President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte (File photo)
MANILA – Majority Leader Martin Romualdez on Wednesday said the result of a pre-election survey showing Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and President Rodrigo Duterte leading the list of Filipinos' top bets for president and vice president, respectively, is a "validation" of the people’s confidence and satisfaction on the Dutertes’ brand of public service.
Romualdez noted that the Pulse Asia report conforms with other survey findings that show Sara is the leading candidate in the 2022 presidential elections.
"We expect her numbers to climb even higher when the next survey covers the period after she indicated her openness to run for President," he said.
Romualdez, meanwhile, reiterated that President Duterte is the "most qualified, most experienced and most trusted" vice presidential candidate for next year's polls.
"The voters’ preference for President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, on the other hand, is no longer surprising. He has the Vice Presidential post in the bag if ever he decides to seek it in 2022," he said. "For the Filipino people, a Duterte-Duterte tandem is the dream team in 2022."
According to the Pulse Asia survey conducted June 7-16 with 2,400 respondents, about 28 percent of Filipinos prefer Sara as their presidential candidate, while 18 percent want President Duterte to run for vice president.
The Pulse Asia survey showed that Sara earned the highest voter preference in Metro Manila, getting 18 percent. It was followed by Balance Luzon (17 percent) and the Visayas and Mindanao (14 percent each).
She also got the nod of 17 percent of respondents in Class D, 12 percent in Class E, and 10 percent in Class ABC.
Duterte, on the other hand, received the highest score in his bailiwick in Mindanao (35 percent), followed by the Visayas (14 percent), Balance Luzon (13 percent), and Metro Manila (11 percent).
He also posted a high voter preference among Classes ABC (14 percent), D (18 percent), and E (16 percent).
Other preferred presidential candidates were Senator Grace Poe and former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (13 percent each), Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao (12 percent), and Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go (9 percent).
Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” enjoyed the second spot in terms of the preferred candidates in the vice presidential race, getting 14 percent followed by Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Marcos (10 percent each), Pacquiao (9 percent), Alan Peter Cayetano (8 percent), Francis “Chiz” Escudero (7 percent), Go (5 percent), television host Willie Revillame (4 percent), and Senator Juan Edgardo Angara (3 percent).
Pulse Asia used ±2 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.
In his regular Talk to the People on Monday night, Duterte admitted that he is only considering running for vice president next year to “scare off” his critics.
He also again expressed disapproval after Sara expressed “openness” to join the presidential race, saying he would rather have either one of his two staunchest critics—former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV or Senator Leila de Lima win the country’s highest office so they could do “whatever they want”. (PNA)
