun on December 14, 2012 from Pangasinan to the Office of Secretary Mar Roxas of the Department of Interior and Local Government(DILG) in Quezon City by exposing before the media that he personally delivered P10 million a month or a total of P900 million from the past years from illegal jueteng operations to Governor Espino Espino. The revelation was immediately followed by a trip to the Office of the Ombudsman where Orduna filed a string of cases against Espino on an Ati-Graft and Corrupt Practices  Act where one of them was the capital offense called plunder.

 Espino allies filled too a plunder case vs. Braganza 

 Orduna’s legal stunt did not go unanswered from the Espino camp. In early January this year, more than a dozen incumbent and former village chiefs of Alaminos City who are identified as allies of Governor Espino, filed too in Manila through Espino’s lawyer Abraham Espejo a prayer to investigate for a plunder case against Braganza because of his alleged anomalous on-going projects.
The complaint stated that Braganza with his 15 allies, friends, and a brother-in-law implemented allegedly anomalous transactions for the past nine years siphoned from the P4.7 billion public funds.
 Annexes of the complaints showed documents of the multi-million pesos airport whose concrete evidence is a pathetic structure of a kilometer of a concrete accessed road, a hospital that has been reduced from a medical services complex to a city hospital, a hotel, ghost projects like P8 million Olympic – size swimming pool and E-Kawayan building, and the P300 million Pangasinan State University whose edifices are funded by the city coffer.
The complaint included other controversial projects built without the benefit of bidding. Espino lawyer, who is the dean of the college of law of the Iglesia ni Cristo’s owned university in Quezon City, said the legal yarn filed against his client does not hold water.
 “There is no paper trail to incriminate the governor” “It was all sheer hearsay”, “It’s hog washed!” pro Espino media men rephrased on their articles as what Espejo told them in defense of Espino.
 Orduna’s P10 million a month tale lacks paper trails “Unlike the plunder case against former president Joseph Estrada, Orduna’s accusation against Espino was not backed up by any documentary evidences.
 The absence of the paper trails could undermine the credibility of his accusation to win a probable cause to pin Espino in the Ombudsman or the issuance of a warrant of arrest in the Sandiganbayan.
 Is this a “he said, she said crap” I posed to Braganza’s lawyers Efren Moncupa and Bodje Pulido in a press conference early this year at the Deluxe Restaurant in Dagupan City.
 Attorney Pulido, who runs against Espino’s ally re-electionist congressman Jesus “Boying” Celeste (1st District, Pangasinan) retorted: “Although it is a “he said, she said”. Espino can still be liable not in a plunder case but in an iIll-gotten wealth case” that Orduna filed against him.
 “How can he explain his measly salary as governor when he got all those hundreds of millions of pesos properties in and out of Pangasinan?” Pulido answered my question.
 In a rejoinder to Pulido, Braganza assailed Espino by spreading in front of him for the media to see a white cartolina paper with a huge pictures of a multi-million pesos worth of luxury General Motors’ Hummer truck and a high end Toyota Land Cruiser owned by Espino. “I challenged Espino that we both show to the public our SALN (Statement of Asset and Liabilities) para malaman ng tao kung sino ang magnanakaw sa amin,” he boldly declared to the media men whose attention were divided by the sumptuous free fried chicken and pancit canton being served by the waiters.

 Espejo refute’s Braganza’s lawyers

 With his ego ruffled by the lawyers of Braganza ridiculing his filing of a case at the Ombudsman as a joke because he did not file a plunder case but a request for the Ombudsman to investigate if there is a plunder case in the P4.7 billion projects in Alaminos, Espejo, accompanied by another lawyer and the complainants, invited the media in a press conference complete with a projector and visuals and of course another free luxury meal for the treated members of the fourth estate at the Star Plaza Hotel.
 “Anong walang plunder case. Ito tingnan niyo ang kapal-kapal ng na file namin sa Ombudsman. Itong na filed ni Mayor Orduna four pages lang. Iyong na file namin heavyweight, iyong kanila paper weight," Espejo waved to us the 333 pages photo copies of the sworn statements of the village chiefs and four pages complaint-affidavit of Orduna to emphasize his point.
 Attorney Espejo sarcastically laughed at my question when I compared the mode of how Orduna flled the case and the way he assisted the complainants in filing their plunder case against Braganza.
 “Why you did not replicate Orduna by directly filing a complaint-affidavit against the governor, while you settled only to file a prayer to investigate Braganza for a plunder case?
 Your method to secure a favorable resolution in the Ombudsman would be slower”. “Wala namang plunder case dito sa papel ni Mayor Orduna , sworn statement lang ito!” Espejo emphatically told me by denigrating Orduna’s “paperweight” complaint.
 With both camps’ lawyers trying to get each other’s throat by “show boating” their knowledge of the intricacies of law before the media who were mostly knowledgeable about what landed on their taste bud than the rules of court Espejo explained to them, I will close this column with a conclusion.

