Larry Gadon tags Pulse Asia, SWS as ‘propagandists’

MANILA, Philippines — Independent senatorial candidate Larry Gadon slammed on Thursday survey firms Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations (SWS), branding them as “propagandists” and “yellow” organizations.

Gadon, a tail-ender of the pre-election surveys, also questioned the research companies’ list of candidates and the number of respondents in their surveys.

“Pulse Asia and SWS are all liars and propagandists. They are yellow organizations. The yellow organizations are so good in propaganda, from the time president Marcos was ousted and up to now,” Gadon said in an interview with The Chiefs on Cignal TV’s One News.

Gadon, a lawyer, was referring to the yellow campaign color of the Liberal Party in the previous elections.

“Imagine there are 55 million Filipinos (voters) and they will conduct surveys for 1,800. What kind of joke is that?” Gadon remarked.

He cited a survey conducted through Facebook, where he placed third. He said the poll had 165,000 respondents.

“Open my Facebook Atty. Larry Gadon and you can see how people would mob me anywhere I go,” he said.

Respondents of Pulse Asia and SWS, Gadon said, should be at least 10 percent of the total number of registered voters or about 5.5 million.

He also cited an incident where his friend lawyer Rita Jimeno was asked about her preference for senator via phone but when she mentioned the name of Gadon, she was informed that he was not in the list.

Gadon, however, could not say whether it was SWS or Pulse Asia who called Jimeno.

He said a friend also told him that he has to pay the two survey firms around P300,000 for his name to be included in their pre-election surveys.

Gadon ranked 26th to 36th in the December 2018 senatorial survey of Pulse Asia, garnering a voter preference of 3.3 percent.

He is running under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), the political party of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The same Pulse Asia survey, however, showed only two candidates from LP, former senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and incumbent Sen. Bam Aquino, were able to make it to the so-called “Magic 12.”

The other six candidates of the LP-led Otso Diretso (Straight Eight) slate were approaching the tail end of the surveys just like Gadon.

Gadon is the one who initiated the impeachment complaint against former chief justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno before Congress last year.

The STAR tried to get the reactions of Pulse Asia and SWS to Gadon’s claims but they have yet to respond.