Former senator and incumbent Governor Francis “Chiz” Escudero is still the top choice among more than 60 candidates vying for the 12 seats in the Senate, according to the latest survey conducted by Publicus Asia between April 19 and 21.
Based on the latest Pahayag National Tracker 2022 Senatorial Survey Series of Publicus Asia, which was released April 25, or 14 days before the May 9 national elections, Escudero stays on top of the “Magic 12” with 46.8 percent of the 1,500 respondents saying they would vote for him if polls were held during the survey period.
Escudero, the only incumbent governor running for senator, has consistently topped Publicus Asia’s surveys since the last quarter of 2020.
The non-commissioned independent survey’s respondents were randomly drawn by the Singapore office of US-based firm PureSpectrum from its market research panel of over 200,000 Filipinos. The nationwide poll has a margin of error of +/-3 percent.
According to the research agency, the final survey panel was restricted to registered voters.
The parameters are also based on respondent age, gender, and location were also utilized in the sample formulation in order for the resulting sample to conform more closely to the features of the voting population, as defined by the statistics from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Should he win a fresh six year term in the Senate, Escudero said he would focus on giving more autonomy to local government units (LGUs), ensure the judicious and judicious utilization of the annual budget, and help transition the pandemic-weary economy to recovery, among others.
Aside from President Duterte and other presidential and vice presidential candidates, Escudero is also endorsed by several party-list groups, including Ang Probinsyano, Ang Kabuhayan, Agimat, An Waray, ARISE, BHW, Kusog Bikolano, KAPUSO-PM and Uswag Ilonggo, as well as the youth-oriented group Nationalist Social-Democratic Society.
The 200,000-strong Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), one of the biggest non-government organizations in the country, is also supporting Escudero’s Senate comeback bid.