LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – Young entrepreneur Luigi LRV Villafuerte, incumbent Camarines Sur governor Migz Villafuerte and the province’s 2nd District Representative Luis Raymund “LRay’ Villafuerte emerged as top picks in the upcoming national and local elections.
A Pulse Asia survey done January 12-17 showed Luigi leading the CamSur gubernatorial race over four other rivals that include former Cabinet secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. and the incumbent vice governor Imelda Papin.
Luigi was preferred by 59% of the voters, followed by Andaya who was picked by 35% of the respondents while Papin garnered 4%.
If Pulse Asia’s survey is to be believed, Luigi seems to be on his way to a landslide win as the supposed 59% tally would translate to nearly 500,000 votes which is almost half of the registered voters in the province.
Based on the survey’s results, the 59% who preferred Luigi LRV Villafuerte over his rivals, he is likely to get 589,799 votes on election day as against the 349,881 votes of Andaya, based on the pollster’s data that 35% preferred the former budget secretary.
This means that Luigi LRV Villafuerte enjoys a commanding lead of 239,918 votes—or about a fourth of the province’s expected votes of 999,660 on May 9—over Andaya, and will likely secure nearly 90,000 votes higher than a simple majority needed for victory.
The number of voters for Luigi LRV Villafuerte is also 179,753 votes bigger than the 410,046 who got his elder brother Migz elected as governor in 2019. Andaya lost in the 2019 gubernatorial contest to Migz Villafuerte, who is on his third consecutive term and is now running for congressman in the fifth district of CamSur.
Migz Villafuerte, the country’s youngest elected governor at 24 in 2013, is leading his opponent, Iriga City Mayor Madelaine Alfelor-Gazmen, by a very huge margin in the contest for fifth-district representative.
He was preferred by 71% of the respondents as against Alfelor-Gazmen’s 28%.
Based on the Comelec’s official list of 317,219 registered voters in the province’s fifth district and the 84% turnout rate of Pulse Asia, Migz Villafuerte is likely to get 189,189 votes from the 266,463 people who are estimated to vote on May 9, as against Alfelor-Gazmen’s 74,609 votes.
This means that Migz Villafuerte is leading Alfelor-Gazmen by 114,580 votes, or about two-thirds more than the number of people who will vote for the Iriga City mayor.
Two-term Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay’ Villafuerte, the father of the two leading candidates, is himself looking at a landslide victory in his bid for reelection, based on the same Pulse Asia survey, as he was picked by 87% of the respondents as against the 9% who chose his rival, Ronnie Abasola.
Using the Comelec list of 217,470 registered voters in the second district for the coming elections and Pulse Asia’s voter turnout of 84%, LRay Villafuerte is expected to get 158,926 votes from the 182,674 who are likely to go to the poll precincts in the summer polls, as against the estimated 16,440 votes for Abasola.
This represents a huge difference of 142,488 votes or about ten times the number who will vote for the incumbent congressman’s opponent.
In the contest for vice governor, Salvio Patrick Fortuno Jr. is ahead of all his opponents, according to the Pulse Asia poll, having been preferred by 52% of respondents, versus the 30% for SP member Gerard Pilapil (fourth district), 14% for SP member Nelson Julia (third district) and 2% for former college instructor Romeo Nicario.
Using the same 84% turnout projected by Pulse Asia, Fortuno is expected to get 519,823 votes (52%) as against the 299,898 (30%) for Pilapil and 139,952 (14%) for Julia.
This means that Fortuno enjoys a lead of 219,925 votes over his closest rival, Pilapil, and a much bigger lead of 379,871 votes over Julia.
In Pulse Asia’s approval ratings for selected incumbent officials in CamSur, LRay Villafuerte scored 83% and Migz Villafuerte, 72%. As for trust ratings, LRay had a score of 80%; Migz Villafuerte, 75%; and Pain, 21%. According to the same survey, Luigi LRV Villafuerte had a trust rating of 59% while Andaya had 43%.