 Conclusion

 The lawyers of Orduna,of their being gung-ho to file directly a case, threaded a dangerous legal path by courting a legal disaster at the expense of the propaganda value of their plunder case against Espino in the duration of the election. Filing a complaint entails an adjudication period.
 According to the Ombudsman Act of 1989 (Republic Act No.6770) the complainant and the respondent should follow a certain days of reglamentary period as based on Section 3 Rules 112 of the Rules of Court: The days that would be consumed by the investigation officer to evaluate if there is probable cause is 60 days starting from the complaint-affidavit of Orduna, counter-affidavit of Espino, reply-affidavit of Orduna, comment on the reply-affidavit of Espino, and evaluation for probable cause of the Ombudsman.
 From December 14 where Orduna rode shotgun to Manila and filed the case, the adjudication period of 60 days should have ended in February 14, 2013 with a resolution whether there was a probable cause or the case is as good as a heap in a waste basket.
( My Observation: It is already April 2013 or 120 days after Orduna threw a monkey wrench at his former boss. Why the Ombudsman procrastinate? It’s time for the Camp of Espino to file a motion telling the Ombudsman to expedite the case otherwise it would be accused of not only playing red tape but playing favorite to Braganza – an ally of the President of the Republic.)
What if the government prosecutor found no probable cause in the complaint of Orduna?
That would be a PR debacle for Braganza. He would be defanged with one of his major issues his camp exploited at the hilt even before the start of the campaign period of March 29 that the governor has the unquenchable thirst for illegal funds.
 It seems Espejo’s prayer to the Ombudsman to investigate Braganza’s on going projects for a plunder case (s) has been a calculated move and not a big joke as what Braganza's lawyers wise cracked.
 While Orduna’s complaint has been subjected to prescription after he filed it on that fateful day of December, the complaint against Braganza was not a subject to the strict reglamentary period as the Ombudsman should forward it first to the appropriate offices (Departments of Transportation and Communication and of Health, to name a few) or officials for fact-finding investigation before the investigation officer evaluate them if Braganza and others really pocketed a part of the P4.7 billion.
 This procedure can go beyond the election in May 13 this year and even beyond the end of this year.
 The upside of the moves of Espejo is his case would not be dismissed even before the poll in May. Consequently the spin masters of Espino can continue to exploit it that Braganza is not as immaculate as he portrays himself before the public (as pictured by his critics in the media) .
The downside of the dismissal of Orduna’s complaint before election time is Braganza  losses a major propaganda weapon to ingratiate with the more than one million vote-rich Pangasinan.
The implications of these two tales (or yarn if you want it to call them) are the dismissal of cases in favor of Espino  would increase his moral armor (“Look the case against our patron has been dismissed,” his supporters will crow) while Branganza losses a major propaganda weapon for him to accuse Espino of plunder.
 In case this happens, Braganza could only blame his lawyers' miscalculation. They could be legal luminaries at their own rights in court, but they are still sissy in the nitty-gritty of the value of propaganda - things that they did not learn in law schools.. (You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).

Braganza ‘conquers’ Espino bailiwick

In a very unexpected and surprising political development, gubernatorial candidate Hernani “Nani” Braganza scored a very impressive and dazzling campaign when he along with his running mate, Arturo Lomibao, virtually “conquered” the second district of Pangasinan, a well-known bailiwick of Governor Amado T. Espino Jr. Hundreds of cheering exuberant townsfolk from the towns of Urbiztondo, Mangatarem and Bugallon positively responded to Braganza’s campaign dubbed “Lakbay Pangasinan, Lakbay Pagbabago,” vowing to give him their all-out support.
 The Liberal Party in Pangasinan, Braganza explained, would focus on grassroots campaigning and deliver its messages directly in far-flung barangays which comprise the largest number of voters in the 45-day campaign period.
 “We’ve seen and heard how Alaminos rose from a rural town to become a bustling city through Mayor Braganza’s modern governance, something that we also want to be replicated in our town and of course the whole province,” said a local meat vendor from Mangatarem.

