September 29, 2014 · Posted in: 2016 Elections, Civil Society, Congress Watch, Freedom of Information, Governance, In the News, Jejomar C Binay, Migrant Workers Issues, Money Politics, Noynoy Watch
Pulse Asia’s Ulat ng Bayan:
Binay still bet to beat in 2016
DESPITE big and grave allegations of kickbacks he supposedly pocketed from contracts awarded by Makati City where he served as mayor until Vice President Jejomar C. Binay remains the candidate to beat in the May 2016 presidential elections.
Or at least that is the freeze-frame picture as of the latest nationwide Ulat ng Bayan survey conducted by the creditable Pulse Asia Research, Inc. from Sept. 8 to 14, 2014.
The pollster said Binay continued to lead the presidential race with 31 percent of 1,200 respondents choosing him as their candidate. This is thrice more than the 10 percent to 13 score that four other individuals reported to be pining for the position, including the ruling Liberal Party’s frontrunner Manuel A. Roxas II.
Nine other supposed presidential hopefuls snared much lower scores.
Nearly one in three of the respondents listed Binay as their preferred candidate,
Roxas, Interior and Local Government secretary, got support from only 13 percent of the respondents.
On third slot is Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, 11 percent, followed by impeached president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, 10 percent, and Senator Grace Poe, 10 percent, Pulse Asia reported.
The other public figures included in the pollster’s latest electoral probe each registered a negligible voter preference score of at most 5 percent. Only 2 percent of the respondents did not express support for any of the personalities.
Poe, however, emerged as the top choice for vice president, with 31 percent of respondents listing her as choice. She was followed by Senators Francis Escdero, 19 percent; Alan Peter Cayetano, 9 percent; Antonio Trillanes IV, 7 percent; and Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., 6 percent.
Pulse Asia noted that In the first half of September 2014, the news headlines were dominated by, among other developments, “the ongoing Senate investigation into the reported overpriced Makati City Hall Building II, with witnesses claiming, among other things, that the bidding for the said project was rigged to favor Hillmarc’s Construction Corporation and that Vice-President Jejomar C. Binay received kickbacks from various Makati City projects while serving as its local chief executive.”
At the same time, Albay Governor Joey Salceda proposed to impeach Vice- Binay due to the charges of corruption raised against him, but this was “rejected by politicians allied with and critical of the current national administration.”
Other issues that hogged the headlines during the period were the decision of the House of Representatives to junk three impeachment complaints against President Benigno S. Aquino III, and the suspension for 90 days of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile as a result of the suspension order that the Sandiganbayan had issued against Enrile in July 2014.
In addition, the period also saw calls for the resignation of Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima amid “the increasing number of crimes involving policemen and President Aquino’s expression of trust in the beleaguered police official”; Binay’s statement that he would want Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Company Chairperson Manuel V. Pangilinan to be his running mate in May 2016; and talks of a second term for Aquino.
As in previous Pulse Asia survey, the 1,200 respondents consisted of representative adults 18 years old and above. The survey has a ± 3 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.
Pulse Asia undertakes Ulat ng Bayan surveys on its own without any party singularly commissioning the research effort.
2 Responses to Pulse Asia’s Ulat ng Bayan:
Binay still bet to beat in 2016
Perry
October 2nd, 2014 at 10:00 pm
Binay has many allegation of corruption why voting him????i think merriam santiago is the best candidate.please wake up call to all Filipino open your eyes and don’t be deceived for popularity.
Azrael
October 27th, 2014 at 11:20 am
Filipinos are spiritually and politically weak when dealing with evil such as this. The pragmatic solution is simple: Public Execution. If Philippine politicians caught stealing more than ?1M were simply executed in public, others will not do it. Problem is, Filipinos don’t have the balls to shoot a family member or a friend accused of doing such evil. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be talking about problems like this. The real problem is not Filipinos per se, the real problem is the Filipino cultural norm of “kapatiran”, “kapamilya”, “kabarkada”, and “utang na loob”. If only Filipinos strived to be wise and do the right thing instead of worrying what friends and family would say, the Philippines would be a better place. Leaders of mainstream religions also add to the problem because they would say that my comment here is wrong and, sadly, Filipinos who fear for their souls would blindly believe what they say. The Philippines would have been better off with a socialist government like PRC that instantly deals with the problem pragmatically. Not that I care about PRC, but I agree that religion is poison. Every weekend when parents bring their children to Church slowly adds to their inability to solve this problem when they grow up. Most corrupt politicians are backed up by mainstream religions. Religion and politics enslaves us. I believe in freedom, but to make the right decision, you would have to put aside family, friends, religion, and politics. Otherwise, we remain slaves to ignorance and mediocrity.