MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Franklin Drilon on Thursday said the presidential survey conducted by the Liberal Party (LP) was not meant to deceive the public.
The LP-commissioned presidential preference poll showed that Interior Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II has a huge lead over Vice President Jejomar Binay.
"We have said the survey was commissioned by us but it does not mean that we are deceiving people. If we have intention to cheat, we are also cheating ourselves because we spent money for it," Drilon said in an interview with radio dzRH.
Drilon, who is also the vice chairman of the LP, added that the survey shows that if running only head-to-head, Roxas will win over Binay.
Roxas garnered 53 percent while the Binay scored 37 percent in the survey conducted among 1,200 respondents nationwide.
President Benigno Aquino III recently endorsed Roxas as the standard-bearer of the LP for the 2016 national elections.
On the other hand, Binay will run under the opposition party, United Nationalist Alliance.
Sen. Grace Poe, who has not yet announced her plans for the 2016 elections, topped the latest presidential preference polls conducted by the Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia.
Binay took the second spot in both polls while Roxas ranks either third or fourth.
RELATED: Infographic: Ratings of possible 2016 presidential bets