 PNOY FACTOR

 A halo-halo vendor, Carla Ocoma, of Urbiztondo, said he believes Braganza is a leader as effective as President Benigno Aquino III, saying “basta manok ni PNoy manok din namin.”
 No less than the President during his visit last March 15 in Dagupan and Alaminos, appealed to Pangasinenses to vote Braganza for governor so that they can also benefit from reforms and programs similar to those successfully carried out by Braganza in Alaminos. “We are very excited and full of hope. I pray that Braganza will be given by our people a chance to serve” a farmer during a rally in Bugallon said after appealing to Braganza to stop the onerous 300 percent real property increase imposed by the Espino government.
 Mayor Braganza stands tall on his “giant projects” in Alaminos city such as the airport, public university, hospital, convention center and hotel, factory, housing, free food for elementary pupils and computer laboratories with internet connection in all barangays.

 MANLELUAG HOT SPRING 

 Braganza was accorded thunderous applause in Mangatarem when he vowed to prioritize the development and protection of the town’s Manleluag Hot Spring into a major tourist attraction.
 “The people of Mangatarem know very well the potential of their great natural resource and are very disappointed by the ineptitude of concerned agencies to develop it into a popular tourism destination,” Braganza said.
 In 2005, Mayor Braganza convinced then President Gloria Arroyo to return to the local government of Alaminos the management and care of the Hundred Islands National Park arguing that the park could be more effectively run by the local government.
 Braganza was proven right. From an annual 45,000 local and foreign tourist arrivals before the turnover, HINP is now drawing almost 200,000 tourists and generating huge revenues for Alaminos and more jobs for its unemployed.

 FACTORIES FOR SWEET MANGO, KAWAYAN 

 Mayor Braganza pointed again during a rally in Urbiztondo that in order to generate more jobs and investment, “Pangasinan must have huge factories for our local products.” “We have the sweetest mangoes of San Carlos and an abundance of bamboos in the third district but we have yet to see factories so that we can not only market our produce in other provinces but also outside the country, while giving employment at the same time, said Braganza.
 Braganza vowed to help as initial move the putting up of “trading posts” in every town for the various products in Pangasinan such as the puto of Calasiao, tapa and peanut brittle of Mangaldan, sweet mango of San Carlos, longaniza of Alaminos and many others to give them the needed promotion.
 Braganza took pride in his administration’s E-Kawayan Factory which gave wide-ranging benefits to his constituents not only in Alaminos but in the entire first district.
With the total log ban, our government now focuses on the use of bamboo which is not only good to our environment but also to bamboo growers and factory workers. The E-Kawayan factory in Alaminos employs out-of-school youths who were trained to make tables and chairs for public schools and other world-class furniture made of bamboo.

 ESPINO WILL FALL IN BUGALLON 

 During the rally in Bugallon, many residents led by Mayor Ric Orduña expressed their disappointment with their adopted son, Amado Espino Jr, as they even vowed to campaign for Braganza.
 “Dito sa Bugallon nagsimula si Amado Espino sa pulitika. Dito rin namin siya ibabagsak,” said Orduña, a former friend and trusted political lieutenant of Gov. Espino. Orduña has filed a criminal charge of plunder with the Ombudsman, accusing Gov. Espino of pocketing more than PhP900 million from the proceeds of jueteng and other illegal numbers games in Pangasinan. Another former ally of Gov. Espino, Fernando Alimagno alias “Boy Bata,” has submitted his own affidavit at the Ombudsman’s office confirming Orduña’s allegations. Alimagno confessed to being one of the country’s biggest jueteng operators. Orduña explained that he has chosen Braganza as his gubernatorial bet as he was aware of Braganza’s accomplishments as a public servant, both in the national and local government.
 He also noted that Braganza was one of the few Pangasinan mayors who had never taken a bribe from jueteng and other forms of illegal gambling. “Malaki ang paghanga ko kay Nani. Walang jueteng sa Alaminos dahil ayaw niyang tumanggap ng lagay. Malaki rin ang nakita kong pagbabago sa Alaminos mula nang maupo siya bilang mayor,” Orduña said.

