Some convenors of opposition coalition 1Sambayan are not bothered by early poll surveys showing President Duterte and her daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio are leading because “real surveys that will be reflective of the election will be sometime in March” next year.
During the group’s online media briefing on Thursday, July 15, retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio downplayed the recent Pulse Asia survey that showed the Dutertes leading the list of Filipinos preference for president and vice president.
“Well, if you look at the surveys in the past presidential elections since the time of President Ramos, all those leading in the surveys at this time lost, never won. So, the surveys now do not reflect the actual result of the election,” he said.
The former associate justice maintained that the surveys are not discouraging for 1Sambayan.
“The real surveys that will be reflective of the election will be sometime in March because everything is fluid. Everyone who led the surveys at this time of the year lost,” Carpio added.
READ: 1Sambayan nominees for 2022 still ‘fluid’ because they are ‘afraid’ of trolls — Carpio
Lawyer Howard Calleja, also one of the convenors, agreed with the former associate justice that “we are very much in the running.”
He even expressed confidence that the opposition “can even win by a majority.”
“Kung titingnan po natin lahat at titimbangin natin ang lahat ng kanilang mga pinagsama-samang nga numero, sa tingin po natin ay united opposition (If we are going to look at all and we will weigh all the combined numbers, we think the united opposition), one candidate can win over Sara Duterte or any candidate of the administration,” Calleja explained.
The latest Pulse Asia survey, which was conducted from June 7 to 16, fielded the names of Vice President Leni Robredo, Senator Grace Poe, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, and even Carpio himself. These are believed to be opposition candidates.
Poe placed fourth with 10 percent, Robredo placed sixth with six percent, and Trillanes was at 11th place with two percent.
Duterte-Carpio came out on top with 28 percent, followed by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno with 14 percent, former Senator Bongbong Marcos with 13 percent, Poe with 10 percent, and Senator Manny Pacquiao with eight percent.
Calleja cited that Duterte-Carpio’s numbers, despite topping the surveys, are “stagnant.” President Duterte’s trust rating of 70 percent or 80 percent does not reflect in the votes, too, since surveys showed only 18 percent of the respondents will vote for him if the elections occurred during the survey period.
“So, iyong (the) transferability from popularity to a vote, nakita naman natin hindi naman ‘yan nagtatransfer dito para sa mga kandidatong ito (we can see that it doesn’t transfer to these candidates). And we all we need is unite and have one candidate,” he said.
READ: 1Sambayan hopes ‘unity’ among nominees to beat Duterte’s bet in 2022
He added that the opposition is just at the right position because “when we peak, we will peak by November.”
1Sambayan is working to field a united opposition candidate to consolidate the votes from their supporters and beat the administration’s standard-bearer come May 2022 polls.