CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Vice presidential aspirant Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan believes that he can win the vice presidential race in the May 9 elections despite poor showing in the latest result of Pulse Asia survey.
“Well, unang-una yung survey na sinasabi is three weeks old. Ginawa yan three weeks ago. In other words, yan yung pulso three weeks ago. At sa pulitika at kampanya, mahaba ang isang linggo,” said Pangilinan during a press conference on Wednesday (May 4).
Pangilinan stressed that a week in political campaigning could yield a big difference.
According to the latest survey by Pulse Asia Research, Pangilan ranks third in the vice presidential race with 16 percent behind Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto (second) with 18 percent and Davao City mayor Sara Duterte (first) with 55 percent.
Pangilinan believed that pre-election surveys are not the basis for winning the election, citing previous election scenarios where elected officials were having low survey rate during the pre-election survey.
He cited the cases of vice president Leni Robredo, former vice president Jejomar Binay and even President Rodrigo Duterte.
“If you will remember in 2016, April 16 lamang lumamang si vice president Leni sa survey. Before that talagang number 3 pa sya. So, naipanalo niya pagdating ng May. Noong 2010, si Jojo Binay was only 17 percent in March but he was 41 percent in May,” he said
“Even President Duterte, in March, he was 21 percent. Pagdating ng May, ano na sya 39 percent. So tumalon siya ng 18 points,” he added.
The result of the survey, Pangilinan has assured, will improve due to the terrific effort of the volunteers and supporters.
“So itong survey nung April, akoy naniniwala nakita naman ninyo na lumalabas talaga sa kalye talagang sumasama sa rally. Nakita naman ninyo na masigasig ang ating mga volunteers mag house-to-house. So yung resulta ng survey na yan, I am sure ibang-iba na ngayon yan,” he said.
When it comes to the presidential race, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. remains on the top spot with 56 percent, followed by Robredo with 23 percent, Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao (third) with 7 percent; Mayor Isko Moreno (fourth) with 4 percent; and, Panfilo Lacson (fifth) with 2 percent.
Apart from the survey, Pangilinan said he surpassed mayor Duterte in Google trends.
According to the Google Search interest in top searched vice presidential candidates for the past week, Pangilinan has 45 percent of searches, which is 4 percent higher compared to 41 percent searches of mayor Duterte.
Meanwhile, according to the Google Search interest in top searched presidential candidates for the past week, Robredo has 55 percent which is more than half higher compared to the 25 percent searches of Marcos Jr.
“With the momentum on our side and our trajectory is pataas, and with our house-to-house hanggang sa dulo, maipapanalo namin ni vice president Leni to,” Pangilinan stressed.