Binay tops SWS Feb poll

Vice President Jejomar Binay is back on top in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, conducted Feb. 5 to 7, with 29 percent of the vote.

Senator Grace Poe and Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte were statistically tied in second place, with 24 percent.

Mar Roxas slid to a weak fourth, with 18 percent.

Miriam Defensor-Santiago consistently remained flat, with 4 percent.

With a sampling error margins of ±3 points for national percentages, ±6 each for Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the recent SWS survey, conducted by BusinessWorld, is an indication of a tight race for the presidency between Binay, Poe and Duterte.

Binay said the latest SWS survey confirms that the core support for him is solid and steadily growing.

As for Poe, she said her team will use the data provided as guide for their next moves, noting to continue to focus on their message of inclusive governance.

Senators Francis Escudero and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are now tied in the vice presidential survey at 26 percent.

Good job, Albert

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Albert del Rosario resigned from the Cabinet, effective March 7, 2016.

Del Rosario has an outstanding record in the five years he served as DFA Secretary. No scandals have rocked the DFA.

He personally visited war-torn Libya, Syria, and Iraq to rescue thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

He deserves the nomination as the most outstanding member of the Aquino Cabinet.

Other outstanding Cabinet members are Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Armin Luistro, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Rosalinda Baldoz, and Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras.

Crime all over

Teresita Ang See, chair of the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order (MRPO), said there has been 30 cases of kidnapping since December.

See said three kidnappings were recorded last month by the MRPO – one in Metro Manila and two in Tarlac.

Maria Amparo Concepcion-Gamboa, widow of the late reggae artist Dominic ‘Papadom’ Gamboa of the band Tropical Depression, was found dead with a shot to the head along Kalayaan Avenue, Barangay Guadalupe Nuevo in Makati.

Domasino Mabilangan Jr., 51, a candidate of UNA for councilor in Sto. Tomas, Batangas, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunman, as he was jogging the national highway.

Kaangayan Barangay chairman Guilbert Ponce Balatero was shot dead by riding-in-tandem gunmen in Zamboanga City.

Due to a heated altercation, PO3 Arvin Putong Adug shot dead his wife, Lorna Abacan, outside an internet cafe in Davao City.

On Valentine’s Day, Eduard Cuales shot his wife, Jessica, and his five-year-old daughter, before taking his own life.

Political update

Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo campaigned in Masbate and Albay. Senators Grace Poe and Francis Escudero were in Pangasinan. Vice-President Jejomar Binay and Senator Gringo Honasan visited Rizal, Cavite, Pasay and Parañaque. Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte visited Tagum, Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley.

Columnist Babe Romualdez, in his Sunday column, reports a new 3,000-respondent survey, conducted by a business tycoon. The result: Poe and Binay statistically tied, with 27 percent and 26 percent respectively. Roxas came in third, with 23 percent, while Duterte in fourth, with 19 percent.

As for the senatorial race, the three senators Vicente Sotto, Panfilo Lacson, and Ralph Recto are topping the latest SWS survey, with 52 percent, 49 percent, and 46 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Binay’s and Duterte’s camp criticized Roxas for using government funds as a form of bribery for local officials, through the so-called Bottom-up Budgeting (BUB) program, which allows the people at the barangay level to pick projects they want the government to fund, to get the support of local officials. Under this program, local chief executives will have an access to some P100 billion or P1,000 for every Filipino each year. The continuation and expansion of the said program is one of the promises Roxas has been making as he visits places in the country. The Aquino administration downplayed the allegation, saying the program will benefit the next administration.

Miriam’s senatorial bets

In a rally, Sunday night in Pasig City, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago named ten senatorial bets. They are Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno, Susan Ople, Rep. Martin Romualdez, General Dionisio Santiago, Secretary Jericho Petilla, former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Director General Joel Villanueva, Senator Ralph Recto, Rep. Manny Pacquiao and Edu Manzano.

At the Pasig rally, Santiago, showing no signs of any ailment, punctuated her speech with fist pumps.

Anybody’s ball game

American financial giant, J.P. Morgan expressed the view that the 2016 presidential race is anybody’s ball game, with the winner gaining a “low-plurality win.”

Morgan said Vice President Jejomar Binay’s main strength was “his long experience in government and his track record as a pragmatic government executive.”

He added that Binay’s government-style of emphasis on the lower socio-economic echelon might also help improve inclusive growth.