R.P. Poll Watch 2010
By DANIEL E. LLANTO
Liberal Party standard bearer Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III alludes to Nacionalista Party’s Manuel Villar Jr. as the other presidential bet of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when he rejected the results of the January 2010 Pulse Asia nationwide pre-election survey showing Villar overcoming his previously big lead. Former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro is of course the official administration candidate. By speaking of an “unholy alliance” between Malacanang and Villar, Aquino insinuates that the administration is working behind the scenes to ensure the election of Villar at the expense of his cousin Teodoro.
Aquino in effect casts aspersion not only on Villar but also on Teodoro, whose Lakas-Kampi-CMD remains confident of catching up with the frontrunners as well in the run-up to the May 10 elections. The ruling party sees a silver lining behind the dwindling survey ratings of the only son of democracy icons Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and Cory Aquino. According to Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Prospero Pichay, Aquino’s declining survey ratings is working to Teodoro’s advantage. “Aquino’s ratings had peaked early and that is actually a nightmare for him because he has to maintain that,” Pichay said.
As if to emphasize that Teodoro is in the thick of the fight and is not involved in any secret strategy with Villar and the ruling party to crowd out Aquino, Pichay said Lakas-Kampi-CMD has candidates in about 95 percent of the elective posts nationwide while Aquino’s LP is fielding less than 40 percent. This translates to only one candidate per congressional district, province, city and municipality, nearly all of which have complete tickets that will carry the tandem of Teodoro and Edu Manzano.
The SWS poll survey that displeased Aquino was commissioned by BusinessWorld and should therefore be unassailable for its fairness and impartiality. It was conducted from Jan. 21 to 24 on face-to-face interviews involving 2,100 adult respondents. The survey gave Aquino 37 percent of the vote and 35 percent to Villar, down from a 27 percentage-point lead in the Nov. 4-8 SWS survey
While Teodoro largely ignored Aquino accusations of an unholy alliance involving the administration, Villar’s camp laughed it off. NP spokesperson Gilbert Remulla said Villar would not dream of dealing with President Arroyo because that’s a “kiss of death” on his candidacy. But perhaps the more credible defense of Villar comes from former Marine Col. Ariel Querubin who said he would have quit from Villar’s NP if it were so. Like Remulla, Querubin is also running for senator under the NP ticket of Villar and Sen. Loren Legarda. Said Querubin who is under detention at Camp Aquinaldo for allegedly leading an attempt to overthrow the Arroyo government in February 2006: “I know Senator Villar, he will never ally himself with this administration. Such baseless claims are made by the political rivals of Villar because he is catching up with them in the surveys.”
Villar’s camp attributes his rising popularity to nothing more than an effective communication strategy. Villar is considered the richest among the eight presidential candidates and is in fact outspending everyone on infomercials and TV ads. The reason Aquino sees President Arroyo’s hand behind Villar’s upsurge in voting preference is the latter’s seemingly cavalier attitude towards the administration. He quoted Villar as saying in a forum at De la Salle University that he would not lift a finger to defend the administration, which means that the NP bet would not do anything as well to attack the president for any wrongdoing. “No wonder the Palace spokesman (deputy spokesman Gary Olivar) couldn’t restrain himself in expressing his gratitude to one of my opponents for keeping quiet on the many issues confronting this administration,” Aquino was quoted as saying, referring to Villar.
Villar is not known for filibustering and has not attacked anyone in all his years in the House of Representatives and the Senate. On the C-5 road controversy, for example, fellow senators led by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile have practically challenged him to a fistfight in order for him to face the accusations in the Senate floor. But Villar declined to face his accusers, saying: “Sila ang umaaway sa akin, sila hindi ko inaaway.” Last week, Villar attended the Senate session after keeping himself scarce and then delivered a privilege speech to defend himself, then left the floor afterwards.
Just the same, Aquino directed at Villar a complaint about “unrelenting and increasingly below-the-belt black propaganda” being mounted against him by his opponents. Aquino also scored Villar for absenteeism, saying the latter is campaigning full time and “neglecting his mandate.”
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