Despite lagging behind other candidates, presidential aspirant Senator Emmanuel 'Manny' Pacquiao remains confident even on the day of the elections that he has the support of almost half of the voting population.
As he cast his vote at Kiamba Elementary School in Sarangani on Monday, Pacquiao said majority of the Filipino poor back his candidacy for the presidency, based on the millions of people who filled out the application forms for his free housing project that would come true if he gets elected.
"Kumpiyansa tayo dahil unang una katulad ng sinabi ko sa mahihirap, wag kayo mag alala, wag kayo mabahala kasi tung ABC class maiingay sa social media at yung survey lagi silang nangunguna (We're confident because first of all, the poor is with me. Don't worry about those from the ABC classes who are just noisy on social media and are being interviewed in the surveys to show that they are leading) ," he said.
Pacquiao had been ranking third to fourth in presidential surveys held by traditional survey firms.
"Pero 2,400 lang yung katao na tinanong nila tapos sabihin na sila ang nangunguna samantalang napakaraming mahihirap na hindi natanong... Ang nag fill out ng form natin ay more than 30M. Im sure majority ng nagfillout ng form boboto talaga sa atin (But there are only 2,400 people being interviewed and they claim to be leading, while there are a lot of people not surveyed. About 30 million people already filled out our form. And I'm sure the majority of them will vote for me)," he added.
Pacquiao cast his vote shortly before noon and fell in line before entering his precinct.
Meanwhile, his partner, vice presidential bet Buhay partylist Rep. Lito Atienza, also cast his vote at around noon at Rafael Palma Elem. School in Manila. He was on his wheelchair due to mobility problems.
Amid election violence reported in neighboring provinces in Mindanao, Pacquiao said he "trusts" the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the police and the army that they can ensure the clean and honest conduct of the polls.
"Ang akin dito, pag ang MP, naging presidente, wala akong iaabswelto na mga magnanakaw sa ating gobyerno kasi ang magnanakaw talaga, yan ang dahilan kung bakit naghirap ang ating bansa, yan ang dahilan kung bakit tayo nabaon sa utang (For me, if Manny Pacquiao becomes president, I will not save any corrupt officials because they are the reason why we are poor, why we are in debt)," he said.