Nancy Binay vs. Risa Hontiveros

BY NATASHYA GUTIERREZ

 LAGUNA, Philippines - She has seen the meme comparing her to daughter of vice president Jejomar Binay, Nancy. In it, her qualifications are pitted against the latter's, in a meme titled, "Pilipinas, Anyare? (Philippines, what happened)?"
 On Friday, April 5, former Akbayan Rep and Team PNoy bet Risa Hontiveros reacted to the meme by challenging Binay to a debate. "Kung i-call niya 'yung buyo sa amin (If she responds to the taunts), I would really welcome it because it would give me a chance to talk about my track record," Hontiveros told reporters.
 Hontiveros is gunning for a Senate seat for the 2nd time. She finished 13th in the 2010 Senate race, and is trying again this time around under the President's slate. She has yet to make it to the so-called Magic 12 as reflected in surveys, despite a lengthy legislative record stemming from her 3 terms as a congresswoman. (A total of 12 senatorial seats are up for grabs in May.)
 On the other hand, Binay, a candidate of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), has continuously ranked high in surveys despite her lack of lawmaking experience. She ranked 5-7 in the latest Social Weather Stations survey.
 Hontiveros clarified she had nothing to do with the meme but said she was amused by it. She also said she wishes campaigning was 50% sorties, and 50% debates to allow voters to scrutinize candidates. In a past interview, Binay said she is open to a debate -- but after the elections. "I guess pag nasa Senado na kami, pwede na kami mag-debate kasi ngayon ang importante ay marinig ako ng mga botante kasi sila naman ang magdedesisyon, sila boboto sa May 13 so ang concentration ngayon ay ang sorties. Pwede kami magdebate sa Senate floor, doon na lang kami mag-debate," she said.
 (I guess when we're already in the Senate, we can debate because right now, what's important is for voters to hear us since they are the ones who will decide, who will vote on May 13 so our concentration for now are sorties. We can debate on the Senate floor, let us just debate there) Binay was a last-minute addition to the opposition ticket after Joey de Venecia III withdrew his candidacy. - Rappler.com

Mayor BSL banks on performance record

Re-electionist Mayor Lim

Bares plan for a modern metropolis 

By Ruel Camba

 DAGUPAN CITY –Mayor Benjamin S. Lim (BSL) considers the forthcoming May elections as a referendum of his accomplishments and the things he is set to do if re-elected to transform this city into a modern metropolis.
 Lim said it is becoming clear that his opponent is doing all the tricks available to discredit what his administration has achieved so far “and what promises can my opponent give vis-à-vis what I have done.”
 “I have fought several battles and I have yet to see somebody who has badmouthed me as vicious as this one,” he said.
 The mayor said his critics have almost nothing to show in terms of accomplishments, thus they are employing every means to destroy him including the filing of lawsuits and making use of their own media outfits.
 Lim said that he has received reports that his political opponent, Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, has bought  a local radio station and acquired ownership of a top local newsweekly whose publisher is an erstwhile critic of the mayor.
Although they are yet to be confirmed, the reports keep on circulating, he said.
 Fernandez’s family also owns USATV, a local cable television. “I see this as a big challenge because at the end of the day, it’s the people who will make the choice,” he said, adding that he never expected to get fair publicity from these media outfits controlled by his opponent.
 As far as the lawsuits are concerned, Lim said the cases have yet to be decided by the courts, stressing that Malacañang has recently cleared him of an administrative case in connection with the purchase by the city government of a parcel of land in Awai, San Jacinto town intended for a sanitary landfill project.
 The mayor was confident that  Dagupeños will not buy what his critics are saying about him and his administration. “I would like to think that at the end of the day I will be proven correct and I will be able to prove them wrong….and this election will give a clearer picture,” Lim said.

Modern Metropolis

 Lim said that despite the programs and projects already set in place, more things have yet to be done to make Dagupan a modern metropolis.
 He said that the first two years after he regained the mayoralty seat in 2010 were hampered by lack of cooperation by majority members of the city council. “It was only very recently that there was a change in the number game in the council that we were able to start doing some positive changes,” he pointed out. Lim laid out his plan for a modern metropolis to be called Dagupan 2025 by putting together Dagupan and the municipality of San Fabian to attract big-stake investors like the Ayalas, Zobels, and the Fil-Chinese tycoons.
 This happened to the fast-growing region of CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon provinces) which, he pointed out, has now the highest per capita income in the country.
 Lim said carving a metropolitan city out of Dagupan and San Fabian will be made possible by the construction of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TEPLEX) and the Clark International Airport. “I foresee that if we do not expand Dagupan City and enlarge its area for development we will be overtaken by the other cities and so it’s important that we are able to rally the people towards this particular vision and really explain to them the advantages of putting this one town and one city together,” he said.

