Eleven days before Filipinos go to the polls, Senator Noynoy Aquino of the Liberal Party (LP) appeared to be on his way to a landslide victory in the presidential election as he built a whopping 19-percentage point lead over his two closest rivals in the latest pre-election survey. Announcing the results of its April 23-25 survey Thursday, the Pulse Asia polling firm said Aquino now has 39 percent voters' support, a 2-percentage point increase from his 37 percent rating in the firm's survey at the end of March. In stark contrast, Senator Manny Villar, Aquino's erstwhile closest rival, took a 5 percentage points' plunge, settling for a 20 percent rating in the latest survey from 37 percent last month. Villar's falling rating enabled former president Joseph Estrada to catch up and tie the Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer at second place as he garnered a 20-percent rating in the latest survey, a 2-percentage point increase from his previous rating of 18 percent. The Arroyo administration's candidate, Gilbert Teodoro, remained a far fourth with a 7 percent rating. Pulse Asia said Aquino's rating means that four in 10 Filipinos will vote for him on May 10, with the other six splitting their votes among the other presidential bets. Morever, the survey showed Aquino dominating his rivals in all regions throughout the Philippines and in all social classes, making him the undisputed choice for president of a vast majority of Filipinos. Aquino led the other presidential candidates in the rest of Luzon with a 37 percent rating; Metro Manila, 39 percent; the Visayas, 47 percent, and Mindanao, 36 percent. Aquino only faces a strong challenge in Mindanao against Estrada who registered a 34 percent rating there. Likewise, Aquino secured the support of all socio-economic classes ABC (middle to upper classes), D (masses), and E (poorest class) from 37 percent to 45 percent. Aquino also led by a sizeable margin in the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) polling firm. In that survey, the LP bet had a 38 percent rating while Villar was second with 28 percent, and Estrada third with 17 percent. Explaining the possible reason for the surge in Aquino's ratings, Pulse Asia's research fellow Ana Tabunda said this could be because of the mounting negative publicities facing Villar, including the latest accusation against him that he used his position as Senate President to manipulate the stock market. Tabunda said the latest survey could be seen as an “indication” of the results of the May 10 presidential election. “This is only as good as for now. It could be an indication, but it's not that hard in fact,” she said during an interview on ANC Television. While one candidate is pulling away in the presidential race, the vice presidential contest appeared to be tightening up as Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay has overtaken Senator Loren Legarda for second place and coming to within striking distance of the front-running Senator Mar Roxas. Pulse Asia said Binay made a huge 9-percentage point gain as his ratings jumped from 19 percent in March to 28 percent in the latest survey. Legarda dropped 3 points and continued to fall from 23 percent in end of March to 20 percent in April 23-25. Roxas also declined, falling 6 percentage points from his end of March rating of 43 percent to 37 percent in April 23-25. Tabunda said the 9 percentage points gained by Binay came from former supporters of Roxas and Legarda. She explained that Binay's rising rating could be attributed to the endorsement of Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, noting that the areas where Binay made gains were the same areas where Escudero enjoys strong support. Tabunda said the sudden increase in Binay's ratings might make it a close race in the vice
