Binay remains ahead in presidential race

Vice President Jejomar Binay maintained his lead over his rivals despite a two-percentage points slip in his ratings, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.
In the survey held from February 5 to 7, 2016, the vice president secured the “votes” of 29% of those polled.
His February rating was down by two percentage points from the 31% score he received in the January survey.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was the biggest gainer in the presidential survey with an increase of  four percentage points in his rating to share the second spot with Senator Grace Poe.
Duterte obtained the nod of 24% of the respondents in the February survey, up from the 20% he earned in January.
Poe also received a score of 24% in the SWS survey.
Trailing them was administration candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas, who suffered the biggest plunge of  three percentage points.Roxas, who is the Liberal Party standard-bearer, got 18% in the latest survey, down from his 21% score in January.
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago garnered only 4%.
The survey was conducted while the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on disqualification cases filed against Poe and after Duterte campaigned hard in Metro Manila and the Luzon provinces.
Despite topping the polls, Binay will have to work harder to convey his platform to the public, his camp said.
“The recent SWS survey results confirm that the core support for the vice president is solid and steadily growing. While the present survey results are encouraging, the vice president is well aware that the real survey is still on election day itself,” Binay’s campaign spokesman Rico Quicho said in a statement.
“The vice president will work even harder to convey to our people his programmes that will address poverty, which remains to be the moral issue of the times. As the campaign period progresses, the vice president remains focused on his message that competence, experience in governance and compassion are the key factors in the fight against poverty, and providing jobs, quality education and healthcare services,” Quicho added.
Yesterday, the Binay-led United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) campaigned in the cities of Pasay and Paranaque in Metro Manila.
The camp of Duterte said the survey results showed that the people are really seeking “genuine change.”
“We are hopeful that as the campaign progresses, we would be able to continue this upward trend and gain more supporters,” Duterte’s spokesman Peter Lavina said in a statement.
“This is proof of the rising clamour for genuine change. Our country is mired in drugs, crime, corruption and poverty,” he added.
Duterte is campaigning on the platform of anti-crime and anti-corruption.
In the vice presidential race, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr gained in the latest survey, catching up with Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who had consistently topped surveys.
Marcos and Escudero were tied at 26%. Escudero’s rating declined from the 28% he received in January.
The senator got 30% in the November and December surveys.Marcos’ 26%, meanwhile, is up by 1% from the 25% he had in January.
Camarines Sur representative Leni Robredo, the administration’s vice presidential bet, got 19%, up by two points from her 17% score in January.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, on the other hand, got 16%, also two points higher than his score of 14% in the January survey.
They were followed by Senators Gregorio Honasan (6%, down two points from 8%) and Antonio Trillanes (5%, up by 2% from 3%).
Marcos said the survey results were inspiring but he vowed to even work harder.
“Every survey result keeps us inspired to work harder in the campaign. But as I have always said, the real survey will be on May 9, 2016 and that has been our focus as we continue to preserve in bringing our platform of unity to every part of the country,” he added in a statement.
Marcos, running as an independent candidate, had been “adopted” by Santiago.
In the senatorial race, re-electionist Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto remained the leading candidate with 52%.
He is followed by former senator and rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson (49%), Sen. Ralph Recto (46%), former senator Francis Pangilinan (42%) and Senate President Franklin Drilon (43%).
The next five preferred senatorial candidates include former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri (38%), Sen. Sergio Osmena (37%), Filipino boxing icon and Sarangani representative Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao (35%), former Justice secretary Leila de Lima (35%) and former Akbayan representative and now PhilHealth director Risa Hontiveros (27%).
Four candidates fought for the last two spots of the “magic 12 — Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona (26%), former senator Richard Gordon (26%) Valenzuela City (Metro Manila) representative Sherwin Gatchalian (23%) and Joel Villanueva, former Technical Skills and Development Authority
chief (22%).