Miriam, the ‘campus president’ tops UST poll

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has cemented her position as the president of choice in Philippine campuses, winning by an overwhelming majority in a survey at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) – the third student poll she has won since certificates of candidacy were filed.

Two out of three or 66 percent of the 1,366 respondents in The Varsitarian survey said they would vote for Santiago if elections were held on the day they were polled, from Oct. 26 to Dec. 10. No other candidate won two-digit scores in the survey.

Liberal Party bet Mar Roxas got 8 percent; Sen. Grace Poe, 5 percent; and Vice President Jejomar Binay, 3 percent. Some 17 percent of respondents said they were undecided.

“Clearly, students know that the presidency is no place for the weak-minded, the inexperienced or the corrupt. It appears that they give weight to my criteria for leaders: academic excellence, professional achievement, and sincerity,” Santiago said.

The UST survey is the third campus poll conducted and published after candidates filed their certificates of candidacy. The two others were from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Santiago topped them all.

The senator, the only presidential candidate who has yet to release campaign ads, earlier said she would prioritize campus speeches over traditional campaign sorties, banking on the youth support to match the money and machinery of her opponents.

On Monday, Santiago talked about nationalism and student leadership in a jam-packed covered court of the Rizal Technological University in Mandaluyong.

“Leadership is not about personality. Leadership is about behavior. Tell the older people in your community and in your household that elections are not an exercise in entertainment or in humor. Elections are an exercise of the will – the mental will – to improve our selves,” she told students.

Santiago also emphasized the growing influence of social media in the electoral process, citing an estimated 40 million Filipinos using the Internet. The senator has the largest social media following among the presidential bets with 3.3 million on Facebook and 2.2 million on Twitter.

She said the social media could be used to show the truth, especially now that candidates are expected to be criticized or subjected to “dirty operations.”