Gilberto Teodoro’s Popularity Rating Surges To Double-Digit Level.....
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by Joyce Pangco Pañares
For the first time since he declared his presidential bid last December, Gilberto Teodoro Jr. has breached the double-digit popularity rating in a massive survey conducted by independent pollster Campaign and Images.
The Harvard-educated Teodoro chalked up 24 percent, threatening to overtake Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Senator Manuel Villar, who came on top with a 31 percent rating in the survey.
Trailing behind Teodoro were Liberal Party’s Senator Benigno Aquino III at 20 percent and former president Joseph Estrada at 13 percent. That was an entirely different story from the other opinion surveys, which had Aquino and Villar ahead of the pack and Teodoro posting slow but steady single-digit gains.
Teodoro’s campaign spokesman, Mike Toledo, said he expected the ratings of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard bearer to increase by 15 percent more as the local campaign period begins on March 26.
“He is at double digit percentage levels of preference now. He will continue to surge. We believe the local machinery will provide another 10 to 15 percent,” Toledo said.
Toledo said the pre-election survey of Campaign and Images can be considered more credible than those released by other polling firms since the sample size, 5, 100, was three times more than the usual 1,500 respondents.
The survey, which was done during the first week of March, fielded the question of who among the ten presidential candidates do the respondents think is capable of governing the presidency.
Teodoro expressed confidence that his popularity rating among the youth and the built-in support of the ruling party’s machinery will continue to boost his presidential bid.
At least 70 percent of local government candidates are affiliated with Lakas-Kampi CMD.
“The additional 10 to 15 percent in his ratings from the party machinery is a conservative estimate considering that Lakas-Kampi-CMD is the strongest political parties in the country,” Toledo said.
Teodoro, a licensed commercial jet pilot, likens his situation to an aircraft commander conserving his fuel to have sufficient reserve in case of in-flight emergency.
As this developed, Sarangani Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez and Davao del Norte Rep. Anton Lagdameo said the formidable support of Mindanao leaders will give Teodoro a headstart in the electoral race.
The two leaders said Teodoro will “likely secure, at the minimum, around 45 to 50 percent of Mindanao’s estimated 24 million voters.”
“That’s at least 12 million sure votes for Gibo,” said Dominguez, who is also president of Lakas-Kampi-CMD.
Politicial leaders of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro City have also assured Teodoro of a landslide win in the two areas with a voting population of 1.2 million....
