Villar, Roxas top UP mock presidential polls

MANILA, Philippines - Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential bet Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. topped the third and final mock elections among students of the University of the Philippines Diliman campus in Quezon City.

Villar garnered 2,866 votes or 33.8 percent of the total votes cast by 8,468 students from 25 different colleges in the mock polls conducted by the Alpha Sigma Fraternity’s Boto ng Iskolar ng Bayan.

Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III garnered 1,787 votes, or 21.1 percent, a difference of 12.7 percentage points.

Bagumbayan presidential bet Sen. Richard Gordon came in third with 1,317 votes or 15.5 percent while administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro, who topped the last mock election, dropped to fourth place with 646 votes or 7.6 percent of the total votes cast.

The students were asked, “If elections were held today, (whom) would you vote for president and vice president?”

Alpha Sigma explained the difference in the results of the three mock polls was attributed to how voters are yet to make a final decision on who they would vote for on May 10.

Villar is an alumnus of UP Diliman, particularly the College of Business Administration where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

In the first leg of the mock elections held in September 2009, Villar placed second while he placed third in the December 2009 leg.  

The third and final polls held from March 2 to 16 showed a totally different result.

In the polls for the vice presidential candidate, Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas of the Liberal Party topped the list with 2,918 votes or 34.46 percent.