 Coastal Highway 

 Lim said Dagupan and San Fabian share the same coastline and so ideal for the construction of a coastal highway that will cut travel time from Rosario, La Union where the TEPLex passes through to Dagupan to only 5 to 10 minutes. Presently, travel time from Urdaneta or Binalonan or Pozorrubio to Dagupan takes about an hour.
 Once the TEPLex is completed, travel time from Clark International Airport to Dagupan will take only about one hour and forty-five minutes. The mayor said more investors and tourists will flock to the new metropolis and he projected that the combined income of the two local government units will double and will exceed P2 billion. The value of land will jump up and farmers who own land will be able to sell their property three or four-fold. He cited the case of CALABARZON where many farmers became millionaires.
 “I foresee Dagupan in the next 12 years transforming into an economic growth center because it will now be easy for us to invite investors who will need hundreds of hectares to develop into retirement village, trade center, medical center, convention destination, and economic zones,” he said.

 Limited Land Area 

 Lim said Dagupan’s aggregate land area is only about 46 square kilometers, and almost half of it consists of rivers and fishponds which cannot be easily converted into commercial use. San Fabian, on the other hand, has a total land area of about 76 square kilometers with vast tracts of land that are flood-free areas.
 Lim said what big-time investors need are vast tracts of land to develop, which Dagupan could hardly offer but are available in San Fabian.
 “Ito yongnakikitakona opportunity and we need a leader who has vision and political will; a convincing leader who would be able to sell the idea of expanding Dagupan so that it could be a major city to be looked upon in the very near future,” Lim said.
 He said he will definitely sit down with whoever sits as the next representative of the district in Congress to discuss this plan as it will bring about tremendous benefits to the people of the two LGUs and the neighboring municipalities.
 “I’am not talking of all these happening in 20 years, I’m only talking of 12 years and this will happen for as long as we have commonality of vision,” Lim said.

 Criticisms

 Although he welcomes criticisms, Lim believed that the people are more interested in what a leader can do to improve the quality of their lives. “Hopefully, this fight would be won not through promises or criticizing a person, or pinupuna lang yong mali kundi ano ang pwedeng gawin para sakabutihan ng lahat,” he said. Lim said he is willing to go the extra mile to explain to his constituents what can be done collectively “and not what can be done by wrongly criticizing other people.” “Criticism is part of our job and I will have to be criticized, but if you criticize wrongly without presenting solutions to the problems then you are just being a part of the problem,” he said.

Jack Enrile: Genuine agricultural growth should reflect economic development in farmers’ lives

Senatorial bet Jack Enrile

“If the agriculture sector improves, then so should the lives of our farmers,” Jack Enrile, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) senatorial bet and Cagayan Representative said regarding the report of the Department of Agriculture (DA) that the agriculture sector grew by 3 to 5 percent this year from 2.9 percent in 2012. “Farmers are still among the poorest in our society.
Without loans and subsidies, they are unable to shoulder the high cost of fertilizers, seedlings and modern farming equipment.
It is a bitter irony that our food producers are the ones who are frequently hungry. “Enrile pointed out.
 The Cagayan solon authored HB 4626 or the Food for Filipinos First Act which now serves as the benchmark of his campaign for Food Sovereignty.
The measure includes providing benefits and access to low-interest credits for farmers and fishermen, intensifying the fight against food smuggling, support for agricultural infrastructure and removal of subsidies on exports. “Aside from subsidies for farmers to counter the rising cost of seedlings and fertilizers, they should be provided with scholarship programs for their children, and trainings for them to learn and be adept at modern farming techniques.
 Agricultural investments will ensure that our food producers will be able to provide a stable supply of food for their families and the whole nation,” Enrile concluded.

