Sorsogon Governor Chiz Escudero clinched the number two spot of preferred senatorial candidates in the May 9 Election, according to an online opinion poll conducted by news organization Batangas.net within the province from March 18 to 21.
Escudero, a two-term senator, was picked by 50.1% of the 1,200 Batangueños, who said they will vote for him if elections were held on the date the non-commissioned survey was conducted.
Batangas is one of the country’s vote-rich provinces with some 1.8 million registered voters for this year’s polls, data from the Commission on Elections showed.
Meanwhile, the ongoing survey in Pangasinan province conducted by another news organization, GO-Pangasinan, also showed Escudero taking the second spot among senators vying for the 12 seats in the Senate.
Escudero, who is seeking a new six-year mandate in the Senate, has been a consistent top pick by respondents from various polls.
Recently, Escudero landed on the second spot in a survey commissioned by Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone within the province.
In another provincial survey, Escudero was No. 1 in Laguna, with 56.81 percent of the 1,556 respondents polled province-wide choosing him.
He is also a favorite among students as shown by the results of various mock elections conducted by various colleges and universities nationwide.
The former senator was also the No. 1 choice for senator among respondents in the survey conducted by the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), which is composed of more than 1,525 member-schools.
In February, the Sorsogon governor emerged as the number one choice for senator among respondents in the survey conducted by the Philippine Normal University-Mindanao Campus, garnering 59.46 percent of the total respondents.
In “Likha Pahinarya: Mock Elections Survey 2022” of the Cagayan State University’s College of Allied Health Sciences in Tuguegarao City, Escudero was among the top picks after almost 60% of the respondents who took part in an online survey said they would vote for him.
Escudero, the only incumbent governor running for senator, said that if elected to the Senate again, he will prioritize measures to make the nation’s pandemic response more agile, empower the local government units (LGUs), and ensure the judicious and wise utilization of the annual budget to help transition the pandemic-weary economy to recovery, among others.
President Duterte has recently endorsed Escudero’s senatorial bid, citing his solid track record as a veteran lawmaker which, he said, will be crucial in crafting key pieces of legislation and reforms at a time when the country is besieged with challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. His daughter, Davao City Mayor and vice-presidential candidate Sara Duterte-Carpio, is personally backing Escudero’s Senate comeback bid.
The tandems of Senator Ping Lacson and Senate President Tito Sotto; Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Kiko Pangilinan; and Senator Manny Pacquiao and Rep. Lito Atienza have adopted Escudero in their senatorial slates.
Mayors from CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Eastern Samar, who belong to the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), have likewise endorsed Escudero.
Several party-list groups are also supporting his Senate return bid, namely Ang Probinsyano, Ang Kabuhayan, Agimat, An Waray, ARISE, BHW, BTS, Kusog Bikolano, KAPUSO-PM, and Uswag Ilonggo.
The 200,000-strong Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), one of the biggest non-government organizations in the country, has committed to campaign for Escudero.