Gibo Rules In Campus Mock Polls

MANILA, Philippines - Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer Gibo Teodoro continues to dominate the mock elections for presidential candidates in school campuses nationwide as shown in the latest poll results in two top universities, which reflect his significant improvement in recent independent surveys, particularly among the youth.

At the University of Asia & the Pacific, Gibo was the runaway winner in the mock polls with 44% of the total number of 1,076 students who had voted choosing him as the country’s next president.

His rating is a 17% lead over the second top choice, Sen. Benigno Aquino III, with 27%. Sen. Richard Gordon was in third place with 17%, while Sen. Manuel Villar followed with 7%, and former Joseph Estrada and Councilor JC de los Reyes with 2% each. TV evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva got 1%.

At the St. Louis University in Baguio, Gibo, a former defense secretary, Harvard-educated lawyer and 1989 bar topnotcher, also emerged as the top choice of students with 241 out of the total of 760 votes cast.

Aquino was again in second place with 231 votes, followed by Villar with 161 votes. Gordon got 76 votes, while Estrada got 12, Villanueva 21, Nicanor Perlas 8, disqualified candidate Vetaliano Acosta, 5, Sen. Jamby Madrigal 4, and De los Reyes, 1.

At the Ateneo de Davao University, Gibo was second to Aquino who got the top spot in the mock polls. Gordon was third, followed by Villar, Estrada, Villanueva, De Los Reyes, Perlas and Madrigal.

Besides these mock elections, Gibo also topped an informal poll of presidential candidates conducted recently among leading alumni and officers of the University of the East (UE) at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club.

Leading representatives from the UE colleges of business administration, engineering, arts and sciences, computer science, and dentistry, took part in the small, but influential straw vote, which resulted in Gibo beating the other presidentiables.

“The secret balloting, which was done on a spur of the moment after our regular monthly meeting, clearly shows that within a group of thinking voters such as business professionals, academics and even undergraduate students, Gibo always wins due to his obvious intelligence and no-nonsense platform of government,” said Jesus Tanchanco, former National Food Administration administrator and UE adviser for alumni affairs.

Tanchanco said the participants in the voting were all leading figures in their respective professions. “They felt that Gibo’s substance is his best quality in the sense that while others give motherhood statements, Gibo touches on specifics on what he actually intends to do when he becomes president.”

Lawyer Mike Toledo, the former press secretary who is now Gibo’s spokesman and director of the G1BO 2010 Media Bureau, said the outcome of the UE balloting dovetails with the significant improvement in Gibo’s ratings in recent independent surveys, particularly as he starts converting young Filipinos, along with other voters to his side every time they hear him speak, and get to know about him and his impressive credentials and concrete platform of government.

The results of the latest campus mock polls were released after an independent survey done by the research firm Campaigns and Image Group in the period ending March 7 showed Gibo already No. 2 among the voters’ preferences for President with a 24% rating.

The survey of Campaigns and Image, which was done by sector and by age brackets, was able to trace where Gibo’s strengths lie—which is among voters aged 18-28 and 29-39 years old.

Toledo said Gibo’s “secret weapons”—the youth which comprises the biggest voting bloc in this year’s national balloting, and the formidable campaign machinery of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD CMD—will carry Gibo to victory in the May 10 elections.

Gibo has also topped the mock elections held earlier at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he beat Aquino, an alumnus, for the top spot; the De La Salle University, where he clobbered other presidentiables with a commanding 67% share of the votes; and Holy Angels University in Pampanga.

At the University of Sto. Tomas, Gibo was statistically tied with Aquino, garnering 34.7 percent and 33.5 percent of the votes, respectively.

Over the past months, Gibo has impressed not only students, but even government critics, veteran journalists, business leaders and other professionals, during presidential debates and forums.

Toledo said that being the administration bet, Gibo has the backing of the country’s largest political party. “The surge in his ratings will be complemented by a minimum 15% of the votes that would be delivered by the formidable political machinery of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD CMD down to the grassroots,” he added.

The ruling party has candidates for 170 or 73.9 percent of all House seats up for grabs, 64 or 80 percent of the 86 gubernatorial posts, 86 or 71.7 percent of the 126 mayoralty seats and 1,043 or 69 percent of all seats for municipal mayors.