“I don’t have any absences as vice governor” – Calimlim

Calimlim (L) with Gov. Espino and former Cong. Cojuangco

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 LINGAYEN – A vice gubernatorial candidate in the mammoth province of Pangasinan said that his edge why he deserves a second term is his perfect attendance for the last three years as vice governor and presiding officer.
“Always present ako. Wala akong absent as vice governor. Wala akong absent as presiding officer, and lahat na binabalangkas namin na mga batas at mga resolution ay talagang nilalabas on time. Lahat ng mga maaring naming gawin na ordinansa para protektahan ang karapatan ng bawat Pangasinense at para maisasa-ayos ang lahat ng mga aspecto ng buhay, magmula sa pag-ayos ng turismo, investment, kalusugan, environment, pag-i-encode ng procedure paano pinapatatakbo ang isang provincial government ay ginagawa na namin during the 7th Sanggunian Panlalawigan,” re-electionist Vice Governor Ferdinan Calimlim stressed. He said that all the annual appropriation budget of all the 42 towns and three cities under the provincial government have been approved on time by the provincial board where he seat as presiding officer.
 Calimlim would not give a specific answer when asked who is tougher among former Vice Governor Oscar Lambino whom he fought in the 2010 election and vice gubernatorial challenger Art Lomibao he faces for the May 13, 2013 poll.
 “ Mahirap sagutin iyan. Alam naman natin si Vice Governor Lambino ay nag-served na rin ng three terms as mayor, three terms as vice governor. So more or less tantiyado na ng ta-o kung ano ang character niya, performances niya”. He said he knows Lomibao as a friend and an underling of his late father who became a three-star general and deputy chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines during the time of former president Joseph Estrada.
 “ Isa sa mga officials na lumaki sa pagtuturo ng ama ko. He said it saddened him that he would be facing in the political arena the ward of his father.
 “ Pero mahirap mag comments kung sa anong level iyong klase ng labanan namin. Ako pini-present ko sa saril ko at sa tao na nag-pi-perform ako sa vice governorship for almost three years”.
 He said that if Pangasinenses want him to serve them for another three years his political fate lies with them.

JV, Bam, Jack losers in latest survey

Bum Aquino

It's not clear if the biggest story during the survey period -- the Sabah standoff -- had any impact on the senatorial race.
But there are no gainers in this survey. Slight improvements are statistically insignificant or below the survey's two-percent margin of error.
 Re-electionist senators Loren Legarda, Francis "Chiz" Escudero, and Alan Cayetano continue to lead the pack -- enjoying a good 6 to 13 points ahead of 4th placer Grace Poe. They all belong to Team PNoy. Following Poe in the Magic 12 are Sen Koko Pimentel (Team PNoy), former Las Piñas Rep Cynthia Villar (Team PNoy), Vice President Jejomar Binay's daughter Nancy Binay (UNA), presidential cousin Bam Aquino (Team PNoy), San Juan Rep JV Ejercito (UNA), Sen Sonny Trillanes (Team PNoy), Sen Gringo Honasan (UNA), and Aurora Rep Sonny Angara (Team PNoy). It's a tight race between Poe and the rest of the candidates below Top 3. Poe and 10th placer Trillanes have a small difference of less than 5 percentage points.
Poe and Angara have a difference of less than 7 points. Unlike in previous surveys where candidates enjoyed or suffered double-digit jumps or slides, there were no big movements in the latest survey. JV, Bam, Jack biggest losers Considered the biggest loser is Ejercito, who lost 5.2 percentage points from his numbers in the February survey.
From 43.8 then, he dropped to 38.6 points in the March survey. (Read: The 4th Estrada gears up for the Senate) Last survey's biggest winner, presidential cousin Bam Aquino, is the second biggest loser. In the February survey, 43.2% of respondents said they will vote for him. Getting 11.8% improvement in his numbers, Aquino was the biggest winner in that February survey.
 He failed to maintain his numbers, however. In the March survey, these went down to 38.6 %. (Read: Bam Aquino: What can a 6th Aquino bring to the Senate) The 3rd biggest loser is Enrile, who lost 4.2 points. Other candidates who suffered statistically significant losses are topnotchers Cayetano (4.1 points), Escudero (3.4 points), Villar (3.2 points), and Binay (2.9 points). The survey conducted betwen March 16 and March 20 didn't capture the full impact of the controversy over Escudero's relationship with actress Heart Evangelista. Evangelista's parents held a press conference on March 19 and the controversy erupted March 20. Last survey's other big winner Grace Poe maintained her numbers -- 42.1 both in February and March. Hanging below Magic 12 - but statistically within striking distance - are UNA candidates former Sen Migz Zubiri, Cagayan Rep Jack Enrile, and former Sen Dick Gordon. Statistically, they are hovering between Rank 11 and Rank 17.
 The remaining 3 Team PNoy candidates who didn't make it to the Magic 12 are former Sen Ramon Magsaysay Jr, former Sen Jamby Madrigal, and former Akbayan party list Rep Risa Hontiveros. Statistically, they are hovering between rank 13 and rank 18. - Rappler.com