Here is the News about our Philippine Presidentiables
from ManilaStandardToday
Published: June 24, 2009
Makati City’s feisty Mayor Jejomar “Jojo” Binay was the biggest surprise in the list of the leading “senatoriables”, according the May 4-17 survey of Pulse Asia.
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In fact, out of the top 14 with a statistical chance of winning if the May 2010 were held today, Binay and lawyer Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel were the only non-returning senator.
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Pimentel was expected to be in the list of respondents’ favorites since he placed 13th in the 2007 national elections. He enjoys good name recall, his father being the outstanding incumbent Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel.
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Binay was the real revelation, ranking 9-14, ahead even of Senator Richard “Dick” Gordon (ranked 10-15) and Senate President Juan “Johnny” Ponce Enrile (11-17).
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The range in the ranking reflects the margin of error of plus or minus 3 of the survey which was based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above.
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Aside from Binay and Koko Pimentel, the rest of the top 14 are all seasoned political personalities.
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Topping the list is Senator Mar Roxas (ranked 1-2). He is followed by Senator Jinggoy Estrada (1-6), Senator Pia Cayetano (2-7), Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago (2-7), Senator Bong Revilla (2-8), Senator Jamby Madrigal (2-8) , ex-Senator Franklin Drilon (3-8), ex-Senator and Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto (3-8), Atty. Koko Pimentel (8-12), Mayor Jojo Binay (9-13) ex-Senator and Dangerous Drugs Board chair Tito Sotto (9-14), ex-Senator Serge Osmeña (9-14), Senator Dick Gordon (10-15), and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (11-17).
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Just outside the top 14 are Optical Media Board chairman Edu Manzano (13-19) and ex-Rep. and top broadcaster Ted Failon.
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Of all the re-electionist senators, only Senator Lito Lapid is outside the “winning circle”. Lapid, who would probably go back to Pampanga and run for governor again, is ranked 15-20 with a percentage point of 19.8 compared to Binay’s 30.5 percentage point.
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Binay’s feat is made more remarkable by the fact that he outranked many other high-profile personalities like the “noisy” Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada (19-29). The survey was conducted when Lozada was in the news because of his arrest on perjury charges.
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Binay did better than Rep. Satur Ocampo (32-48), Gov. Grace Padaca (32-48), Speaker Prospero Nograles (32-51), Gov. Ed Panlilio (33-54), Foreign Affairs Secretary and ex-Senator Bert Romulo (34-58), Boboy “Mr. Tesda” Syjuco (44-61), ex-Rep. Butch Abad (44-61) and Black and White Movement leaders Leah Navarro (49-64) and Dinky Soliman (46-61).
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But despite his excellent showing in the Pulse Asia survey, Binay was lukewarm to the idea of running for senator. In an interview we had with him over our radio program Karambola sa dwIZ, Binay said his expertise and preference is the executive. This of course is undisputable with his record in Makati which is the envy of all local government executives.
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It was clear from that Binay interview that he was setting his eyes on running for president. Or, if former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada pursues his plans to run for president again, he will be Erap’s running mate.
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The same Pulse Asia May 2009 Ulat ng Bayan survey showed that Binay’s vice-presidential bid is getting some national attention.
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Binay registered the highest increase among the 10 vice-presidential wannabes included in the Pulse Asia list of 10 personalities. His rating increased by four percentage points compared to his survey results last February.
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Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero leads the list of vice-presidential bets with 24 percentage points, followed by Senator Loren Legarda (21 percent) and Vice President Noli de Castro (17 percent).
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Aside from the three, the only other individual to score a double-digit preference is Binay with 10 percent.
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Binay did better than declared vice-presidential candidate Senator Francis Pangilinan (nine percent), Senator Bong Revilla (four percent), Senator Dick Gordon (two percent), and Gov. Grace Padaca (one percent).
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Binay’s creditable performance in both the senatorial and vice-presidential surveys of Pulse Asia is probably a reflection of the public reaction to the “ganito kami sa Makati” television advertising which ran as part of the 339th founding anniversary of the city, acknowledged as the business capital of the Philippines.
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The ad is the most compelling and the most powerful among the political ad campaign of the presidential hopefuls since it talks about solid and measurable achievements of Makati to its people.
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The Makati anniversary ad campaign talks about the services given by Makati City in terms education and health as well as services to senior citizens who are treated to cash gifts twice a year, a birthday cake, free movies among others. The ad was the expression of the Makati anniversary celebration theme: “Celebrate Progress and Service to the People”.
Typically Filipino humor, some wit had put together the ads of presidential aspirants Manny Villar and Mar Roxas with Binay’s Makati ad into one story. The story goes that the battered and abused migrants whom Villar helped bring back to the Philippines were fetched at the airport by Roxas in his “padyak” pedicab and brought to Binay’s Makati where they were treated to the health, education and other excellent basic services given to Makati residents.
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If Binay succeeds and gets elected to a higher political office, he would be trail blazing for the country’s ethnic minority, something that his supporters liken to the story of the first African-American president of the United States, Barack Obama.
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Few people are aware that Binay has his ethnic roots in Cabagan, Isabela, where his mother surnamed Cabauatan was born. Binay is proud that he is an Ibanag. He speaks the dialect, he knows the tradition and culture, and certainly his dark skin and diminutive size makes his ethnic roots unmistakable.
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In fact, he is proud of his dark brown complexion. When we interviewed him about the survey, he referred to my Karambola co-host Abakada-Guro sectoral Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz as his “cousin”.
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I know that they are both from the north but I did not know they were related. I asked Binay how he was related to Jonath and he explained he and Jonath were “kasing kulay” (of the same skin color).
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The Pulse Asia survey clearly shows that Binay is one of the rising stars of Philippine politics. If the trend continues, then perhaps we will have the first ‘black” president or vice president or senator in Binay.
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