Frontrunners in pre-elections surveys should not get too confident about their places as results could still change in the months before the May, 2022 elections, Sorsogon Governor Francis "Chiz" Escudero said on Wednesday, July 21.
Escudero said this when asked about his thoughts on the chances of his former colleagues, Senator Panfilo Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto III, against their potential rivals in next year's polls.
The former senator is Sotto's partymate in the Nationalist People's Coalition and will also seek a comeback in the Senate next year. He is among those to be endorsed by the Lacson-Sotto tandem.
"Anumang pinapakita ng survey ngayon, napakaaga pa. Sinuman ang mataas, huwag magyabang, patuloy dapat na mag-trabaho (Whatever the surveys show, it is still too early. Whoever is on top should not boast about it, and should just continue to work)," Escudero said in the virtual Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
"Sinuman ang mababa, huwag ring mainis o mapikon, dahil marami pang mangyayari, magbabago at magbabago 'yan (Whoever is lagging behind should also not get irked or discouraged, because a lot could still happen, and results will change, anyway)," he added.
Escudero said while pre-election surveys could serve as indicators, potential candidates should not use them as bases to decide on whether or not to run for elective posts.
Filipinos, he noted, would only begin "seriously" to think about who they would vote for a few months before the election day. Election surveys usually become reflective of the voters' choices in January or February, the politician added.
"Walang lamang ngayon, walang dehado ngayon. Napakaaga pa (No one is a winner, no one is a loser right now. It's still too early)," Escudero said.
A Pulse Asia survey released last July 13, showed Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and his father, President Rodrigo Duterte, as the top choice among the possible candidates for president and vice president, respectively.
Lacson was at 7th place in the presidential survey; while Sotto ranked third in the vice presidential survey.
Sotto confirmed on Tuesday, July 20, that they will run for the respective posts in 2022.