Reelectionist Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce III grabbed the No. 1 spot in another survey for the May 9 local elections.

Polling firm Publicus announced the results of its “Pahayag NCR Tracker” for April for mayor and vice mayor in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The survey, done from April 8 to 13, had a total 1,625 respondents who are registered voters in Metro Manila.

Publicus had 49 respondents in Pateros, 76 in San Juan, and 100 in the remaining 15 cities in Metro Manila.

The sample-wide margin of error is +/- 3%. The city-level margin of error for most cities is +/- 10 percent, +/- 12 percent in San Juan, and +/- 14 percent in Pateros.

In the latest survey, Ponce garnered 57.1 percent while his rival Marilyn Chiong had 14.3 percent, for an edge of 42.8 percentage points. The undecided voters totaled 28.6 percent.

This is the third time that Ponce topped the Publicus survey. In the March 16 to 21 survey, Ponce received 64.8 percent while Chiong had 12.5 percent. In the Feb. 18 to 24 survey, Ponce got 62 percent while Chiong got six percent.

However, it is a very tight race for vice mayor in Pateros with two rivals statistically tied for first place.

In the latest tally, Carlos Santos of Nacionalista Party got 38.8 percent while rival John Peter Marzan, Ponce’s running mate, got 34.7 percent or a difference of 4.1 percentage points. Undecided voters totaled 26.5 percent.

Publicus listed Pateros’ vice mayoral race as a “battleground” and said in races where the margin is 20 points or less, “candidates statistically tied for first place.”

In the March 16 to 21 survey, Santos got 37.5 percent while Marzan had 35.4 percent, or a difference of 2.1 percentage points, while in the Feb. 18 to 24 survey, Santos had 40 percent while Marzan received 32 percent.