Chiz tops UP polls

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero topped a campus-wide mock election held among students in the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City.

Escudero bested consistent survey leader Sen. Manny Villar Jr. and newcomer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III in the mock election initiated by the UP Alpha Sigma fraternity.

In the “Boto ng Iskolar ng Bayan” held from Sept. 8 to 15, Escudero garnered 690 votes or 21 percent of the respondents, while Villar got 365 or 11.6 percent of the votes cast. Aquino was third at 8.8 percent or 278 votes.

Sen. Jamby Madrigal was not far behind with 258 votes or 8.2 percent while Sen. Loren Legarda came in at fifth place with 237 votes or 7.9 percent.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando, the lone perceived candidate from the administration, came in sixth with 226 votes (7.2 percent), while opposition leaders Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay got 162 votes or 5.1 percent.

Other candidates included Sen. Richard Gordon with 151 votes (4.8 percent), Vice President Noli de Castro with 107 votes (3.4 percent), Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio with 53 votes (1.7 percent), Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro with 51 votes (1.6 percent).

Former President Joseph Estrada came in at 12th with 35 votes (1.1 percent) followed by Jesus is Lord movement leader Bro. Eddie Villanueva with 21 votes (0.7 percent).

Sen. Panfilo Lacson got three votes and detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes III has one vote.

The voting population included 3,156 students from 18 different colleges, excluding the College of Law and postgraduate courses.

“The objective of this project is to increase awareness of the students about the importance of the upcoming elections for our country and thus, to encourage them to participate in next year’s elections,” said Marc Aguimatang, logistics chief of the Boto ng Iskolar ng Bayan project.

Aguimatang said they put up simulated voting precincts in different colleges while conducting room-to-room visits to promote the project.

Students who participated in the mock poll were asked to indicate their student number to avoid double voting.

Except for Lacson and Trillanes, who were write-ins, all presidential aspirants were listed in the mock election ballot, which had a single question: “If the election were held today, who would you vote for?” 

A total of 267 students or 8.5 percent wrote “abstain” in their ballots.

Escudero won in 17 colleges while Villar won “overwhelmingly” at the UP College of Business Administration, of which Villar is an alumnus. Escudero took his primary, secondary, undergraduate and law degrees in UP.

Aguimating said the mock elections reflected the sentiment of an estimated 19 percent of some 16,000 undergraduate students of UP-Diliman.