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Support Wanes for De Castro in The Philippines

November 23, 2008

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Vice-president Noli de Castro is losing his advantage over other potential presidential candidates in the Philippines, according to a poll by Pulse Asia. 18 per cent of respondents would vote for de Castro in next year’s elections, down four points since July.

Former president Joseph Estrada and Senate president Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party (NP) are tied for second with 17 per cent, followed by Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) senator Francis Escudero with 15 per cent, and NPC senator Loren Legarda with 13 per cent. Support is lower for former police chief Panfilo Lacson of the Genuine Opposition (GO), Liberal Party senator Mar Roxas, president of the United Opposition (UNO) Jejomar Binay, Fernando Bayani of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, and televangelist Eddie Villanueva.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took over as president in January 2001, following Estrada’s resignation. Arroyo won a six-year term in the June 2004 presidential election, garnering 39.99 per cent of all cast ballots. De Castro—running as Arroyo’s running mate, but not as part of a single ticket—received 49.79 per cent of all cast ballots in the vice-presidential election, defeating Legarda.

In May 2007, voters in the Philippines renewed the House of Representatives and one-half of the Senate. Final results gave seven of the 12 upper house seats at stake to GO candidates, followed by the pro-government Team Unity (TU) with three, and two independents.

On Nov. 20, de Castro commented on his chances, saying, "For me, I use surveys as inspiration to work harder, especially now that we are facing these problems, not only climate change, [but] what’s bigger is the global financial crisis."

The next election is tentatively scheduled for June 2010. Arroyo is ineligible for a consecutive term in office.

Polling Data

Of the people in this list, for whom would you vote for as president of the Philippines if the elections of 2010 were held today and they were presidential candidates?

 

Oct. 2008

Jul. 2008

Noli de Castro

18%

22%

Joseph Estrada

17%

16%

Manuel Villar

17%

12%

Francis Escudero

15%

14%

Loren Legarda

13%

14%

Panfilo Lacson

7%

5%

Mar Roxas

6%

8%

Jejomar Binay

1%

2%

Fernando Bayani

1%

1%

Eddie Villanueva

1%

--

Others

1%

1%

None / Unsure

3%

4%

Source: Pulse Asia
Methodology: Interviews with 1,200 Filipino adults, conducted from Oct. 14 to Oct. 27, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.