Gibo is No. 2 in latest survey!

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Manuel “Manny” Villar of the Nacionalista Party (NP) remains on top but Lakas-Kampi-CMD presidential candidate Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr has now jumped to second place after having overtaken Senator Benigno "Noynoy” Aquino III of the Liberal Party (LP) in the latest survey conducted nationwide by an independent research firm three weeks after the start of the official campaign period for national posts in the May 10 elections.

Teodoro’s rating of 24% in the survey conducted by the Campaigns & Image Group during the week ending March 7 was enough to dislodge from second place Aquino, whose rating has been steadily declining as shown in the three previous surveys of voters’ preferences for President done by this marketing research firm with the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).

Conducted among 5,100 adults of voting age nationwide, this survey asked the respondents the question: “Who among the 10 presidential candidates do you think is capable of governing the Philippines and for whom will you be voting for the presidency?”

Villar remained the survey frontrunner with a rating of 31%, up by 3 percentage points from his previous rating of 27% in the earlier survey done in the week ending Feb. 17. Teodoro followed with 24%, which is a significant increase of 6 percentage points from his previous rating of 18% in the Feb. 17 survey.

Aquino dropped 8 percentage points to 20% from his previous rating of 28% in the Feb. 17 survey. When Campaigns and Image first did its survey of voter’s preferences for President in Dec. 2009, Aquino’s rating was at 31% and remained unchanged a month later when the group conducted its January survey.

Former President Joseph Estrada landed in fourth place with 13%, which was an increase of 6 percentage points from his rating of 7% in the previous survey.

Sen. Richard Gordon got 5% and TV evangelist Eddie Villanueva, 2% in the March survey where 4% of the voters were still undecided on their choice of presidential candidate for the May 10 elections.

Campaigns & Image said that to gauge the governance capability rating (GCR) of each candidate, it also asked respondents the question: How do you rate your preferred candidate in accordance with the following parameters (—leadership, experience, integrity, transparency, platform and accessibility)?

Based on this question, Villar got a GCR of 81%, followed by Teodoro with 74%, Aquino with 70%, and Estrada 62%.

“This survey by the Campaigns & Image Group is by far the most comprehensive, easy-to-follow presentation because, unlike its Pulse Asia, TNS and SWS counterparts, it pinpoints the reasons for any change—increase or decrease—in the governance capability rating (GCR) of candidates,” the survey group said.

“The GCR includes the voters’ perception on individual qualification (leadership ability and management experience), track record (accessibility, integrity, and transparency) and relevance of platform.”

Campaigns & Image noted that “there is a corresponding percentage weight for each of the parameters that add up to a candidate’s GCR.”

It pointed out that Villar remained the top spender in TV advertising during the period when the survey was conducted.

Teodoro’s jump in the surveys, on the other hand, could be attributed to “the political machinery of the administration party and (his efforts of) touching base with local government politicians seeking re-election into various offices,” Campaigns & Image noted.

“Because most of the provincial and mayoralty candidates of the Liberal Party are over 65 years old, they had been unable to shore up (Aquino’s) ascendancy among young and middle-aged voters,” Campaigns & Image said.