Los Baños students' surveys give local LP bets big edge

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna , Philippines  – The student sector here, in an open letter, denounced what they perceived as a bad conduct of political campaigns, notably alleged vote-buying by local candidates just to ensure victory in the May 10 elections.

The students, mostly from the University of the Philippines’ College of Agriculture here, also conducted two independent surveys to get the voters’ pulse in light of the May 10 polls.

Former senator Joey Lina and come-backing former Los Baños mayor Frank Lapis, both of the Liberty Party, posted clear advantage over their respective rivals in the students’ surveys conducted last April 17-24 and April 25-30.

Lina scored 45 percentage points out of some 1,000 respondents in 14 barangays of Los Baños, while his three rivals – Ramil Hernandez of Nacionalista Party (NP), Jorge Ejercito of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, and Dennis Lazaro of Lakas-Kampi-CMD – shared the remaining 55 percent.

In the mayoral race, Lapis mustered a hefty 70 percent, while closest rival Copie Alipon of NP registered 30 percent. Anthony Genuino of Bigkis came in third in the survey.