UNAFFECTED BY SURVEYS. Vice presidential aspirant Senator Francis 'Kiko' Pangilinan holds a press conference at the city mayor’s office conference room in Cagayan de Oro Wednesday (May 4, 2022). Pangilinan has remained confident of his chances at the polls. (Photo courtesy of Kaabag Kami Facebook Page)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Vice presidential aspirant Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan believes he can still win the vice presidential race in the May 9 elections, despite the latest result of the Pulse Asia survey ranks him in the third spot.
“Well, the surveys were conducted three weeks ago. In politics and campaign, one week is already long (to change voters' minds)," he said in a press conference at the mayor’s office conference room here Wednesday.
The latest survey of Pulse Asia Research ranked Pangilinan as third in the vice presidential race with 16 percent after Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto’s 18 percent, and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s 55 percent.
Pangilinan, however, said pre-election surveys are not the basis for winning the election, citing previous election scenarios where elected officials also had low survey rates before the polls.
He mentioned the cases of Vice President Leni Robredo, former vice president Jejomar Binay, and even President Rodrigo Duterte during the 2016 elections.
“Even President Duterte, in March (2016) he was 21 percent. In May, he's already 39 percent,” Pangilinan said.
Pangilinan remains confident that his survey ranking will improve due to the efforts of the volunteers and supporters.
Based on the April 16-21 Pulse Asia statistics, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. remains in the top spot of the presidential candidates’ survey with 56 percent.
Robredo came in second with 23 percent, followed by Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao with 7 percent, Mayor Isko Moreno with 4 percent, and Panfilo Lacson with 2 percent.
Apart from the survey, Pangilinan said he surpassed Duterte in Google trends.
According to the Google Search interest in the top searched vice presidential candidates for the past week, Pangilinan has 45 percent of searches, which is 4 percent higher compared to the search score for Duterte.
Meanwhile, the same Google Search interest in the top searched presidential candidates last week showed that Robredo has 55 percent, which is more than half higher compared to the 25 percent searches for Marcos.
Pangilinan and his team returned to the city to witness groups who once supported Marcos, and are now declaring support for the Leni-Kiko candidacies.
He and his campaign team also went to public markets to seek support from local residents.
On Tuesday, Pangilinan's brother, Anthony with his daughter Ana, also visited the city for a house-to-house campaign in vote-rich Barangay Macabalan, and at the Carmen public market together with hundreds of local volunteers. (With a report from Nef Luczon/PNA)
