NORTH COTABATO—Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday, March 15, shrugged off the recent Pulse Asia survey that ranked her a far second to survey frontrunner former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., saying that the ranking is not yet indicative of the momentum on the ground.
Robredo noted that the survey was done almost a month ago, from Feb. 18 to 23, when the official campaign period had just started.
However, she said they are still taking the survey “seriously” though she is “unbothered” by the low number.
“One month ago na 'yun, marami na nangyari after noon. So, expected naman na wala pang bump kasi kauumpisa pa lang ng official campaign period (That was one month ago, many things happened since then. So, expected that there will be no bump because the official campaign period had just started),” she said during a media interview at the North Cotabato Provincial Capitol in Matalam.
“Kami sineseryoso namin yung surveys. Sineseryoso namin pero kung ang tanong nababahala ba kami, hindi (We are taking the surveys seriously. We’re serious about it but if you are asking if we are bothered, we are not). Coming from 2016, halos ganito yung trajectory na coming from one to two percent, pero pumalo talaga numbers ko (this was almost our trajectory coming from one o two percent, but my numbers were boosted) late March and April already,” Robredo added in a separate interview in Kidapawan City.
At this point in 2016, Robredo said even President Duterte was not yet the frontrunner in the presidential preference surveys.
Her camp is expecting a “bump” towards the end of March until April.
READ: Marcos, Duterte still leading in Pulse Asia's pre-election survey
“So, too early ito para sabihin na di na tayo makakahabol or talong-talo tayo (to say that we cannot catch up or we have already lost),” she added.
The surveys “are really meant to guide us” on where to exert effort and where the campaign has made strides, the Vice President stressed.
The latest survey showed Robredo at 15 percent, a far cry from Marcos who got 60 percent of the respondents saying they would vote for him if the presidential election was held during the survey period.
The survey, however, did not cover Robredo’s massive rallies in Cebu, Iloilo, Cavite, Bulacan, Bacolod, and Isabela, among others.
These rallies, which started on Feb. 24 until now, drew tens of thousands of her supporters or kakampinks—more than 12,000 in Cebu, 40,000 in Iloilo, 47,000 in Cavite, 45,000 in Bulacan, 86,000 in Bacolod, and 10,000 in Isabela.
Despite being a perennial second-placer in the presidential preference surveys, Robredo has been the target of the camps of Marcos, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, and Senator Panfilo Lacson in recent weeks.
Robredo led all presidential candidates in the latest Google Trends searches. While the trend does not reflect voting preferences, it reflects the interest of the people in certain candidates.
The Vice President topped the trend, getting 46 percent of the searches, followed by Marcos with 25 percent.